If you have been exploring Dublin, you will almost certainly have seen the Wicklow Mountains already, rising enticingly in tall blue humps right on the southern doorstep of the capital. Inevitably, the mountains see a lot of visitors; they are the Dubliners’ country playground, after all, being less than half an hour’s drive to the south of the city.

But most day-trippers are making for a vey small handful of destinations, the must-see sites: either the beautifully located monastic site of Glendalough, the picturesque village of Avoca with its photogenic handloom weavers, or the two great Anglo-Irish houses of Russborough and Powerscourt with their stunning gardens.

Once clear of them you will find great tracts of upland and hillside, valley and coast where you will have only the bids for company. There are several ways to drive into the Wicklow Mountains from Dublin, all of them increasingly beautiful the farther into the hills you go, all becoming steeper, slower, and twistier.