CAMADERRY & ST. KEVIN'S WAY

Our hike begins in the Glendalough visitor centre. From here we will walk through the ancient Monastic site of Glendalough founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. Following the Green Road, we make our way towards the upper lake where we will take in the views of the glaciated valley before taking the Miner’s Way as we ascend towards Camaderry.

Turning off from the Miner’s way we will start the approach towards Camaderry South-East top on a rough trail. We will wind our way through mixed forestry including some stunning Scot’s pine and if we’re lucky we may be able to spot some deer along the way. After a steep incline we will arrive on open mountain side above the treeline. Here our path gets boggier but the gradient eases as we walk along the shoulder of Camaderry enjoying views of Mullacor on the left and Tonelagee and Brockagh on the right.

The path gets steeper and rougher as we pull up the last few metres to Camaderry South- East top. We will have a well-deserved break to enjoy the view at the summit cairn as the majority of the height gain has been climbed. We will pick our way over rough mountain ground towards Camaderry and enjoy the open mountain side. After reaching the summit we will descend carefully through Peat hags before a quick rise to reach Turlough Hill, the site of Ireland’ only pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant. Here we will use the access road to descend into the Glendasan valley.

On descent we will join with St. Kevins Way, a pilgrim path that links Hollywood and Valleymount to Glendalough. The quality of the trail gets increasingly better as we travel through the Glendasan valley. We will pass by the ruins of the lead mines that were in use from the turn of the 19th century until the 1950’s.

As the path flattens, we will follow the Glendasan river downstream and enjoy the peaceful and easy trail back towards our start point at the Glendalough Visitor Centre.

For a more moderate hike the loop can be shortened at Camaderry south-east top to shortly retrace our steps before heading down an access route into the Glendasan valley. This route would be 6km shorter but would have equally rough paths in sections, however the views are just as scenic!

WALK INFORMATION