Lunch on Mullaghcleevaun

Lunch was two soft-boiled (in the sun) eggs and a flask of Wicklow Well Water.

The lockdown now permits exercise up to a 5km radius which took me to the quarry at Ballyknockan, gateway to the Wicklow Mountains, where I figured I'd be off the radar. Apparently others did too. I met two hikers on Silsean, a group of four descending from Mullaghcleevaun, and a lone woman hiker at the summit. We kept our distance of course...

Such cramp - I had to rest awhile on the way back.  And aching muscles the morning after.

Glad I'm back home

Eternal blue skies, hot weather, brown grass and fake skies be blowed - I'd rather have Ireland any day, even though it's perishingly cold at the moment. My usual circuit plus a bit of the lake today, bare foot of course.

Four peaks again

This time S and I took some visitors with us. It was the same route although I made the hike more accessible by ferrying them by car to the start and from the finish, reducing the hike to a total of 10.7 miles. We did well, no bones broken, all present and correct though tired, but there's a big difference between being on one's own (you can choose your own pace, and choose to take no backpack) and being with a group (you are sort of obliged to carry lunch and water and spare clothing for emergencies because.., and your pace is set by the weakest, so that S and I had to repeatedly stop and wait, getting cold in the process). And to add insult, before the hike I had run six miles first thing in the morning, and in addition the car was full so I had to bike to the start and run back from the finish. I was the only one bare foot. The others realised the benefit - their shoes were sodden - but steadfastly resisted.  Not that I would recommend a mountain for one's first encounter with no shoes.

4 peaks and a couple of birds

Following my recent post I thought you might like to see the four peaks mentioned there, all in a row, viewed from just up the road from us.  And a couple of birds who got in the way. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

BTW - After clicking to enlarge I am able to navigate through the pictures at full resolution by using the cursor left / right keys or by clicking on the small picture icons. One viewer has complained that this does not work for him - is this a general problem?  Feedback please!

Four peaks and Mullaghcleevaun again

A gorgeous day - could it be summer? - and the hills were calling me again. This time I biked to Ballyknockan (marked "Start" on the map) and hiked from there.  The route encompassed four peaks: Silsean, Moanbane, Mullaghcleevaun and Black Hill, and included my Favourite Place lough Cleevaun, which I entered by its back door. I swam a few strokes in the lough - it was a bit cold and I am not a strong swimmer so am cautious when on my own.

My track

Track statistics indicate just short of 13.5 miles hiking. My "hiking" includes jogging when the conditions are favourable. Elevation gain 1137m with maximum altitude 845m. The biking part was a bit less than 4 miles each way.

The road bit back to my bike was hard work - my legs no longer wished to run and I needed a drink. But the mountain and lake part of the hike was wonderful, idyllic, almost unbelievable. The weather was warm but not too hot, and the hills were alive! Meanwhile some others from the community were at a CrossFit do all day (it was in aid of cancer research). Fair play to them and I hope they enjoyed their day as much as I did. I cannot imagine that they did, mind you, but then that is my perspective.  I prefer having the hills to myself so let the Others do what they will.

These photos have got themselves in reverse order - it was my first time importing directly from Google Photos, I must try harder next time! You can enlarge the pics by clicking on them, then use cursor keys to navigate through the album.

Back to civilisation but my feet didn't want to run any more

Thank you, kind landowner, and yes, I did have
appropriate footwear (none) and clothing (not much)...

Green road and war memorial

The amazing Green Road 

One of many spot the deer photos

Zoomed in

Black hill in the distance, and my way home

West end of lough Cleevaun

The lough from the west end

Shore at east end, a good place to camp

The peat (turf) fields nearby, barefoot runners paradise

Close up of the small pond 

A small shallow pond near the lough

Another view of the sandy shore

Same again (do I love this place?)

Proof that I was there

Waterfalls on the slope of Mullaghcleevaun

From the shore looking west

First sight of lough Cleevaun from its back entrance

Mullaghcleevaun from Moanbane summit

Silsean from Moanbane summit

The small and bottomless pond and Moanbane summit marker

Silsean and the pond in the saddle

Same again - Riche swam here when we took him camping

Three peaks

Interesting part of my track

Track statistics
. distance 16.33 miles
. speed moving 4.65 mph
. maximum altitude 707m
. altitude gain 991m

The goal was to "do" the three peaks Silsean, Moanbane and Black Hill in one normal Sunday afternoon starting from and finishing at home, on foot and barefoot of course. It was tight - I got back to the kitchen after showering at 17:50 ready to cook chips for a 18:00 dinner.  The mountain part of the run was glorious.  You can click on the images to view full screen.

Altitude profile shows the three peaks

The terrain

Towards Blessington from Silsean summit

Towards Valleymount and home from Silsean

Silsean summit cairn

Moanbane summit marker

The bottomless pit

There are shallow ponds on Silsean, but the pond at the very top of Moanbane is awesome. It is quite small - some 10m long and 5m wide - but appears to be bottomless. Leastways I could find no bottom, but swam end to end anyway. It is hard to avoid swimming in such a unique place and the water temperature was quite reasonable.

Moanbane from gap between it and Black Hill

The lake from Black Hill summit

Descent via the "Green Road"

The Green Road descent from Black Hill is one of those magical places - how does it persist from year to year without being lost to the general mountain herbage? Stony in places, for the most part it is like I have depicted so it is good to run down at full belt.  Half way down is this monument to a WW2 air disaster.

Black Hill behind the monument 

Moanbane and Silsean in the background

And so back to Lacken and tarmac and the long haul back home - at the fastest my legs would carry me so as to avoid Trouble on getting home too late.

More Autumn

A few more Autumn shots taken whilst running today...