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Lying about six miles west of Enniskerry, the tiny village of GLENCREE , with its eponymous valley stretching away southeast to the Wicklow Way, is a quiet place with wonderful views of the Sugarloaf mountains. The only reason you're likely to be here is to stay at the An Oige youth hostel in Glencree, Stone House (book through the Dublin office tel 01/830 4555); a cosy stone house dating from the construction of the military road in 1798. Note that only basic provisions are available in the village and there is no pub. As an alternative, Lackan House An Oige hostel (tel 01/286 4036; book through Dublin office tel 01/830 4555), halfway up the valley at Knockree , three miles west of Enniskerry, is less inviting, but in a much better position for joining the Wicklow Way , which passes through its grounds. Glencree was once famous for its oak woods , but the small one behind the hostel was actually planted in 1988, in sad commemoration of the fact that broadleaved woodlands now cover barely one percent of the country. Further down the valley a dense conifer plantation has been designated a place for walks, with the misleading name of Old Boley Wood. Above Glencree the military road ascends through dark, sinister terrain towards one of the two main mountain passes, the Sally Gap . Close to the source of the Liffey, the area has been heavily invaded by Dubliners seeking peat - a further depredation inflicted upon the landscape. The most spectacular route from here is to continue south along the military road down to Laragh and Glendalough, which runs over rough country until it joins the Glenmacnass River - at this point there's the extraordinary, extended Glenmacnass waterfall. The R759 heading southeast of here takes you past Lough Tay as it winds its way down to Sraghmore, a couple of miles north of Roundwood. Dramatic, inaccessible Lough Tay - whose scree sides plunge straight into the water - is owned by Garech a'Brun, a member of the Guinness family who is also the man behind Claddagh Records in Dublin. Access to Lough Dan , south of here, with its gentler woodlands, is also barred and visitors are made to feel unwelcome by numerous signs warning against trespassing on private land.
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