Silsean is rarely mentioned or climbed without reference to its almost twin summit Moanbane. The two tops are the highest points of the area of mountain overlooking the hamlet of Ballyknockan to the east of the Blessington Lakes and Phoulaphuca Reservoir. There is about 1.5kms between the tops, and Silsean is the smaller by 5 metres. However Silsean has a summit cairn, while Moanbane makes do with a summit pond. The cairn on Silsean has recently been rebuilt by volunteers into a 3.5 foot high beehive from stone on the hill. The same volunteers have attempted to repair damage caused by quad bikes by transplanting sods of bog to the scarred summit area.

Silsean can be reached directly either from O00415 06643 A or O01141 07290 B. For a much longer walk start at the Black Hill car park at O04387 10862 C. Silsean offers great views across the Blessington Lakes, as well as south to Slievecorragh, Church Mountain, and Corriebracks.

Silsean also offers fantastic opportunities for lengthy snow sliding on its western slopes in the winter! Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/113/comment/4873/

What could be more Irish for St Patricks day than a ramble in our green hills!! I followed csds advice and approached Silsean from the Garryknock side. There is a forest track indicated on sheet 56 at O031036 D and this is where I parked up. There is the standard coillte yellow and black forest gate across this track and while the whole area looks less than frequently used, in the short space of time it took me to pull on my boots and pack the bag no less than two local farmers approached the gate, unlocked it, and entered the forest area to herd and feed sheep. There is really only room for perhaps two cars at this location and due care should be given not to block the gate. In hindsight there are also plenty of parking opportunities further along this road, in particular around the houses at the end of the road.

So off I set along the forest track through the trees. I stuck with this track until it petered out as indicated on sheet 56. As you come to the end of the track there is a large turning circle and from here the track narrows and continues for perhaps another 50m. At this point a fence appears on your right hand side and inside it there is a faint track. While it does look fairly inhospitable just stick with it as it gradually opens up and is easy to walk along (fence should be with you on your right hand side the whole way). In no time at all you will be led onto open mountian and from here its a short forward skip to the summit.

My dated version of sheet 56 indicated forestry to the summit of Silsean which is certainly not the case. The photos of csd and simon3 show a timber post which indicates the summit of Silsean. As you can see from the photo below someone has taken the time to build a somewhat decorative cairn around this timber post - from a distance it looks just like a wishing well! Car to summit could be comfortably completed in 50mins. Refer to Moanbane for rest of route. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/113/comment/4517/

There were still patches of snow on Mullaghcleevaun from the storms earlier this week. This picture shows the view over to Mullaghcleevaun from the small pond northeast of the summit of Silsean. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/113/comment/726/

This is the sad summit of Silsean as it is in March 2008. Compare this picture to that of csd's just four and a half years ago. The bikers have churned up the soil destroying the vegetation over the area beside the post you can see in both picures.

The group in the background are in front of Mullaghcleevaun. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/113/comment/2988/