GREAT DRIVES A WICKLOW JAUNT:PETER WANDERWIDE was the pen name of one of the regular columnists in Irish magazine, the Motor News. Almost from the founding of the magazine in 1900, Peter contributed articles about motoring and, particularly, exploring the roads of Ireland by car.
So, when I recently came across an article by him about “a day’s jaunt” in Wicklow, it was of particular interest to me and, before I had finished reading it, I had hatched a plan to reprise his route.
A quick examination of sheet 56 of the latest Ordnance Survey Discovery Series map confirmed that all the roads used by Peter in 1910 were still in use. There was another attraction to his route as it was also clear that it would take me over some of the older Wicklow roads, giving a different perspective on the county.
Newtownmountkennedy was our starting point. On the main street there is a road running up the side of the church, the R765, which leads on to Roundwood. But after a short distance, the road swings right at a sharp junction and here we take the turn that eventually leads to Ballyduff Crossroads where it meets the R764.
To follow Peter’s route exactly we swing right along the R764 for about 1.5km before turning left at a staggered crossroads, this road in turn leading down to the R763 from Ashford to Laragh.
Once again, we turn right to follow the R763 for a little less than 3km to another staggered junction, Tomriland Crossroads.
Turning left we follow the signs for Moneystown, swinging left at Moneystown Bridge. In 1910, Peter and his unnamed companion paused here to examine the standing stones known locally as the Giant’s Grave. Tradition has it that a giant slept between the two stones, some 20 feet apart. The stones are located in the field to the right of the school. Incidentally, according to the Ordnance Survey map, there should also be a cairn just across the road, but this seems to have disappeared.
From Moneystown and its standing stones, follow the road almost due south until you reach the convoluted junction of Garryduff Crossroads. Here, take the first right, signposted for Laragh.
This is the attractive road that skirts the southwestern side of Trooperstown Hill, which we explored on a previous occasion. The road parallels the better known R755 on the other side of the Avonmore River valley and leads to the popular tourist village of Laragh, the jumping-off point for Glendalough.
Leaving Laragh on the R755 and heading northeast, the Avonmore River is now on our right- hand side and we continue along this road as far as the bridge at Annamoe where we turn onto the R763. After about 2.5km, we again come to Tomriland Crossroads, on this occasion turning left on the road signposted for Roundwood.
When this road meets the R764 about a kilometre outside Roundwood, it’s well worth taking a short detour to the right to view the impressive Vartry Reservoir, before continuing on to Roundwood. This route gives a different perspective on Wicklow – its total distance is 43km.
Sadly, Peter Wanderwide did not survive to explore many more Irish journeys, succumbing to illness in the Adelaide Hospital in 1916. His obituary in Motor News revealed Peter Wanderwide as one Mabel Richardson, who had, perhaps, adopted a male nom de plume in an attempt to be more acceptable to a largely male audience, pursuing what was then widely seen as a male pastime. The name Peter Wanderwide came from the pen of Hilaire Belloc:
When Peter Wanderwide was young,
He wandered everywhere he would
And all that he approved was sung,
And most of what he saw was good