padodes on Carrigleitrim

I used to know Carrigleitrim as Ballynatona in years gone by, but I rather like the name now favoured by MountainViews. Given the many granite boulders that lie strewn around this hill, the possible “grey ridge” etymology would be neatly descriptive.

I suggest starting from the little car park at B (O043 108), above Lacken. Head north over Sorrel Hill and drop down to the shoulder between it and Carrigleitrim at C (O044 129). Some years ago, there was a muddy track through this forest intersection that led straight to the summit, but you now have to circumnavigate a Maginot Line of straggly pines, water-filled trenches and barbed wire. Getting around that and crossing the fence to your left, you are finally standing on an open hillside, mercifully free of forestation. There is an excellent view back towards the long-drawn-out hump of Lugnagun and the little dome of Woodend Hill, with the snaking Pollaphuca coiled around its feet. At the top of the slight incline, the way is blocked by a wall of forest, but if you cross back over the fence to the right you have a splendid view of the Liffey Valley to the east, from the Sand Pits to Coronation Plantation, with a few silvery meanders of the Liffey thrown in for good measure. The summit – a rather pretentious word here – is marked by a post at A (A (O0478 1398)). Surprisingly, there seems to be no vestige of our megalithic past on this hill, even though it is overshadowed by nearby Sorrel and Seefin.

If your retrace your steps to the shoulder, it is possible to give a bit of circularity to your walk by taking the track that leads into the forest to your right. Branch off at the first broad forest ride you meet on your left and you emerge onto the NW slope of Sorrel, from where you can easily contour over to Lugnagun and complete the circuit back to your starting point. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/791/comment/4511/

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Overshadowed little gem

A nice hidden summit. I had visited Sorrel Hill many times and driven the road close by Carrigleitrim without ever realising its existence. Though the area is known locally as Ballynatona, I agree with others that Carrigleitrim is a fitting name. For a nice sheltered quick walk this summit is ideal.

The start can be approached via Ballysmuttan Bridge (soon to be renamed) off the Manor Kilbride / Wicklow Gap road or from the Blessington and Oldcourt direction.

There is handy parking available at B'Smutn St (O045 147) the entrance to the wood. As it is a mature wood, you can head straight up towards the summit along the numerous old tracks left during tree extraction. It can be a bit soft going in places with scattered branches, so watch your footing.

The mature wood is quite enclosed and only opens out right at the summit which is marked A (O0478 1398) by a post. The area around here is quite flat and boggy in places, however there are nice views south to Sorrel Hill. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/791/comment/6799/

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A top that should be left to peak baggers

I climbed this hill on 29 March 2012 parking at the forest entrance B'Smutn St (O04397 14743). I followed the track for about 100m to where it turned sharply left and turned off it to the right to follow along a cleared area between the trees to the boundary fence where I turned left uphill through the trees. As this is a mature forest progress was quite straightforward up to a point just beyond a small clearing, near some large rocks, where the trees became smaller and more dense making the way forward much more difficult. I therefore crossed the fence D (O04684 14051) on to open ground and followed this up along the forest edge. Initially I climbed over some large rocks and then over heather, peat and stoney ground to another fence. Once across I followed the forest edge a short way to the top marked by a stout post atop a small raised stone ditch or cairn (see photo). While the view N was blocked by the trees there were views E to the high Dublin/Wicklow tops including Kippure Dublin's highest point. I returned by way of ascent except I did not re-enter the forest but continued down over the open ground to the road.. Although I had to cross a number of fences lower down this was greatly facilitated by stones to help the step overs. At first sight I had consided using this line for my ascent and not go into the forest but, viewed from the road the way ahead appeared to be blocked by thick yellow clumps of prickly whin bushes and I therefore changed my mind. In effect these were not a problem on the descent and a climb up from the road along the forest edge would have been quite feasible. In all a walk of 1.7k easily coverd in under an hour. In all honesty this is a hill for peak baggers and has little else to commend it especially as it has nearby the much more accessible, higher and finer viewing platform of Sorrell Hill. In my case it was the second of three isolated tops being sought out on that day. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/791/comment/14717/

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Well, that is that done.

Parked at the Black Hill car park on the gap road and went up over Sorrell Hill and down to the pull up to Carrigleitrim. That was the straightforward part. Trying to find a way onto the open hillside and the obvious scar that is at the side of the trees is, to put it mildly, difficult. There are new deer fences topped with barbed wire and too high for this creaky middle aged git. Getting through the trees was bad enough and I was then confronted by a deep, marshy drainage ditch.. I got through both and found where to cross old fencing. I now had the boggy final pull to the top.
The top is, elusive, especially in hail and snow. Satisfied I had found it, I headed back down keeping to the east side, the forest side, of the fence. This was fine apart from the old coils of barbed wire. This combined with the mud made me feel like an extra in the film 1917.
Again, confronted by a fence, I turned left following a gloomy old forest ride. The fence became a substantial dry stane dyke and I eventually cut across to a forest road which took me to the gap road and the walk back to the car. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/791/comment/20746/

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wicklore on Carrigleitrim

I was tired and sunburnt when I parked at the forestry track and barrier at B'Smutn St (O045 147) to bag the last of Sundays 6 Hill target list. I followed the track for a few mins before turning right and striking my way bravely into the Blair Witch forest. I calculated that I would reach the summit in 15 minutes. Despite the forest's best efforts I emerged scratched and gasping 25 minutes later. A lot of time was spent re-routing around clumped trees with wicked spear-like branches just waiting to rip and burst through walking gear and body parts. I was feeling negative when I finally burst through to the 'summit'. The photo shows this fine hilltop in all its glory marked by the white stick mentioned by walker_hollick and csd. Then I discovered the easy path back down through cleared land just to the west of the summit. Follow this down to the fence, turn back into the forest and straight down to reach the forest track in a few minutes. Any other route up this hill would be more straight forward I'm sure. But where's the adventure in that? Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/791/comment/3218/

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