I first made the trip across to the Wicklow Mountains in December 2018, followed by a brief repeat in May 2023 - it was time for a return, some winter bonus points, and a few more uniques ticked off the list!
A family commitment on the Saturday afternoon at the Romford pantomime (oh yes there was!) made for a fairly long journey from there over to the port of Holyhead in time for the 0240 ferry.
There were gale warnings in place for the Irish Sea, but the ship’s stabilisers did a good job, and I was gently rocked to sleep in my cabin, albeit for only a few hours before we arrived in Dublin. A bonus of some of the Irish Ferries fleet is free on-board EV charging; while the irony of charging an electric car from the diesel ferry engine is not lost, it meant arriving nicely topped up, and avoided the need for any further charging in Ireland during my stay.
Sunday’s weather continued to be very windy, and walking was a challenge at times as I headed up EI/IE-007. I found a little shelter from the wind at the top, and somehow convinced the dipole to mostly stay in the air, with only occasional pauses to push the pole back upright.
Heading on to EI/IE-005 was a similar story - hiding behind the concrete blocks, with the Spiderbeam pole tied on to one of the old fence posts. Both of these were summits I’d activated before, but at 13 points each, with easy navigation even in the limited visibility, they were worth doing again.
I stayed in a small AirBnB near Great Sugar Loaf - nothing fancy, but at least with a radiator to dry everything out on, and a very friendly cat who appeared to do daily inspections!
Monday’s weather was much improved - the wind had dropped, and the rain abated. I’d missed the opportunity to activate EI/IE-001 on either of my previous trips, so with the promise of a reasonable day, that was my main target.
Parking at the Drumgoff Car Park, you start on a gravel track, before joining the Mountain Access Track as it heads through the forest on a raised wooden walkway, keeping you mostly out of the bog, but needing a little care as it’s slippery when wet.
After leaving the forest, the maintained track stops, but there’s a pretty obvious, if boggy, path over Carrawaystick Mountain and Corrigasleggaun before joining the main ridge east of Lugnaquilla.
At this point, I was concerned to find a sign stating that access permission over private land had been revoked following an assault on the landowner - re-checking my research later, this applies to the zig-zag path from Glenmalure, and the ascent from Drumgoff is still acceptable.
The final ascent to the summit was pleasant - watching out for the edge of the South Prison - and after a quick photo, I started to set up… but where was the fibreglass pole? Disaster!
Thankfully the trig point sits on top of a small cairn, so attaching the 30m dipole centre to the top of the trig gave at least a couple of metres clearance from the ground. Not the world’s most efficient antenna, I’m sure, but it got 15 QSOs in the log - thank you, all, and sorry if my signal was a bit ropey.
I retraced my route back to the car as accurately as I could, and about 4km back down the path, I reached a particularly muddy bit of bog, and there was the pole, having obviously jumped out of my rucksack during a particularly enthusiastic leap for dry ground on the ascent…
Croaghanmoira, EI/IE-010, was the obvious summit to pair it with just a short distance up the road, and proved a lovely end to the day.
Tuesday’s weather was even better than Monday’s - a bright, clear day of sunshine - and Mullaghcleevaun, EI/IE-002 was the final 10-pointer in Wicklow that I’d not previously activated. Driving to the car park before dawn, the roads were a little icy, definitely requiring extra care and the risk of needing new underwear once or twice.
The track from the car park up Black Hill (not a summit) is excellent; after that, the crossing to Mullaghcleevaun is rather wet until you start on the final ascent, but the view from the top is absolutely worth it on a good day.
Sorrel Hill, EI/IE-014 is reached from the same parking spot, and makes for a nice quick activation while you’re there. This bought the most QSOs of any single summit on this trip for me, once again on 30m.
I still had enough daylight to squeeze one more summit in, so headed for Trooperstown Hill, EI/IE-035. Only a 4-pointer (I’d not realised EI’s winter bonus only applied to >=6pts until I uploaded the logs later!), but a pleasant walk and a good end to the day.
With the ferry back to Wales booked for Wednesday afternoon, I managed to squeeze in a last couple of hills before driving north to Dublin.
Great Sugar Loaf, EI/IE-022, was only a few minutes from my accommodation, but saw the return of the wind and rain, and I sat fighting the pole which was trying to blow over, the morse key, logbook and pencil - probably the least comfortable activation of the trip! I promise my CW, while never wonderful, isn’t normally this bad.
By the time I headed over to Little Sugar Loaf (EI/IE-052) for a new summit and last couple of points, the weather had improved a little, and rounded off the morning nicely.
The ferry home departed a little early due to the high winds and rough seas, and the contents of the shop were all wrapped up to stop the bottles making an escape from the shelves. Driving back to Cambridge, the rain seemed to follow me most of the way - torrential at times, and the couple of stops along the way were enough to soak you within moments of getting out of the car.
All said and done, two excellent days of weather out of four in Ireland is December is a ratio I will absolutely take, and I’m very pleased to have added another nine activations and six uniques to the list.
Thanks to everyone for the QSOs, especially for putting up with my dodgy CW at times, and looking forward to 2026!
73,
Rob, M0VFC
