Sadly there is nothing left of this Wicklow-Mountain-top cairn. All that remains on the summit of this hill is a pile of large rocks and a block of exposed bedrock. There is an OS trig point on this bedrock.
I knew that the site was poorly preserved before I climbed the hill, but I wanted to see what the site had to offer and why the builders chose to erect a cairn here. The location is fantastic - right on the east edge of the Wicklow Mountains with views out to The Great Sugar Loaf (County Wicklow) and across to Tibradden (County Dublin).
The stretch of the Wicklow Way that climbs the hill from the south is one of the best sections I have yet walked. It starts at a large parking area above Enniskerry with a zig-zagging forestry track that becomes a well constructed set of steps created with huge rocks set up the hillside in a natural feeling staircase. At the time of this visit the trees had been cleared from the hillside allowing me to experience the views throughout the climb.
This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |