Counties Wicklow & Kildare
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Includes Why Go? County Wicklow...... 135 Wicklow and Kildare may be neighbours and have a Wicklow Mountains.....135 boundary with Dublin in common, but that’s where the Glendalough...... 140 similarities end. Western Wicklow...... 147 Immediately south of the capital is wild, scenic Wicklow. Its most dramatic natural feature is a gorse-and-bracken The Coast...... 148 mountain spine that is the east coast’s most stunning land- Southern Wicklow...... 150 scape, complete with deep glacial valleys, isolated mountain County Kildare...... 153 passes and, dotted throughout, some important historic Maynooth...... 153 treasures, including one of Ireland’s most important early- Kildare Town...... 155 Christian sites and a couple of 18th-century Palladian estate houses. Donnelly’s Hollow to To the west is flat, fecund Kildare, which also has a hand- Castledermot...... 157 ful of elegant Palladian piles but is best known as horse country – of the thoroughbred kind. Some of the world’s most lucrative stud farms are here, many with links to the Best Places horse-breeding centre of Kentucky in the US. Kildare is also home to some of the best golf courses in Ireland and, in to Eat recent years, the country’s largest outlet mall. ¨¨Ballyknocken House (p149) ¨¨Strawberry Tree (p151) ¨¨Tinakilly Country House & When to Go Restaurant (p148) ¨¨Summer – June to September – is the best time to visit ¨¨Grangecon Café (p148) Wicklow, especially if you’re going to walk the Wicklow Way or do a little green-thumb exploring. ¨¨Byrne & Woods (p140) ¨¨Running from Easter to late August is the Wicklow Gardens Festival. Best Places ¨¨The Irish Derby – the most prestigious flat race in the Irish racing calendar – is held in June at the Curragh in to Stay County Kildare; meets continue right up to October. ¨¨Brook Lodge & Wells Spa (p151) ¨¨Hunter’s Hotel (p149) ¨¨Powerscourt Hotel & Spa (p139) ¨¨Martinstown House (p156) 135 Counties Wicklow & Kildare CounIWinforcklotmywa Wit Mounioncklotwains - - - - - rklow. T) suburban suburban T) AR ake, Glendalough; Exploring the 11 (M11), which runs d that runs by the pper L 81, which runs down the (Heritage Service; €2) is a a is €2) Service; (Heritage apid Transport (D Transport apid rea R rea oundwood and Glendalough. Dublin ake, about 2km from the Glendalough pr), offpr), the Green R Getting There & Away 8 A TheMilitarynarrow wayits winds Rd Thestatisticsand numbers aren’t all that 10am-5.30pm May-Sep, to duskSat & Sun ct- pper L d,Bolger’s Cottage, U BUS TRAIN CAR lakes such as Lough Bray Upper and Low and Upper such as Loughlakes Bray the head of the glaciers, by ice at gouged er, complete the wild topography. through the most remote parts of the moun some extraordinarytains, offering views of countryside.surrounding the The best place gins a 30km southward journeygins a 30km southward across vast heather-cladand bracken- gorse-, of sweeps with moors, bogs and mountains dotted small corrie lakes. Theimpressive. highest peak in the range, verya of more really is (924m), Lugnaquilla here. This hardly matters hill, but that large of hot ig intrusion, a welling-up granite vast some 400 million solidified neous rock that Ages was shaped during the Ice ago, years into the schist-capped mountains visible The peaks are marvellously desolate today. can be. Between as only nature and as raw the mountains are a number of deep glacial valleys, most notably Glenmacnass, Glen malure and Glendalough – while corrie Blessington into County Carlow. into Blessington St Kevin’s Bus runs twice daily from Dublin and Bray to R Bus 65 runs regularly as far as Blessington. A Dublin The rail line runs southward from Dublin as far as Bray, connections bus and train regular are there and from the capital to Wicklow town and A Wicklow Mountains Dublin and cross into Wicklow, As leave you From dramatically. the landscape changes still Dublin, the Military in Killakee, Rd be R h O U on someone usually There’s Centre. Visitor hand to help; if you find it closed the staff may be out running guided walks. Glendalough Valley good booklet on the trails in the area. 8 Wicklow is relatively easy to get around. The main routes are the N north–south through the county from Dublin to Wexford, and the N western spine of the Wicklow Mountains through ------National National 0404-45425; 0404-45425; % ( leads walkers along leads walkers Wicklow Way Wicklow Information 8 Theis plenti of the park bird population Most of Ireland’s native mammal species native of Ireland’s Most Stretching 132km from Dublin’s southern Stretchingfrom Dublin’s 132km ational Park, call in at or contact the or information about Wicklow Mountains Mountains Wicklow about information or POP 136,000 AREA / 2027 SQ KM Park Information Office Information Park Miners’ www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie; 8 F N dippers can be spotted, as can red grouse, dippers can be spotted, whose numbers are quickly disappearing in other parts of Ireland. a rarer sight, though they in the park.a rarer too live includebirds found in the area Moorland Less commonmeadow pipits and skylarks. ring ouzels andbirds such as whinchats, ful. Birds of prey abound, the most common being peregrine falcons, merlins, kestrels, harriers are Hen and sparrowhawks. hawks tion became extinct half of the during the first The uplands are the preserve18th of century. squirrels arehares. Red and badgers foxes, – lookusually found in the pine woodlands Lake. out for them around the Upper can be found within the confines of the park.can be found within the confines Large herds of deer roam on the open hill in theintroduced areas, though these were 20th century red-deer popula as the native Wood Nature Reserve, conserves Nature oak woods Wood Lake as far as thestretching from the Upper road to the east. Rathdrum Glendalough Visitor Centre, conservesGlendalough Visitor Centre, the and bog of the Glendaloughextensive heath Lake and valley slopes plus the Upper Valley on either side. The second, Glendalough bogs and woodland. Within the boundariesthe Within woodland. and bogs re nature of the protected area are two serves, by the Heritage owned and managed Service protected and legally by the Wild life Act 1976. The reserve, larger of the west National Parks covers Park National Wicklow Mountains blanket 200 sq km of mountainous just over disused military old bog roads supply lines, can ex you Along the way trails. and nature plore monastic ruins, handsome gardens and 18th-centurysome magnificent mansions. the country’s most walking trail. popular the country’s Car County of fields rolling the to suburbs the low, (Cill Mhan Wicklow of Dublin, south Just a playground, favourite the capital’s táin) is coastline,of garden pleasure wild woodland to home mountain range, and a daunting COUNTY WICKLOW