Dublin Way Christmas Ramble

Over the last number of years the traditional Setanta Christmas Walk has grown in popularity and this year's walk was no different. Originally it was just club members, then we joined forces with the Ajax boys and this year we had a great collection of other club members including GEN, Fingal & 3 Roc and lots of non-orienteering guests.

Like last year we had a bus collection point which brought us from Bradys of Shankill  back to a snowy Tibradden Forest where we started walking around 10.45am. Picking up people along the route we followed the new Dublin Way up onto Tibradden Mountain and on to the summit of Fairy Castle. From here we visited the beautiful gallery tomb on the eastern side of Ballyedmonduff Forest which was a pleasant surprise for most people who have spent years running around this forest but had never come accross this antiquity before.

Crossing over the uphill flowing stream (go and check it out yourself) we made our way down through Newtown Forest and on to Ballybetagh Wood - a beautiful deciduous forest. From here we flaked across a disused golf course and on through the Scalp to Barnaslingan Woods where we stopped for some well earned refreshments.

We were fortunate with the weather and seemed to pass through a number of different microclimates where we had bright sunshine, thick fog,solid ice, freezing cold & warm air at different stages. Up on the summit of Carrickgolligan we were unable to see the city because of the dense fog below us yet we could see the mountains of Snowdonia way across the Irish Sea.

After a quick visit to the lead chimney we followed the Dublin Way down through Rathmichael Woods and enjoyed more fine views from the top of the Rath. The route from here wound its way down through some old laneways to a pedestrian bridge over the M50 and literally brought us to the door of Brady's Drinking Emporium, arriving around 4.30 pm, just before the onset of darkness. With a nice corner reserved for ourselves we enjoyed a few well earned pints and a bit of grub.

There was some debate about the total distance travelled but in the end it was agreed that the total distance was in the region of 18km approx.

All in all a very enjoyable walk and there is already talk of an even longer route next year, watch this space...