Killiney Hill

This is a hill located to the south of Dublin but still well inside the county boundry. It is on the DART line the closest station being Dalkey DART station. You can also catch a bus to Killiney village from the city centre, the 7 or 7a bus routes should get you there. From the village it is about a twenty minute walk to the hill, from the train station it is 5 minutes. You may take a car and park in car park on the side of the hill, ask directions for the Killiney Castle Hotel, the car park is right beside this. From the train station walk up Cunningham Road, then follow an obvious trail that leads off left at the top of cunningham road, this brings you into my favourite part of the hill.

So why is the hill there? Queen Victoria gifted the hill and surrounding woodlands to be held in trust for the locals. Thats why no one has dug it up an built a big housing estate there.

Why does it rock, for lots and lots of reasons. First, it's very easy to get to and from the top of the hill you get the best panoramic view of Dublin City. In the evenings tou can see beautifull sunsets and the light turns the city orange. The hill is on a headland and so it over looks Dublin Bay, you see all the way out to Howth and on a claer day you can see the mountains in north Wales. Looking south you can see over into Killiney Bay and down the coast to Bray. The first ever experiments in sciesmic waves were preformed from Killiney beach when a explosive was detonated. An observer on the hill saw a flag being raised at the moment of detonation and then measured the time it took for his intrument to record the detonation through the earth.

The park has an abundance of small woods, I used to play there as a child and if you re lucky you may even find a fairy seat in the woods. On top of the hill is the obolisk, built to celebrate the visit of aforementioned queen. Just down from the obolisk is a strange pyramid thing, it's said that if you walk around each of the levels in turn at the to you get a wish (it's not really that big, so getting lot's of wishes is easy !).

You can also see houses of many "famous" people, if that kind of thing wiggles your fancy. Bono, Neil Jordan Micheal Schumacher and many more own houses on the side of the hill, some people (but not that many) have dubbed killiney Ireland's little Hollywood (and now that I thik about it you can actually get holly in the woods)

The reason I really like the hill is that in 1840 one side of the hill was quarried to make Dun Laoighre harbour. The now disused quarry is a fantastic place to climb with climbs ranging in difficulty from the easiest right up to E7. I've just come from there, getting in the last days climbing of the old year, I'll probably be back there tommorrow ;)