Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [119]
Johnnie Fox ( 01-295 5647; www.jfp.ie; Glencullen; Hungry Fisherman’s seafood platter €29.95; noon-10pm) Busloads of tourists fill the place nightly throughout the summer, mostly for the knees-up, faux-Irish floorshow of music and dancing. But there’s nothing contrived about the seafood, which is so damn good we’d happily sit through yet another chorus of Danny Boy and even consider joining in the jig. The pub is 3km northwest of Enniskerry in Glencullen.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Enniskerry is 18km south of Dublin, just 3km west of the M11 along the R117. Dublin Bus ( 01-872 0000, 01-873 4222) service 44 (€2.20, every 20 minutes) takes about 1¼ hours to get to Enniskerry from Hawkins St in Dublin. Alternatively, you can take the DART train to Bray (€2.75) and catch bus 185 (€1.60, hourly) from the station, which takes an extra 40 minutes.
Getting to Powerscourt House under your own steam is not a problem (it’s 500m from the town), but getting to the waterfall is tricky. Alpine Coaches ( 01-286 2547; www.alpinecoaches.ie) runs a shuttle service between the DART station in Bray, the waterfall (€6 return) and the house (€4.50). Shuttles leave Bray at 11.05am (11.30am July and August), 12.30pm, 1.30pm (and 3.30pm September to June) Monday to Saturday, and 11am, noon and 1pm Sunday. The last departure from Powerscourt House is at 5.30pm.
Glencree
Just south of the County Dublin border and 10km west of Enniskerry is Glencree, a leafy hamlet set into the side of the valley of the same name, which opens east to give a magnificent view down to Great Sugarloaf Mountain and the sea.
The valley floor is home to the Glencree Oak Project, an ambitious plan to reforest part of Glencree with the native oak vegetation, mostly broadleaf trees, that once covered most of the country but now covers only 1% of Ireland’s landmass.
The village, such as it is, has a tiny shop and a hostel but no pub. There’s a poignant German cemetery dedicated to 134 servicemen who died in Ireland during WWI and WWII. Just south of the village, the former military barracks are now a retreat house and reconciliation centre for people of different religions from the Republic and the North.
A beautiful converted 18th-century farmhouse with wonderful views over Glencree, Knockree Youth Hostel ( 01-276 7981; www.knockreeyouthhostel.com; Knockree, Enniskerry; dm/d €21.50/70; ) was recently upgraded to a luxurious, five-star hostel with 76 beds divided across a number of dorm rooms – none with more than six beds. There are also a selection of doubles, including a honeymoon suite. All the rooms have private bathrooms.
Run in tandem with the Knockree Youth Hostel, EcoAdventure Ireland ( 01-276 7988; www.ecoadventureireland.ie; Knockree, Enniskerry; non-residential programs €25-45) runs all kinds of outdoor activities programs, from pony trekking to ecological field studies. You have the option of residential and non-residential programs; accommodation is in the youth hostel.
Sally Gap
One of the two main east–west passes across the Wicklow Mountains, the Sally Gap is surrounded by some spectacular countryside. From the turn-off on the lower road (R755) between Roundwood and Kilmacanogue near Bray, the narrow road (R759) passes above the dark and dramatic Lough Tay, whose scree slopes slide into Luggala (Fancy Mountain). This almost fairy-tale estate is owned by one Garech de Brún, member of the Guinness family and founder of Claddagh Records, a leading producer of Irish traditional and folk music. The small River Cloghoge links Lough Tay with Lough Dan just to the south. It then heads up to the Sally Gap crossroads, where it cuts across the Military Rd and heads northwest for Kilbride and the N81, following the young River Liffey,