wicklow cycle route

get on your bike

hi all

I want to take in the shay elliot climb & sleve ne mann (is that the one) but was wondering what the route to hit them with. I live in bray & my guess is head up to glencree & take a right at sally gap but from there, not sure. Any body know?

cheers

dc

brayblue24

depends on your level of fitness. If I had never done either before I would go to Roundwood-Annamoe-Laragh and then up the climb. Shay Elliott is handy enough from that side. At least that way the return journey is reasonably flat if you run out of gas. Failing that you could indeed go to Glencree to Sally Gap and follow the direction to Laragh

csb1989

From where you are, the shortest route that takes in both climbs would probably be an out and back along the route suggested by brayblue

Then to get to the climbs, take the Rathdrum road out of Laragh, and after less than ~1 mile, take a right up a road that goes straight up- this is the early part of the Shay Elliot climb

Then just continue over the climb, down the other side, straight across the crossroads in Drumgoff, and the next climb is Sliabh Mann- you'll know it when you're on it!

As I said, to make this route as short as possible just turn around when you get to the top, or if you want to make a loop out of it, you could do something like Kiltegan-Baltinglass-Hollywood-Sally Gap-

Saila

head to kilmac and up to calary and on towards roundwood and laragh.
then on to shea elliot and down and on to slieve mann

or a route I did but much longer, N11 to Ashford, on to Glenealy and Rathdrum and Aughrim, Tinahely to Hacketstown and onto Slieve mann and Shea Elliot, this way you get each on their hardest sides

manwithaplan

Do you drive? I did this loop starting and finishing in Laragh but I wouldn't be adding it to a spin out and back from Bray. You get to chalk off the Wicklow Gap while you're at it.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4099357

You can cut a fair bit off this by using the smaller roads that run sort of parallel to the N81 and the Baltinglass-Kiltegan Road but I reckoned the potential for heading the wrong way was too great.

If the car isn't an option I would go Bray-Kilmacanogue-Roundwood-Laragh-Shay Elliot-Slieve Mann-Aughrim-Rathdrum-Glenealy-Rathnew-Newcastle-Kilcoole-Bray just because I am allergic to out and back routes and 110km is doable.

If I was to turn back at the top of Slieve Mann, I would turn right at Drumgoff crossroads and head for Rathdrum and pick up the route home from there.

manwithaplan

Saila wrote: »

or a route I did but much longer, N11 to Ashford, on to Glenealy and Rathdrum and Aughrim, Tinahely to Hacketstown and onto Slieve mann and Shea Elliot, this way you get each on their hardest sides

That's the direction I climbed them from but I got the impression that it was the harder side of the Shay Elliott alright but the easier side of Slieve Mann. I could be wrong.

get on your bike

Saila wrote: »

head to kilmac and up to calary and on towards roundwood and laragh.
then on to shea elliot and down and on to slieve mann

or a route I did but much longer, N11 to Ashford, on to Glenealy and Rathdrum and Aughrim, Tinahely to Hacketstown and onto Slieve mann and Shea Elliot, this way you get each on their hardest sides

cheers for responses. I was hoping for a route which you take the right at the sally gap but this is a good one. I Know how to get to Aughrim & tinehely but then Hacketstown I dont. Is there any sign posts & from there will that lead you to slieve mann.

trek climber

csb1989 wrote: »

From where you are, the shortest route that takes in both climbs would probably be an out and back along the route suggested by brayblue

Then to get to the climbs, take the Rathdrum road out of Laragh, and after less than ~1 mile, take a right up a road that goes straight up- this is the early part of the Shay Elliot climb

Then just continue over the climb, down the other side, straight across the crossroads in Drumgoff, and the next climb is Sliabh Mann- you'll know it when you're on it!

As I said, to make this route as short as possible just turn around when you get to the top, or if you want to make a loop out of it, you could do something like Kiltegan-Baltinglass-Hollywood-Sally Gap-

What kind of distance would it be to go from say Laragh across both Shay Elliot and the Slieve Mann and then to turn around and come back the same way

manwithaplan

Not that far. It's less than 14 km from Laragh to the top of Slieve Mann so double that. I still reckon that's cheating though;) .

Muller_1

get on your bike wrote: »

Aughrim & tinehely but then Hacketstown I dont. Is there any sign posts & from there will that lead you to slieve mann.

You don't need to go into Aughrim, or anywhere near Tinahely or definitely not as far as Hacketstown your in Carlow then!

The best shortest loop is to take in Brown Mountain as well you can do this loop from either direction, but doing Brown Mountain, Slieve Maan and then the Elliott is the harder way around

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=52.951534,-6.307697&spn=0.095874,0.209255&z=13&msid=110670622487595265203.0004927b0399985973ac2