From the trail head, follow Three Trout stream southwards through Glen o'the Downs wood. Exit the wood by descending the concrete steps onto Glen Road. Take the footpath alongside N11 initially in preference to R762 (for safety reasons), i.e. from the steps go the the roundabout on your right to access to footpath (There are two roundabouts and four roads at this point so a bit of careful road crossing is called for. Basically, cross over both the road on your right coming down from the N11 and then the road going under the N11 to reach the footpath on the right hand side of the R762 where you will see a footpath with a wooden fence leading up to your right. Take this path as it rises up to run alongside the N11.) Leave the N11 footpath and join R762 at the point where Blackberry Lane (L5402) emerges, and continue southwards. The road becomes a track, and this is the Drummin masspath. At O273 092 there is palisade fencing across the mass path, around a business premises. However, the gates are permanently unlocked, so walk through. (A subsequent check on the internet shows that the county council challenged this closure of the mass path in court in 2017, and seems to have succeeded). The route of the Drummin mass path is interrupted by the upgrade of R774 Farrankelly Road to a dual carriageway (I searched in vain for a tunnel under this road; then I saw the sign covered in overgrowth). It is necessary to head west for 350 m along the footpath to the nearest roundabout just to cross the road! Having rejoined the mass path on the other side of the road (where the signage is also hidden in overgrowth), there is a very short muddy patch, but from there is a good quality path through nice woodland and pastures to L5542 at Kilquade Hill. This point, O285 078, where the Cannistown River meets St. Patrick's River, is the convergence of the Drummin and Kilcoole mass paths, both going from there to St. Patrick's Church, Kilquade. From this road, rather than proceeding to Kilquade, we took the Kilcoole mass path to our destination at The Rock of Kilcoole, a rocky outcrop with splendid sea views. This is a very nice section of the trail, and the two photos below were taken on this section.The alternative of following the joint Drummin-Kilcoole mass path from Kilquade Hill to St. Patrick's Church in Kilquade, which we didn't take on this occasion, is an opportunity to view this historic church, to have excellent coffee at the Arboretum, and to investigate the Old Russian Village. This enclave of about 20 houses in Dacha style was designed by Bayan Giltsoff in the 1940s as a tribute to his homeland. One of these houses, Hunter's Moon, is almost directly opposite the church, and best viewed from the Arboretum now that the high hedge has been cut down. There are also photos on the internet of this and other Russian-style houses.
Don't be put off by the apparent barriers that we encountered on this hike. This mass path is worth a visit, and is quite varied. The purpose of starting from Glen o' the Downs was to stretch it into a hike of a reasonable length. We'll be doing it again.