wicklowcountywalks A pictorial guide to walks in the beautiful Irish county of Wicklow crone woods

A pictorial guide to walks in the beautiful Irish county of Wicklow
And a pleasant chat along the way

Crone Woods - Walks 1 and 2

click on image for high definition

Road Directions from Enniskerry to Crone Woods

Entering Enniskerrry on the Bray Road (R117) turn left before the Clock-tower onto the R760.
Turn right at the first T junction keeping to the main road and turn right again at the second T Junction,
turning off the main road. Keep on this road to Glencree ,
passing the Powerscourt Waterfall on your left the woods will be also on your left 5 km from Enniskerry.

If you are new to these woods I would suggest these two walks.
Walk one - I would describe as strenuous with a duration of 1 1/2 hours and a climb of 170 metres.

Walk two is a shorter route with a climb of 70 metres and a duration of 1 hour. I would describe it as moderate.

Both walks start off from the car park keeping to the straight and not turning left at the first junction (this will be the return for the first walk). There is a steady comfortable climb up to the next junction. (photo on lift) There a choice can be made whether to ascend higher and turn left or take the more easier route and turn right.

Walking up hill

I will make two suggestions that have helped me over the years.

When walking up hill take shorter steps. Not only will you find this makes walking easier but you are less likely to damage your Achilles Tendon.

A number of years ago I cycled and camped on Vancouver Island. Ascending a hill a old man called out to me “You must be very strong”? “No” I replied “Very slow”. Figuratively throw away your watch and take your time. Put the major effort into turning your head toward the hill and let your body dictate the pace. If your lungs are acting like furnace bellows and your heart sounds like an Orange man's drum then you are definitely overdoing it. Not only are you increasing the chance of a heart attack but you are not enjoying the experience.

But before you choose take a good look at your surroundings (two photos below). You are in the Glencree valley. The valley is one of a series of glaciated valleys that run in an east/west direction .Around you there will be the scares of the upheaval of the Ice Age. People pay good money to see the views you are now looking at. But for you they are all the more sweeter because of the your effort to obtain them. The views are even better the higher you go. Is that not an incentive to turn left.

At this stage of the walk you have climbed 70 metres.

OK: You decided not to ascend any higher and you are turning right. There is still great scenery ahead of you and after a very short climb (10 metres ) it's downhill almost all of the way back to the car-park.
You should arrive back after a little over an hour.

The mature trees form a dense screen on either side of the forest path down to the public road.

Once on the public road the scenery opens up to reveal the Sugarloaf Mountain, Clencree Walley and Knockree Hill

For those who decided to turn lift after a short ascent the scenery of Glencrea Valley begins to be revealed as the the forest track passes through de-forested areas.
(The harvesting of trees has not all negative results.)

A good excuse for a short rest is a look at the scenery around you. Glencrea Valley including the head of the valley with Glencree Reconciliation Centre clearly visible. The outline of Glencrea river should be visible and the Sugarloaf Mountain.

At this stage of the walk you have climbed 170 metres and it's downhill the rest of the way .

The forest road will end in a turning area for trucks and you will have to make your way straight ahead through rough ground in the same direction of the road. After a very short time you will be rewarded with a seat and a wonderful new view of Djounce woods and the Powercourt waterfall. You are now on the Wicklow Way, and if you wish to ascend higher and go to the back of the waterfall you would turn right. Perhaps another day, left will take you back to the carpark and it's downhill all the way.

Is not this an enchanting place and what's more you can enjoy it because it's on the way down. The people travelling the Wicklow Way have a climb ahead of them and might not fully appreciate this place.

You will arrive back at the car park approx. 2 hours after leaving it.

But what if you turned right when overlooking Powercourt Waterfall and followed the Wicklow Way? You would have had a very hard climb but it would have been worth it.

Before the route gets too difficult you would have past through the scenes in the two photos.

The ridge (not shown) is about 260 metres above the car-park and a decent of 80 metres to the river shown below.

Then after a further ascent Glensouian (the source of the Dargle river) should come into view. Maulin and Tonduff mountains should be on your right and Djouce and War Hill on your left.

To follow the Wicklow way you would turn right follow a steep decent down to the Dargle river, cross over a footbridge and then continue for a couple of miles ascending until you reach the other side of Djouce mountain and after the Roundwood reservoir comes into view.

The restrictions of the forest give way to the open expanse of the upland moor.

Part of the pleasure of walking, for me, is the ability to quench my thirst by drinking from a cool refreshing stream. I would not drink where there is human habitation upstream. ( I will take my chances with diseases from animals.) The principle I apply - the nearer to the source the purer the water.
The same principle applies to the “stream” of Christianity. Many people have rejected Christianity because of the human excrement they have found floating upon it's waters. To all I would offer this advice. Go upstream to where the waters are pure, go where God only speaks, go to the New Testament. Don't drink the waters of polluted religion and don't reject Christ because of the foreign pollutants. Go to the head waters. Salvation is found in Christ and not in Church Leaders or Institutions (no matter what their claims).
Saint Peter said to the Religious Leaders of his day “ (Christ) is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
(Acts of the Apostles chapter 4 verses 11 and 12)

Walk 3

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