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| Maximum height for area: 925 metres |
Summits in area: 88 |
| OS Map(s): 28B, 49, 50, 55, 56, 61, 62 for all tops |
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Walk Guide 38 for
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Glenmacnass Tonelagee Laragh Scarr Circuit
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Maintainer: simon3
 (Guide rating: 4.17) |
Overview
Walk length: 22.5km Ascent: 900m Duration (without stops): 5:30 h:mm
This longish walk takes in the magnificent Lough Ouler, follows forest tracks to a bridge near Laragh and then north over Scarr finishing at the odd hummocks of Brown Mountain. Apart from the views from most angles of Lough Ouler, there are great views from Tonelagee which is the third highest summit in Wicklow as well as views of the Glenmacnass valley including its waterfall.
Points visited: Start = O113 030 - N Ridge of Tonelagee = O084 023 - Tonelagee - Tonelagee NE Top - Mall Hill = O111 006 - T140 972 - Wicklow Way enters forest = T140 975 - T144 993 - Scarr - Brown Mountain = O125 033 - Finish = O113 030 (Guide last changed: 2007-02-10)
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Approaches
Take the R115 north out of Laragh towards the Sally Gap. Park at the Glenmacnass Waterfall car park. There have been very occasional reports of car break-ins.
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Start
There is one immediate safety issue about this walk. Can you cross the Glenmacnass River which you need to do to get to Tonelagee? If you can't then you can't easily do this walk. It is possible to walk upstream to cross it however you may need to go 4km and back.
On this walk you only need to cross the river once. Though should you abort the walk early on and retrace your steps, you would need to bear in mind that if it has been raining that the water level can rise quickly.
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Points visited
The initial target is the outflow of Lough Ouler which you skirt to the right, north side, climbing rapidly and passing the ancient cross inscribed stone (see comments for Tonelagee for a picture) and then to the summit of Tonelagee which has a trig pillar.
Proceed down from there to Tonelagee NE Top hopefully taking in more views of the famous heart-shaped Lough Ouler.
From there to Mall Hill and then onto tracks. At each junction keep going south, until you reach a four way "cross roads" (well paths). Turn left and find a small track left almost immediately and follow this to find the footbridge. This is signed as being part of the Wicklow Way, shown on maps and its grid reference is shown above.
Cross the bridge, turn left at the road and right shortly following a sign for the Wicklow Way. Follow the path upwards, leaving the Wicklow Way after about 800m to the left and in the direction of higher ground shown as Paddock Hill on maps. Follow tracks of varying quality towards Scarr.
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Finish
The descent from Scarr follows a NW ridge with nasty track to Kanturk. Turn left, west, and return to Glenmacnass Car Park.
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Alternative start/ finish.
For those without a car it would be perfectly feasible to do this walk starting from Laragh. From the green in Laragh head west past the filling station, forking right to T139968 (Point A). Walk into the forest to find the Wicklow Way and the head east and north on it to the footbridge mentioned earlier. Follow the walk up Scarr, across Glenmacnass etc. Note the warning about the river being uncrossable after heavy rain. If this happened to you then you would have to walk back on the road (R115).
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A Diamond Day.
There was bad weather on many of the available walking days in Jan 2007. Wet, unpleasant days that can put you in bed. But Feb 4 was a Diamond Day and it was my good fortune to be leading a small group of Ramblers on this circuit. We can always have fun but the weather made it something else. All of the pictures were from this day. It was clear the view was good before we reached the carpark and by the time we got to Tonelagee it had become apparent it was exceptional. Apart from razor sharp views to the south, there was a clear view of a number of Welsh summits including Snowdon. (See comment on Tonelagee). Parts of the surface of Lough Ouler were frozen and other parts very still leading to near mirror reflections very visible on the way down to Tonelagee NE Top. Later the weather had changed and as we ascended Scarr we headed into low cloud. But it turned out the cloud was a thin layer from which we emerged to find we were on top of that most revealing phenomenon, a temperature inversion. As we ascended the direct, unclouded sun fell towards the skyline leading to amazing colours in the sky and views of low clouds gently tumbling into places such as Glendalough and surrounding the Sugar Loaf.
The sunlight was almost entirely red by the time the final picture was taken, a snap shot of some of my friends eating oranges on Scarr intended to put the contrail into just the right place. You can just see the Sugar Loaf poking through the mist. Conversely to the east side of Scarr was in shadow and illuminated only by the extremely blue sky. The mist that had settled therefore had an eerie bluish tinge.
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| Point A: T139 968 |
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