“The Wicklow Way” was Ireland’s first waymarked trail, and due to its proximity to Dublin has remained one of the most popular walking routes in Ireland. Tinahely lies directly on this magnificent waymarked trail, and provides the perfect base for exploring one of Ireland’s best-loved and most authentic paths.
The Way winds through the Dublin and Wicklow Mountain range, the most extensive surface granite field in these islands, moulded over eons into a corrugation of east-west high rounded ridges and deep valleys. Tinahely is the perfect starting point, and the Way can be followed all the way from here to Dublin, allowing a dramatic encounter of the wilds of Leinster sweeping into the genteel suburbs and city life.
It is a richly varied route, with dramatic scenery of mountains and lakes, where although there is a strong sense of remoteness and few habitations, one is never very far from a public road. Among the dramatically scenic places taken in by the route as it wends its way through the mountains is the ancient and beautiful monastic site of Glendalough, where many will want to linger.
The southern region of the Way, around Tinahely itself, boasts fantastic rural scenery and pleasant resting sites, and here the climbs are gentler as it wends its way along forestry roads through a landscape of conifer-covered foothills. Terrain consists of forestry tracks, quiet roads, boreens and mountain paths through open moorland. Some sections can be wet and muddy. While there is some overnight accommodation available along the route, most options are off-route, so careful planning may be necessary. The total ascent over the entire route is about 2820 m.
