Great sugar loaf mountain hiking

Great sugar loaf is a conical shaped mountain located in Wicklow, Ireland. It is located at the eastern side of the Wicklow mountain range, and a bit isolated. Due to its conical shape this is sometime mistaken as a dormant volcano. The height of the Sugar loaf mountain is approximately 501 meter. Most of its surrounding area are much lower. That’s why from the top anyone could see a far way.

Great sugar loaf mountain with heathers.

Hiking and trekking

Great sugar loaf is a nice place for short hiking and trekking. Main trek goes to the peak of the mountain. Duration of the round trip is around an hour (for the first timers it is even more as they would take photo of lovely landscapes). The path is pretty wide and easy. Anyone with a minimum fitness should be able to tackle that. Near the summit the path has some loose rocks. But that shouldn’t be any problem. Lot of people bring their kids during the weekend for hiking. This place is very popular during the weekend as it is very close to Dublin.

View of Sugar loaf during driving towards it.

First time I saw this Sugar loaf mountain while driving through the M11 motorway. Then another day we took a wrong turn and passed beside the mountain. That day saw the mountain from the parking area and decided to come back during summer. We were looking for some place to walk around the heathers in Wicklow. So decided to have our visit during middle of August when the heathers are in bloom.

Pale heathers and the mountain during our hiking.

The weather was a mixture of everything and was changing very frequently. Interestingly the rain was a bit heavier for a while too. There is a nice big enough parking space from where the trail starts. It was very windy but sunny initially. It was around 4:00pm in afternoon. Most of the people were coming back after finishing their hiking. Only very few people were heading towards the peak.

A portion of the peak is covered with heathers.

Under the bright sun the view was magnificent. The heathers were all in bloom. It was a lovely scene to see the Great sugar loaf mountain with the pink of heathers. So we’ve spent lot time around the scenic view. Near the end of the trail we had to do some sharp climbing. Had to take long stride in few places because of the large rocks. From the top of the mountain we had a bird’s eye view over the surrounding area. It was possible to see as far as Bray, Wicklow mountains, and the Vartry Reservoir. Due to the summer the fields were green.

From the peak of the Great sugar loaf.

Before returning we went further from the trail at the other side of the mountain. Not sure how far the trail goes, but didn’t go all the way. But looks like people use to hike on the trail frequently. While returning it started raining heavily and then a sudden sunshine. That created a wonderful rainbow in the eastern sky. I took a nice picture of the rainbow with the heathers. But it didn’t last very long. Heavy rain followed afterwards. When we returned back to the parking area we were wet like a crow. We had a plan to visit some other places in wicklow after that, but instead returned back to home.

It gives a nice bird’s eye view from the peak.

Where to park

The trail begins from the parking area. It is a quite big parking space. Only problem is the entrance, which is much smaller and lower. So if you plan to go there with a bigger car (like camper van) then you can’t park. For others it is ok. GPS coordinate of the parking space is (53°08’39.7″N, 6°09’18.3″W).

While enjoying the beauty the cloud was threatening for advent of rain.

How to go:

Take M50 and the M11 (or N11) to go to Great sugar loaf mountain. The distance is around 50km and takes around 40-50 minutes based on traffic condition.