Lug

Sgt Slaughter

Probably been posted before but just wondering on tips for going up. The way i went before was up to Barravore, up past the hostel up the steep climb to the road, then took a left went down the road about 200m then hopped up into the forest and climbed up until i got to a clearing then, headed left down a bit, crossed a stream and headed along the tree line until i got to a bit of a cliff face and i could see my car parked in Baravore below. Then i found away downhill crossed a stream/river that was flowing downhill and climbed up the mountain in front of me which had plenty of boulders to navigate through, kept going up and up until i reached a cairn that marked the top, and from where i was there were steep drops about 70m to a lake that didnt look far away. I followed the stream down the mountain and then got onto a path which i followed for a good half hour until i reached the top of the rugged path to Barravore.

Any tips from anybody? It was very misty so i didnt want to hang around and wander into the artillery range, could anyone tell me which way they would go up or does anyone at all recognise the path that i took

hmmm

Was it Arts Lough? You might have gone up Fraughen Rock Glen and found yourself on Clohernagh. Yer lucky you didn't fall off somewhere! Lug can be tricky to navigate (could be described as dangerous) if you're not sure of your route.

There is a book called "Hill walkers Wicklow" by David Herman which (at the back) gives over 10 different routes up Lug. You might be able to pick it up in town.

Sgt Slaughter

Well went up on Saturday, not a bother. My god it was freezin on top though. Can get very disorientating in the mountains but when there is more than one, youll find your way

fergalr

I was up top of lug about 1630 saturday, bumped into three guys who were camping out, was just curious if that was you?

It was indeed damn cold, legged it off the summit as quick as possible... ended up doing some scrambling in the dark...

Sgt Slaughter

We were on the summit at 1 and off it by half. It was perishing up there, but when you got down about 200m it was ok. Hard bastards camping up there, it must have been will into the minuses if they were staying over night. You didnt leave yourself much time to get off. Was it not dark when you were descending? Which way did you go up? I'm gonna head back up again few days after christmas up the camarahill way, hopefully a day when the mountain is snowed over

fergalr

The guys we met weren't going to camp on top - think they were camping not too far away, but not on the summit (not sure if that would have been feasible).

>You didnt leave yourself much time to get off.
No, we didn't.
We made a fairly quick (jogging some of the way) descent.


Our route, in detail, was as follows (you might need OS map to follow description):

Park in glendalough car park
head west out of glendalough along glenealo river
cut south at about 500metres up towards lugduff
head west/northwest along the spine there
head down into glenmalur (along the river along the edge of the forest which is south of conavalla)
heading southwest we climbed up the river that was just north of benleagh
headed west towards the edge of the firing range
essentially followed the edge of the firing range to the top of lugnaquilla (there was a bit of path here, which was marked on our harvey's but not our OS)
got to top of lug about 30 mins before dark (or there abouts)
descended lug heading east towards clohernagh
continued east down the spine to about 500metres (fully dark by now)
cut north into glenmalure (nasty terrain, some scrambling down broken rock)
arrived in glenmalure beside the parking area that's west of the bend in the wicklow way
followed the wicklow way back to carpark in glendalough (minor deviations)

And then, when we got back to the car park, at about 2045, the car park was locked!
Despite there being no signs saying the carpark was going to be locked...
So we walked to the hotel in roundwood, got in contact with the lock/unlock dude, walked back to the carpark, and he let us out.
He claimed they used to have signs up, but vandals took them down - I guess I can believe this, but I thought it was a bit bad of him to lock the carpark, with a car still in it, considering we had no warning.

>I'm gonna head back up again few days after christmas up the camarahill >way, hopefully a day when the mountain is snowed over

It was well below zero when we were up (counting windchill)
All the grass was frozen over (made nice sounds underfoot!), it was quite windy (force 5?) and visibility was poor. (How does this compare to earlier in the day?)

You'll need to know what your about if you go up in the snow on a similar day!

Sgt Slaughter

Thats some walk you did there man, take my hat off to you. Conditions were exactly the same when i was up on lugnaquilla. Its a cold mountain. Will right up here if i get back up it soon

Evil Phil

hmmm wrote:

There is a book called "Hill walkers Wicklow" by David Herman which (at the back) gives over 10 different routes up Lug. You might be able to pick it up in town.

Does anybody know where I can get a copy of this? I've tried Great Outdoors but they didn't have it.

loz

Evil Phil wrote:

Does anybody know where I can get a copy of this? I've tried Great Outdoors but they didn't have it.

Apparently Glandalough info office sell it ! ( via google ) - after a copy myself

Alun

Evil Phil wrote:

Does anybody know where I can get a copy of this? I've tried Great Outdoors but they didn't have it.

I've got one, and I'm pretty sure I got it in the Great Outdoors. Have you tried any of the other outdoor shops, or maybe a bookshop like Eason's?

Evil Phil

Yeah, Easons have several copies as of today plus quite a lot of other guides to walking in Ireland.

r1g2b3

heh... I've bivvi'd on the summit cairn (21st Dec '03).



cold night alright!

fergalr

Wow, very cold I imagine!
You picked a pretty exposed spot to bed down.

Did you use sleeping bags inside survival bags? If so, was the condensation a real problem? How's it compare to just survival bags?

Or just sleeping bags? I can't tell from the photo?

Evil Phil

Gortex bivvie bags are the way forward if you can afford one

fergalr

Aren't they a bit miserable?
Granted I havn't seen the top of the line ones, but all the bivvys I've seen suffered from condensation problems.
Have you had experiences to the contrary?

I was looking at buying an outdoor hammock recently, as a shelter which mightn't have these problems.

testicle

The goretex ones don't have any problems with condensation at all. They cost about 80 odd quid though. I've used mine on it's own in the summer, with no coldness