Sugarloaf Way - Almost

Hiiker route around Great Sugarloaf in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. GPX Download.

Tuesday was a cracking day and saw me head off taking the 45A bus to Kilmacanogue in North Wicklow, with the intention of hiking the Sugarloaf Way. The bus left me on the southbound side of the N11 and using the footbridge I crossed onto the other side of this busy artery from Wicklow into Dublin. The actual way starts at the 1916 Rising Memorial park at the roundabout in Kilmacanogue (it is not a very big place, so it won’t miss it really!), however, once I got there and realised it was a liner route, thereby required an out and back journey I decided to adapt!

Now, I should have done my route planning beforehand but was probably a bit complacent as it is not too far from home and of course I thought I knew the area well.

Anyways, no map, no compass and no sherpa to guide me I got me a nice route using the Hiiker app as my OS map. The route was a full circular route of the Great Sugarloaf climbing to the summit and then returning to the village via the actual Sugarloaf way itself.

En route as I left the hustle of the N11 behind me nature perked up all around me. Yes, I realised I have become one of those people who whip out a bird identifier app (in my case Merlin) at the merest tweet. What a treat - Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Willow Warbler, Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and a Whitethroat (one that I had never heard before).

I sat on the summit, alone and sweating for a considerable period, gazing out over a hazy Irish Sea in one direction and the rolling hills of Maulin and Djouce behind me thinking that it would be hard to be in a better place anywhere than where I was just at that moment - deep I know!

Returning back to the 45A I was in for another treat from nature - 2 hares, a pine martin and a red kite flying overhead.

Back to N11, back to the noise, back to the bus and back home. But the short trip and hike made me think more about what is on my doorstep and how blessed we are to live where town, city, sea and mountains and all they contain are all easily accessible by foot, bike, car and public transport.

360 degree view from the top of the Great Sugarloaf, Co. Wicklow, Ireland