The Great Sugar Loaf is a 501 meter high mountain just south of Dublin. Because of it’s steep slopes and volcanic appearance it appears much higher than it actually is, and people consider it as an old volcano, but it’s actually not.
Since it’s just on the doorsteps of our friends living on that far part of the city, we decided to use the great weather we still have in Ireland, before major winter arrives and we all get stuck in the apartments. As we were approaching Sugar Loaf started to look smaller than it actually looks like when viewed from the town. But, when we finally parked below the mountain, it looked like we’ll have to walk a bit.
Temperature was a few degrees lower than it is in the town, and lovely sea breeze forced us to use hoodies. While I wanted a new mountain profile photo, some guys just bombed my picture!
Yeah, I know. But, I did that twice in past two weeks. I bombed some girls and some guys during Oktoberfest selfie sessions, so I guess what goes around, comes around. 😀
Anyways, after 20 minutes of fun and laughter we arrived at Sugar Loaf’s bottom. Man, this recalled some memories from Fuji. Steep, sharp rocks, slippery and quite cold breeze.
But as usual, the purpose of hiking is to enjoy the view from the top. Put aside all the benefits, health, walking, connecting with nature, overcoming pain and struggle. That’s all fine, but the view – views from above are the best. Right. If you are not hiking in that one single cloudy day in past month, and then you see this.
I mean, it’s still OK, but seriously, I’m not joking. Since 18th of September, and that makes it almost three full weeks there were mostly dry and sunny days in Dublin, and then that particular day when we head to mountain, no. Grrrrr.
Still, panorama from the top is really nice, and we already agreed that we should see it some other time, when it will be nice and sunny. Or maybe this winter when it will be covered in snow? 🙂
To be motivated for another accomplishment we used Monika’s product this time. Yep, violet illicit cookies. We agreed that she will bake them, and we’ll all eat them on top. So we did, we had a couple of fantastic macarons and a cup of hot “Irish tea”. 🙂 And you know what I mean.
By the time we started our descent the wind cleared the fog a bit, so we had a bit better view. One interesting thing happened here that reminded me that every mountain, no matter how big or small, should be respected. I went through a narrow passage in my relatively new shoes with excellent grip. I went downwards as you would go taking the stairs, but the step was so high that I actually set on my calf. With shoes handling the surface as they should, I got stuck. I’ve blocked myself with my own weight. 🙂 Luckily, there was a small flat part just a meter in front of me, so I let myself fall face-wards until my leg got unstuck, and then, elegant as I am, I’ve jumped on that flat part.
Do respect mountains, even if they are small and not to dangerous!
On the way back, I got a chance for a bit better shot, but still too cloudy. 🙂
All in all, with very slow pace, cookies, and drinks break it took us less than 2 hours, so if you love mountains and you are around, you know what to do.
Check my Ramblr GPS tracking here: Balky79 – Sugar Loaf.
And yes, after this small hiking exercise, we needed a quick recovery, so we ended up in Powerscort where we had lunch. Since there were free seats only outside, we got a perfect opportunity to eat and enjoy the view towards our latest accomplishment. 🙂
And that’s all from Ireland for today.
Soon, new stories from Ireland and Japan! 🙂
Stay tuned!
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