This quartzite hill is at the end of the Wicklow Hills and is a good way to escape Dublin’s city air for the day.
The Great Sugarloaf is 1,644 feet high and is just beside the Wicklow Hills. According to academics, ‘sugarloaf’ is a popular term applied to hills and mountains in the UK, referring to the shape of the hill. But despite the name, ‘sugarloaf’ doesn’t originate from a type of bread; it was actually a cone of sugar, the usual way for selling sugar up until the 19th century. Unlike the granite Wicklow mountains, this mountain is made of Cambrian quartzite, which weathers well. It’s sometimes mistaken for a dormant volcano because of its conical shape.
There are several different paths to the peak, but the easiest and shortest is only three kilometres long and takes roughly one and a half hours.