Go Walk: Raheenleagh Wood to Croghan Mountain, Co Wexford/Co Wicklow

Regular travellers on the main Dublin- Wexford road will know the isolated peak of Croghan Mountain, which straddles the border of counties Wicklow and Wexford. For walkers who want to go beyond the main parts of the Wicklow Mountains the area provides some fine walking in a relatively unexplored corner of the east coast.

Our walk is circular, with an hour long road walk at the end to bring you back to your transport at Raheenleagh Wood. This can be shortened by having a second car at Clonroe Wood.

The route is well signposted at the start, and under-foot conditions are good except where quad bikes have dug up the ground on the approaches to the summit of Croghan.

Croghan Mountain (or, in Irish, Cruachain Ui Chinnsealaigh, which means Little Stack of the Kinsellas) is steeped in history, being the scene of a 1795 gold rush, a stand-off in the 1798 rebellion and evicitions in 1887.

In 1795 nuggets of gold were found in the local river – the Gold Mines River – and once word got out there was a rush of people to the area. More than 3,000 ounces of gold was found through panning. In 1935 there was a smaller gold rush to this area. Hopes of an El Dorado never quite fade.

The starting point is Rahleenleagh Wood (grid reference 153714), beside the 1798 monument at White Heaps, where insurgents camped following their defeat at Vinegar Hill. Enter through the forest barrier and continue along the main track through larch and Sitka spruce trees. Continue on the main track, which eventually swing rights, and down the hill.

At a junction, keep right (a red arrow marks the way) and climb up through the forest, which continues to a crossroads of paths. Follow the red signs, which will bring you on to the open mountain beside wire fencing that marks the county boundaries of Wicklow and Wexford. Follow a broad path that takes you to the 606m summit of Croghan, which is crowned by a spectacular outcrop topped by a small trig pillar (a concrete marker).

The views, which take some beating, encompass the Wicklow Mountains, from the Sugar Loaf in the north to Keadeen in west Wicklow, across to the Blackstairs and Mount Leinster and back around to the coast as far south as Carnsore Point, in south Wexford. Below you are patchwork fields interspersed with forestry and rougher pastures.

After a reviving drink, head for a fence that is 800m to the west. Orpheus’s descent into Hades is nothing compared to the foul slime, caused by the churning of the soil by quad bikes, that you have to wade through on your way to the fence. Surely some scheme could be put in place that would give bikers and walkers seperate routes.

At the fence, make a sharp turn south and descend through rocky ground. After 15 minutes you will come to a stone wall. Continue to descend for five minutes until you reach the edge of a forest.

Turn left on to a forest path. You get from here to a lower track by taking a right turn after 10 minutes and descending on a steep track until you come to the main path. From the stone wall to the main path should take about 15 minutes. It sounds more complicated than it is, but keep in mind that you need to descend to the lower ground.

Turn left and walk through a blasted heath, with the remains of felled trees all around you. After 15 minutes bear left at a T-junction. Shortly afterwards you will come to a sign on the left marked Viewing Point. Ignore this and go straight on for three and a half kilometres.

For the last 40 minutes you walk straight through mixed forestry before emerging at Clonroe just below Clonroe Crossroads. With the odd break for a breather or a cup of tea, the walk should take three and a half hours. If you want to go back to the start, turn left at the forest entrance and make the six-kilometre walk back to Raheelagh Wood. It’s a pleasant route along a quiet road that adds about an hour to the overall walk.