As close to a wind turbine as you'll get.

I drove as far as possible up the road to A (T981 708). I was hardly there more than 3 minutes when a local man in a 4x4 pulled up alongside and before he could ask me my business, I asked if it would be alright to walk to the top of the hill. He said there was no problem as long as I closed the gate en-route and said that I could "drive to the top but you'd probably prefer to walk'". My guess is that he's on a retainer from the turbine operators to keep an eye on activity but there doesn't seem to be any access issues. The return walk from the first set of gates took about 25 minutes. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/892/comment/17617/

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wicklore on Lakeen

Lackeen is home to six large wind turbines, and as a result has a good track that runs all the way to the summit area. Although there are gates, they were open and I found myself driving close to the edge of what could be termed an honest ‘peak-bag’. To ease my conscience I left the car at B (S981 708) and quickly reached the summit area along the track. The ‘whooshes’ of the giant turbines were impressive. (pdtempan experienced a strange whoosh sound on Kirikee in August, but no turbines there! Was that mystery ever solved?)

The presence of these wind turbines on our hills is an interesting juxtaposition. They take from the local natural environment, while simultaneously symbolising the effort to be green and develop clean power sources. Personally I like them, although I understand they have caused lots of damage in Mayo and elsewhere.

There are good views across to Ballycumber, Muskeagh and Seskin from Lakeen. But for me there was no real excitement or sense of achievement being up here. There was no sense of isolation, which was compounded by the fact a farm vehicle drove past me as I stood at the summit. Perhaps an accessible place to bring children to see these turbines up close, but not a place to seek solitude. There is no forestry at the summit as shown on the OSI map. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/892/comment/3421/

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csd on Lakeen

The gate at the entrance to the track up to the summit of Lakeen is festooned with a number of stern warnings to keep away, so it was with some trepidation that I set off from the same parking spot as wicklore did. The six wind turbines on the main summit are to be joined by two more being constructed on the neighbouring hill to the SE, and a telecoms hut has been added to the summit of Lackeen. Quite the industrial complex!
Back down at the parking spot, a local pulled alongside and asked what I was up to. At first I was worried he was going to berate me for trespassing on private property, but it turns out he was very friendly, and has no problems with walkers going up to the summit and admiring the turbines. So it seems, stern signage notwidthstanding, Lakeen has no access problems. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/892/comment/3737/

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Cronelea or Lackeen?

This hill is referred to as Cronelea Hill by Liam Price and he notes that Lakeen or Lackeen is name of a house below in Ballymarroge. Not too far from me and the turbines kinda dominate the skyline from the SE - must enquire around area to see what local people call it. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/892/comment/6127/

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A nice minor road cul-de-sac

On a run in the Shillelagh area I was curious about the minor road that led off uphill towards the turbines, so I decided to run up it, quite slowly mind, as the gradient is nasty enough in parts. Traversing the Wicklow way up from the Dying Cow you come quite near the Turbines but they don't appear readily accessible from that side. Googling the turbines it seems that they were perhaps the first wind turbine site in the country.

Strava tells me that the segment from start to finish is c. 2.7km rising some 200m in that time, with an average gradient of 8%. There is quite a few houses and farms up along the road, but it was very quiet on the morning I was up there. Herds of cows were grazing in and around the turbines. Visibility wasn't totally clear, with low cloud over surrounding hills. A nice jog down and run back to Shillelagh Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/892/comment/24022/

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