Tag: Outdoor

Beachwalk : Inchydoney Beach, Clonakilty, Cork

Inchydoney Beach is a beautiful blue flag beach just 10 minutes from Clonakilty Town in Cork. Inchydoney itself is a small island, long connected to the mainland by two causeways.

This is a lovely beach to take a short walk on, anytime of the year. As the beach is quite sandy, it would not be very buggy friendly for a walk.

The Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa (link) also overlooks the beach, so this is a great option for a walk for its residences.

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There is a car park a short walk from the beach ( location shown below).

Cabinteely Park

This is another great park to enjoy in Dublin. Cabinteely Park has great facilities. There is a decent sized car park, playground, coffee shop and plenty of space for walks. The park is close to Cornelscourt off the N11 or if you take exit 15 on the M50.

Cabinteely Park Car Park https://maps.google.com/?cid=9240937456546682405&hl=en&gl=ie

Corkagh Park

Corkagh Park, near Clondalkin is another great park to visit in Dublin with a wide range of facilities. Along with the great open green areas and woodlands, the park has a free pet farm, playground, fairy wood, rose garden and a nice pond and fishing facilities.

The main car park is just off the Kingswood exit on the N7 and parking is free. The small coffee shop is located near the fishing facilities near the pond.

Check out some photos of the park below from a sunny March day.

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The Wicklow Gap

The beautiful Wicklow Gap (R756). Take a drive or even a cycle over the rural mountain landscape.  The Wicklow Gap road goes from Hollywood near the N81 about 10km from Blessington to the village of Laragh near Glendalough.

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Bray to Greystones Cliffwalk

The Bray to Greystones Cliffwalk is a fantastic walk along the coast. There is a well kept path that is quite popular. It can be walked in both directions but if you only fancy going one way just take the DART back. We parked in Bray, walked to Greystones and got the DART back.  From the Bray side it starts just after the Bray Head Hotel. Parking is limited here so grab some parking along the beach.

Grade: Moderate, the route is marked with Red arrows
Distance: 7km
Estimated time: 2.5hrs
Total height climbed: 130m
Highest point: 100m
Terrain underfoot: Footpath

Again wicklowwalks.com provides a great guide http://www.wicklowwalks.com/bray-cliff-walk

Also check out http://www.thecliffwalk.ie/

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Take a walk to the Hellfire Club

If you are looking for a nice short walk, a good view of Dublin city and a place with a spooky history, the Hellfire Club is for you! It’s located on Montpelier Hill which is about a 30 minute drive from the city.
There are many myths and stories linked to the Hellfire Club. One of the best known of these tells of a stranger who arrived at the club on a stormy night. Invited in, he joined the members in a card game. One player dropped his card on the floor and when he bent under the table to retrieve it noticed that the stranger had a cloven hoof. At this point the visitor disappeared in a ball of flame.

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To start off park the car here. The website wicklowwalks.com have a good page on a number of walks in Dublin and Wicklow and include this. The google map link below is taken from the website but I would recommend you visit their site for more details (and other walk ideas!)

The Hell Fire Club was built around 1725 as a hunting lodge by William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It was named Mount Pelier by Conolly but over the years has also been known as “The Haunted House”,”The Shooting Lodge”,”The Kennel”and “Conolly’s Folly”. It was one of several exclusive establishments using the name Hellfire Club that existed in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. For more information, check out this Wikipedia page.

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Maulin & Powerscourt Waterfall

Great walk that passes by the Powerscourt Waterfall as you climb the summit of Maulin in Wicklow. The walk takes about 3 hours. Start the walk by parking at Crone Car Park.

We found this hike from the following great website http://www.wicklowwalks.com/powerscourt-waterfall. More details of the hike can be found here or below.

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Route

  • Starting from the car park at Crone, follow the forest trail at the head of the car park. There are several twists and turns in the path, but ignore side paths and follow the route clearly marked with Wicklow Way signs.
  • After passing through the forest, the path suddenly emerges into the open high above the valley into which the Powerscourt Waterfall drains, with wonderful views. Follow the path along the side of the valley.
  • The path eventually becomes less clear for a while as it enters some pine woods. Follow a line through these woods to emerge in the open again to a clearly marked path with a view of Maulin to the right, and the Dargle river (which becomes the waterfall) to the left.
  • A pleasant detour is to follow the path downhill to the Dargle River for a picnic.
  • At this point there is an option to return back to Crone along the same path again, reducing the walk duration by about an hour. Otherwise, continue uphill to the summit of Maulin along the clearly visible path.
  • Follow the path back into the woods to pick up the forestry road. Be sure to head west rather than east to find the point where the path enters the woods.
  • Follow the forestry road back to Crone car park. There are several routes through the forest, but all lead back to the car park.