Forestry thinned to the north of summit

It's a very handy walk along the track from ClBlTag Ldg ( ClBlTag Ldg (T075 823)) as per the summary and track 4000. The only thing bothering in August 2020 was the pack of flies that accompanied me on my journey. Getting there is a bit of an adventure in itself if you've not been in the area before because Askanagap would probably rival Aughavanagh for the label of "the last place that God made".

On this day the views from the summit were far ranging: the Blackstairs clearly visible to the south and Slievenamon to the south west. All the lower hills of South Wicklow spreading out as possible future outings.

The forestry to the north of the summit appears to have been felled apart from a small number of trees along the summit line. Stepping through these I was able to see northwards into the South Prison of Lugnaquilla which looks a lot less impressive from Ballycurragh than if you're standing at the foot of its gullies. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/381/comment/20843/

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simon3 on Ballycurragh Hill

I think I would recommend Ballycurragh Hill only to the most dedicated summit bagger. For a start as of 2003 much of the summit is covered by adolescent (very prickly) Sitka spruce. The summit itself is marked as being within these trees, though whether it is really there is hard to determine. As you can see from the 1:50k map the summit area is only partly unforested giving you at most a 90 degree view. None of the main southern Wicklow mountains are visible.

Our trip to the summit was marred from the start. Although we had tried to start further south, we found a noisy scrambler competition in full swing so we actually started at the entrance that the Wicklow Way uses. There’s space for one or two cars here, at C (C (T070 836)). There is a zig-zag pattern of forest roads represented on the map. The map turned out to be accurate as to the relative position of these tracks (though GPS showed absolute errors of as much as 300m). It should have been easy to walk up these zig-zags, if tedious. But we found the scramblers were using an unpredictable mixture of roads and routes through the trees.
Having decided that discretion is the better part of valour during scrambler races we found ourselves walking up one narrow ride (unplanted linear gap in the forest) which abruptly stopped leaving us with a hands and knees route under the lower branches of the said Sitka. Finally emerging bedraggled from the trees we found that we were once again in the midst of the scramblers! Hurrying from them and with the help of the GPS we eventually found our way to the summit. Although the summit was part of the scramblers route, by the time we reached it, they had packed in for the day.
The photo shows the small cairn near the top. The faint summits on the skyline are the Blackstairs to the South West. The ground rising to the left is part of the unnamed hill at 431m. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/381/comment/417/

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padodes on Ballycurragh Hill

At first sight, Ballycurragh seems no more promising that its forest-infested neighbours, Ballyteige and Carrickshane, but I found it a lot better than its reputation.
On the one hand, if you are only intent on bagging another top, it has got a lot easier of late. Starting at the forest entrance at ClBlTag Ldg (T075 823) (unmarked on the OSI 1:50,000, but detectable on the Healy map), head upwards until you reach A (T073 820). Here the main forest track turns sharply right, into the forest interior, but to the left a relatively new track now goes straight to the top of the hill between the edge of the forest on the right and fenced pastureland on the left. I would be inclined to place the summit – a rather pretentious word here – just to the right of where the track meets a wall of forest at the top, but a small mound of stones about a hundred yards to the left of this, at D (T0567 8229), obviously enjoys greater favour (see photo).
If, on the other hand, you want to get the best from this 500+ hill, I would suggest a circuit that follows at first the Wicklow Way, starting either at E (T074 843) (limited parking by the roadside) or higher up at C (T070 836) (better parking) where the route enters the forest. The zigzagging forest trails on the OSI map are still accurate and allow one to plot the best course to the top without difficulty. I saved a GPS track of my walk and found, when later seen on the computer against the calibrated background of the scanned OSI map, that it followed the forest trails perfectly until it reached F (T063 828), approaching the top. Then, however, the track looped more widely around to the southwest. The forest trail now continues on beyond what is indicated on the OSI and soon begins to descend, so at some point there is nothing for it but to brave a prickly climb through the final few hundred metres of forest to the left. I branched off myself at G (T055 824).
When you emerge by the summit, just follow the track between forest edge and fence down to the road, as described above, turn left and walk the final two or three kilometres back to your starting point. All in all, the hike amounts to 11 or 12kms. It’s true that the view from the top of Ballycurragh is slightly disappointing, since it is really only clear to the SE, but the wider circuit of the mountain will not disappoint. It offers a fine view of Croaghanmoira to the NE and of Lugnaquillia South Prison to the NW from unusual angles. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/381/comment/3053/

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csd on Ballycurragh Hill

We managed to gain the summit by following the Wicklow Way as far as the ride at H (T054 835), where we turned south and followed it most of the way to the summit. It gets very wet underfoot, and there is a small amount of pushing through dense forestry. Despite Simon's rather negative comments, I think the view from the summit is worth the bother. The fact that none of the major south Wicklow mountains is visible even adds to the attraction, making this mountain somewhat unique. The view extends from Croghanmoira and the Irish Sea in the east (where the new wind farm is visible) over to the Blackstairs and Mt Leinster. The picture shows the summit cairn and the view over to Croghanmoira and Ballinacor.
Note that the Healy map is not accurate with regards to the forest tracks on Ballycurragh Hill - the Sheet 62 OS map is better. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/381/comment/732/

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csd on Ballycurragh Hill

Slieve Maan, Carrickshane, and Croghanmoira, viewed from the NE shoulders of Ballycurragh Hill. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/381/comment/733/

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