Counties Wicklow & Kildare
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©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Counties Wicklow & Kildare 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 simil arities 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 Rd, Bolger’s Cottage, Upper Lake, Glendalough; COUNTY WICKLOW h10am-5.30pm May-Sep, to dusk Sat & Sun POP 136,000 / AREA 2027 SQ KM Oct-Apr), off the Green Rd that runs by the Just south of Dublin, Wicklow (Cill Mhan- Upper Lake, about 2km from the Glendalough táin) is the capital’s favourite playground, a Visitor Centre. There’s usually someone on wild pleasure garden of coastline, woodland hand to help; if you find it closed the staff may and a daunting mountain range, home to be out running guided walks. Exploring the the country’s most popular walking trail. Glendalough Valley (Heritage Service; €2) is a Stretching 132km from Dublin’s southern good booklet on the trails in the area. suburbs to the rolling fields of County Car- low, the Wicklow Way leads walkers along 8 Getting There & Away disused military supply lines, old bog roads Wicklow is relatively easy to get around. and nature trails. Along the way you can ex- COUNTIES WI plore monastic ruins, handsome gardens and CAR some magnificent 18th-century mansions. The main routes are the N11 (M11), which runs north–south through the county from Dublin National Parks to Wexford, and the N81, which runs down the western spine of the Wicklow Mountains through Wicklow Mountains National Park covers Blessington into County Carlow. C just over 200 sq km of mountainous blanket KLO bogs and woodland. Within the boundaries BUS of the protected area are two nature re- St Kevin’s Bus runs twice daily from Dublin and W serves, owned and managed by the Heritage Bray to Roundwood and Glendalough. Dublin & Service and legally protected by the Wild- Bus 65 runs regularly as far as Blessington. K ILDARE life Act 1976. The larger reserve, west of the TRAIN Glendalough Visitor Centre, conserves the The Dublin Area Rapid Transport (DART) suburban extensive heath and bog of the Glendalough rail line runs southward from Dublin as far as Bray, COUNI WI Valley plus the Upper Lake and valley slopes and there are regular train and bus connections NFOR on either side. The second, Glendalough from the capital to Wicklow town and Arklow. CK Wood Nature Reserve, conserves oak woods LO T M Y WI Y W stretching from the Upper Lake as far as the A T Rathdrum road to the east. MOUN ION Wicklow Mountains Most of Ireland’s native mammal species CK As you leave Dublin and cross into Wicklow, can be found within the confines of the park. LO the landscape changes dramatically. From T Large herds of deer roam on the open hill W Killakee, still in Dublin, the Military Rd be- AIN areas, though these were introduced in the gins a 30km southward journey across vast 20th century as the native red-deer popula- S sweeps of gorse-, bracken- and heather-clad tion became extinct during the first half of the moors, bogs and mountains dotted with 18th century. The uplands are the preserve of small corrie lakes. foxes, badgers and hares. Red squirrels are The numbers and statistics aren’t all that usually found in the pine woodlands – look impressive. The highest peak in the range, out for them around the Upper Lake. Lugnaquilla (924m), is really more of a very The bird population of the park is plenti- large hill, but that hardly matters here. This ful. Birds of prey abound, the most common vast granite intrusion, a welling-up of hot ig- being peregrine falcons, merlins, kestrels, neous rock that solidified some 400 million hawks and sparrowhawks. Hen harriers are years ago, was shaped during the Ice Ages a rarer sight, though they too live in the park. into the schist-capped mountains visible Moorland birds found in the area include today. The peaks are marvellously desolate meadow pipits and skylarks. Less common and as raw as only nature can be. Between birds such as whinchats, ring ouzels and the mountains are a number of deep glacial dippers can be spotted, as can red grouse, valleys, most notably Glenmacnass, Glen- whose numbers are quickly disappearing in malure and Glendalough – while corrie other parts of Ireland. lakes such as Lough Bray Upper and Low- er, gouged by ice at the head of the glaciers, 8 Information complete the wild topography. For information about Wicklow Mountains The narrow Military Rd winds its way National Park, call in at or contact the National through the most remote parts of the moun- Park Information Office (%0404-45425; tains, offering some extraordinary views of www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie; Miners’ the surrounding countryside. The best place .