Scarr Lough Dan Loop 4 May 2019
Saturday 4th May 2019 09:53
25km
Altitude gain 925m
Two people from a previous hike and one other from my climbing club.
Gear was good. Headed to Scarr with the option to go farther or do a longer loop around Lough Dan.
Concerned about fitness issues with the people from the hike before, as they had they struggled in high winds.
What a great day. Super sunny and bright but with a cold breeze. Really clear air with good views. A great variety of ground covered, woodland, streams, open high ground, forestry, oak woods, lakes, roads (I hate roads, tough on my calves) and back onto high ground again to get to the car.
The hike to Scarr was great, through woodlands and past erratics, very open ground and the cold breeze was keeping us on the move. It was useful that people could see the distance they had covered as it was good motivation. At times we could see the roads below and all the cars, everyone realised how lucky we were up high. Once we dropped down towards Lough Dan the breeze was less and there was very little uphill left (a little at the end) The top of Lough Dan has a beach which none of the group had been to. A couple of campers were close by and we came across a scout troop headed in the opposite direction. 100 of them… I mentioned the cold breeze to the leaders as we passed, some of the kids looked a little under dressed, but maybe they are just hardier than me. We finished the loop on some of the same ground that we had started on, everyone happy to get back. It was the most any of them had hiked in a good while.
Area :
Wicklow Mountains South
The Wicklow Mountains are the largest area of continuous high ground in Ireland, having an unbroken area of over 500 km2 (190 sq mi) above 300 metres (1000 feet). They occupy the centre of County Wicklow and extend into Counties Dublin, Carlow and Wexford. The general direction of the mountain ranges is from north-east to south-west. The south includes Croghan Kinsella.
