A few colleagues had recommended that we hike up The Great Sugar Loaf when I first arrived. They said it was easy to climb for kids as young as 4 years old. My hiking experience has mostly been up Penang Hill, where it is hot and humid. I also never thought the kids would like hiking.

Since Emily joined Cubs, she has been more adventurous to explore outdoor opportunities. So I thought it would be a good chance to hike The Great Sugar Loaf. It happened that that week was one of the hotter days of the year. We went on a Sunday morning, thinking that the car park would be packed. But arriving around 10am, we had the place almost all to ourselves. There were only a few hikers and plenty of parking spaces.

The first half of the climb was mainly flat land, from the car park to the base of the hill. Once at the base, there was a rocky path that curves to the left and then takes us straight up to the peak. Going up probably took us about 30 minutes. I felt it was a bit of a workout but an easy hike.

Since it was a sunny day, we got a good view from the top of the hill. We could see from as far north as Howth all the way south to Wicklow. Although the sun was hot, the cold wind cooled us down. We stayed up at the top for a while and it was an easy walk down to the car park.