Start just right of The Circus Animals' Desertion on the left side of the slab with a large crack near its right edge. Step right to the overhanging crack and grapple with this to easier ground above. Start as for Circus Animal's Desertion and go up the groove to the bulge. Move up the ramp until it is possible to swing into the groove continue strenuously to the top. Start beneath the overhanging groove to the right of a leftward slanting ramp. THE CIRCUS ANIMALS' DESERTION ** 12m E3 (5c)Ī short but deceptively overhanging groove which will surprise the unfit. Move up the slab and past the tree for a few metres towards a corner, exiting right by an overhanging wall. Climb the groove until it is possible to break right onto a slab below a tree. It starts 5m right of a holly tree, beneath a steep broken groove with projecting blocks. This route takes the left-hand side of the west face to the right of trees. The climbs are recorded from left to right starting with the west face and followed by the south and east faces. Although most of the routes are rather short they are also steep and strenuous and some of them call for a sustained level of physical effort. All of these routes had been completed by 1990 and fifteen years later, and probably long into the future, they represent the largest concentration of hard routes on such a relatively small area of rock in Wicklow. Most of the climbing on the crag is very steep with a good deal of slightly overhanging rock on the west and south faces. This buttress has three faces, oriented west, south and east. There are oak trees to its left and another large oak and an aspen grove to its right. This approach will take just over one hour.ĭownload overview of the area at General view THE MAIN BUTTRESSĪlthough climbs have been developed on at least half a dozen outcrops the finest concentration of routes is found on one buttress, a rectangular body of rock projecting out of the hillside. Until the crag is reached a short distance beyond the lake. On reaching the lake continue west on a footpath between lake and hill slope Follow the approach to Luggala crag as far as the crossing of the Cloghoge River (O 162 062) but then continue south down the Cloghoge valley via a road and track. (3) Park at Luggala Gate Piers (O 172 065). Go left for 100m to the Inchavore River and follow a path eastward along its south bank through an oak grove and to the crossing point mentioned above. Follow the winding forest road in a generally easterly direction until it ends at a forest break. (2) Leave the Military Road at a forest gate at (O 107 055) about 9 km south of Sally Gap on the road to Glenmacnass. The crag is now 10 minutes away up the hill to the right.
To ford the river go past a rather large grove of alder (or willow?)trees on its south bank for about 200m until a suitably shallow crossing point is reached. Continue for a short distance until a stile on the right gives access to a path across private land which crosses the shoulder of the hill above Lough Dan until the Inchavore floodplain is reached. Residents are less enthusiastic about visitors since one of them had to be brought to hospital by helicopter because it was not possible to get a car past inconsiderately parked visitors' vehicles. There may be 2 or 3 parking spaces here but care should be taken to leave room for farm machinery to pass. Walk to a bridge and sharp road-bend at O 150 031. Follow minor roads from Roundwood via Oldbridge to the Scout Centre at the west side of Lough Dan where it is possible to park on the roadside. (1) The shortest walk-in was from the south at about 35 – 40 minutes but the shallows where it once was possible to cross the river have been swept away and it in now necessary to go to the grove of oak trees at the western end of the fields and cross at an island there. The three possible approaches to the crag are as follows:. The climbing is in a wild and beautiful setting, with splendid views of the meandering Inchavore and the lake itself. As a result the valley slope is dominated by broken ridges and buttresses, some of which are just about big enough for climbing purposes. The area is essentially a glacially eroded and steepened valley with escarpments further eroded by valleyside gullies. The rock is granite, mainly coarse-grained like that of Luggala. This small but important climbing area is located at O142 047on the south-facing broken ground of Knocknacloghoge (534m) overlooking the floodplain of the Inchavore River near where it discharges into the northern end of Lough Dan.