Dublin Mountains Way

Still buzzing from watching The Killers in Malahide Castle the night before and with a few days vacations planned around the East Coast I decided to walk the Dublin Mountains Way. I walked from Tallaght to Johnny Foxes Pub in Glencullen. As an aside, I think the natural direction of this Waymarked trail is from Tallaght to Shankill which is contrary to most of the trail guidance including the official maps which are numbered 1 to 3 in an East to West direction. In my opinion, you see more if you travel West to East as you finish with a sea view; and in any case, the hero's journey is a Left to Right direction.

The route is very well signposted with walking man trail markers. My golden rule is, when in doubt, keep going straight on. I did break this rule at the lower reservoir at Bohernabreena but a friendly man walking his dog told me so before I had veered off too far. I had mistaken the lower reservoir for the upper reservoir whereby one needs to cross the lake. Other than that the only place I did genuinely have trouble with the route was around the MTB trails of the Gap. There was a section whereby the waymarked trail indicates straight on but I ended up crossing over a broken fence and then onto farmland for about 10mins and then back over another trampled fence section back onto the Gap territory.

On a fine June day I had no problem walking the 30-32km with runners and I had the trail to myself. There's a lot of road walking and the trail is mainly hard surface and I felt vindicated for leaving the hiking boots at home. I can see how some people have ran this trail. Overall I enjoyed this trail, it was nice to see rural County Dublin and to look down upon the sprawling city below whilst being alone with my thoughts. I treated myself to a nice pint of Guinness at the highest pub in Ireland.

NOTE FROM DUBLIN MOUNTAINS PARTNERSHIP: Thanks for your feedback, there is a downloadable pdf of the DMW route described in the west to east direction on the Dublin Mountains Partnership website see https://www.dublinmountains.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/DMW_Leaflet_2018.pdf. Paper copies are also available - to get a copy email your postal address to info@dublinmountains.ie.

Extremely dangerous. Lots of road walking and crossing of regional roads. Very poor trail and planning. Do not recommend

August 2019. We walked from Shankill to Tibradden last week and will complete the DMW next week. The distance is perfect to split into 2 days if you leave cars at the finish or get collected. Its good there are 3 possible stops along the way, Johnie Foxes, the GAP cafe (this place looks lovely, we'll go back there) and there are now toilets and a Cafe at Tibradden where the Zip Line is. 21km for this half. We liked the walk out of Shankill, we would have liked to be directed to the High point overlooking the Coast and a signpost to the Lead Mines would be a good idea. Hard to understand why these are not both included in the Way as we walk almost away from them. Barnaslingan and the Scalp is great. The New route through the Hotel/Ski resort is fantastic and a great place to stop for your picnic lunch, there is even a bench provided. We stopped in the Pub also as it was a very Hot Sunny day (ah we had to!). The GAP route is well marked and interesting but we missed the Tomb?.The forest trail up to Three Rock is long, if you want to stick to the marked trail up to Fairy Castle it's important to keep going and not be tempted by possible short cuts (as we know the area). From here to our half way point was fantastic, the highlight of the day.

Comments for Dublin Partnership? On the DMW website there is no mention of IrishTrails.ie yet that is where the most relevant information is. The route description on DMW on that site just ends abruptly and is not comprehensive. AS there are volunteer Guides now on the Mountains I imagine they have great talks prepared for walkers and these might be shared for us independent groups. We managed well because we know the area but it is hard to understand for visitors why the path brings you back and forth with no clear reasoning, when there are shorter options and even some more scenic options.

Conclusion on this part 5 out of 5, needs a bit better signage and route description, but we really enjoyed it. Views are amazing.I think it needs more promotion since the road walking element has changed.

Love this route and run on it regularly. It's very well signed and maintained. I ran the trail today but lost a black rab spark jacket somewhere on the route. I know there were a few runners on the trail today so if anyone found it could u let me know at @raycullen1976

Hiked this trail yesterday from Tallaght to Shankill. It took almost exactly 9hrs including a couple of food stops.

The way marking is pretty good on the mountain areas but quite poor on the road sections.

There is a lot of road walking (too much when you are wearing hiking boots!) and some very strange choices of routes at times.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience in reasonably good weather.

Attractive trail

Walked most of the route from Lehaunstown LUAS stop via Pucks Castle road to Lead Mines tower, then thru Barnaslingan Wood to Enniskerry Rd at Scalp petrol station. There follows a long stretch by road to church at Kilternan, left to Johnny Foxes right there and another stretch to entrance to woods. Nice walk then to 3 Rock Mountain, which is where I finished and returned via route towards Lambs Cross.

A lot of walking on roads. Good markers on trails but not on roads. Pity they couldn't organise access or right of way thru more land between Barnaslingan and 3 Rock. A lot of road walking in hill walking boots. Some views over DUBLIN are spectacular though.

Last week I hiked the eastern section from Shankill. Nice route & well marked. Highly recommend. Today I hiked the western section from Tallaght. Very poorly sign posted. The first 45 minutes of the hike is through housing, which is not too exciting. Do not recommend.

I highly recommend this tour for hiking fans visiting Dublin. The tour is a perfect day trip to get out of town and to discover Ireland's beautiful landscape. You walk through forests and heathlands, grazing land and you see the Dublin area from the top of a mountain. A minus are the sometimes lengthy parts on public roads - there are not even sidewalks! All in all, still a 5 out of 5 star tour :)

Finished the trail from Tallaght to Shankill last weekend..A very tough but enjoyable walk..agree with others about walking the roads..VERY DANGEROUS...However what a great way to enjoy the Dublin mountains...Very nice there.