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Luggala Walk

4.04 miles (6.5 km)

Open Streetmap Enjoy a climb to the 'Fancy Mountain' on this walk in the Wicklow Mountains. The 595 metres (1,952 ft) mountain is situated just above Lough Tay, near the village of Roundwood. It is part of the wider Luggala Estate (or the 'Guinness Estate'), owned by a member of the Guinness family. The luxury buildings on the estate, can be rented commercially year-round. The stunning estate has been used as the location of some major films, including Zardoz, Braveheart and Excalibur.
You can start the walk from the parking areas on the R759, just to the east of Lough Tay. From here you can pick up tracks heading west, passing the southern end of Lough Tay and crossing the Cloghoge River. Just after crossing the river you turn right on a footpath which will take you up to the hill summit.  From here you can enjoy fantastic views of several of the surrounding hills and mountains including Djouce, Ballinafunshoge Hill, Knocknacloghoge and Lough Tay & Lough Dan.
To extend your walking you can continue west through the Cloghoge Vallley to visit the beautiful Lough Dan or climb to Knocknacloghoge mountain just to the north of the water. The Lough is a great place for wildlife watching with several Peregrine Falcon sites on the steep cliffs.
Another option is to head to the nearby Vartry Reservoir where there's good surfaced trails around the upper and lower reservoirs.
Also nearby is the Lough Bray Loop Walk, Crone Woods and Powerscourt Waterfall. It's located in a beautiful spot on the River Dargle and is the highest waterfall in Ireland.

Luggala Open Street Map Open Streetmap - Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking

Further Information and Other Local Ideas

Just to the east there's the expansive Ballinastoe Forest where there are miles of walking and mountain bike trails to try. The boardwalk trail will take you to the wonderful Luggala Estate View Point and the J B Malone Memorial. Malone was an Irish hill-walking enthusiast who popularised the pastime through his television programmes and books. From here you can also continue up to Djouce Mountain.
The epic Wicklow Way passes through the area. You could pick up this waymarked trail to further explore the Wicklow Mountains.
Near Vartry Reservoir there's the Devil's Glen where you can enjoy a fine woodland walk to a picturesque waterfall. You can also pick up the Seamus Heaney Walk here and explore an area connected to the Nobel Prize winning poet.
To the south west is the beautiful heart shaped lake of Lough Ouler. In this area you can also visit the Glenmacnass waterfall and enjoy a climb to the stunning viewpoint at Tonelagee.

Photos

Luggala (Fancy Mountain) and Lough Tay. - geograph.org.uk - 523782

Luggala

View of the valley between Lough Tay and Lough Dan - geograph.org.uk - 523795

View of the valley between Lough Tay (lake near) and Lough Dan (barely visible in the distance), as seen from J.B Malone memorial on Djouce. Visible in the picture is Lough Tay in the bottom right, the slopes of Luggala and Knocknacloghoge on the right hand side, Kanturk in the above right and Ballinafunshoge in the above left. Also visible is the rock in which the J.B Malone memorial is situated on, and the tourist viewing area of Lough Tay.

Video

GPS Files

GPX File

Luggala.gpx (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold>Download Linked File)