GREAT DRIVES TROOPERSTOWN HILL, CO WICKLOW:IT HAS been a glorious week of unexpectedly fine weather and what better way to round off this series for this year than to take a drive through the Garden of Ireland resplendent at the tipping point between Autumn and Winter.
This series has returned to Wicklow many times and you may think there are hardly any roads left untravelled but a detailed study of the Ordnance Survey Discovery Series Sheet 56 revealed an area of roads around Trooperstown Hill.
I started from the roundabout at Ashford, taking the R763 that leads to Annamoe and on to Laragh by way of the R755. The R763 is a delightful road as it heads past The Devil’s Glen winding its way up and down the contours before settling into a relatively straight section before turning north just before the quaint hamlet of Annamoe. By then its joined the R755 as it turns southeast and runs close to the Avonmore River and into Laragh.
Take the continuation of the R755 south out of Laragh, but a little less than a kilometre out of the town watch for the turn left which crosses to the other side of the river. Take this turn and the road starts to climb through a continuous series of turns for about six kilometres before you come to an unsignposted road left beside a house and with a large tree marking the centre of the turn. It’s easy to miss this turn so if you arrive at the unusually shaped Garryduff Crossroads with its parallel roads you’ll know you’ve gone too far.
Once taken, the correct road climbs up and across Draperstown Hill affording good views across the Wicklow Mountains looking towards Glendalough. After the road has begun to fall down towards the R763 there is a road that joins our road from at a narrow angle. This leads onto an unsurfaced road that eventually leads back to near where we left Laragh and it offers some unusual and little seen views across the Wicklow Mountains.
Assuming you decide to bypass this unsurfaced byway, the ‘main’ road leads down to the R763 at Tamarind Cross Roads and to the end of our drive.
But don’t finish your exploration of this little-visited part of Wicklow there, as there are many more attractive minor roads in the area around Draperstown Hill to be easily explored.
That’s the last of this year’s Great Drives. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed our explorations and we will return for another series in the spring. Safe and enjoyable motoring until then.
Current series concluded