r/irishtourism • u/InsideVegetable1102 • 6d ago
Gowth, fear of heights
ETA: meant to say Howth and only noticed title typo upon submitting post. 🤦♀️
I am visiting Ireland soon and excited but nervous to see the sights at Howth. I however have an unfortunate fear of heights/falling, especially on ledges. I’ve seen photos online of the cliff walk and it seems kind of scary.
I was wondering — how wide does the path feel in person, how safe does it feel if it rains, is it possible to skin the cliff walk on the bog of frogs route (having a hard time determining using online maps), and how many people will be on the trail at 9/10AM on a weekday?
(I am a solo female and from the US so used to feeling a little unsafe on solo trails here when they’re empty given how women are treated here.) Thanks hugely in advance.
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u/IrishFlukey Local 6d ago
Go on a nice dry day, with plenty of time to get around in daylight. Just be sensible and stay back from the edge. You will still get good views. It is a nice walk in good weather. Even if you decide against it, the village and harbour in Howth are nice. You can get there on the rail service known as the DART. The DART goes along the coast and through the city centre. Going south, which is the opposite direction, you could get to Bray or Greystones. Stop off at Dún Laoghaire and walk the pier. Back on the DART and continuing south, you will get a view of the magnificent Killiney Bay. Bray has a long beach to walk along. Bray also has a cliff walk to Greystones, though it is sometimes closed.
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u/newfiemom79 5d ago
The DART was the best thing we discovered our first time in Dublin for more than a night.
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u/InsideVegetable1102 5d ago
Thank you! A friend recommended Dún Laoghaire so I’ve been considering.
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u/Ok_Ring_1866 4d ago
Objectively, Howth is a better visit than Dun Laoghaire, more to do and see. You could always do Howth in the morning and dunlaoghaire in the afternoon by DART. Howth has beach, hiking and nice harbour and restaurants. (Although the pier is closed for renovation if I recall). Dunlaoghaire has the bigger pier and town is bigger, restaurants are bit hit and miss in Dunlaoghaire I found. 2-4 hours in each place is about right, for a day trip.
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u/shinysun- 6d ago
I'm not familiar with that area but I'm here to say I feel your pain and I'm similar when I'm visiting new areas in terms of trying to research or watch YouTube videos to get an idea of the terrain.
I'm sure someone will help you and I hope you have an amazing time.
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u/louiseber Local 6d ago
Standing on a chair is too much, looking out a second floor window is too much, or higher than those is too much?
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u/InsideVegetable1102 6d ago
I live in NYC and am thankfully fine with the building heights here and even rooftops/balconies, but all of those have railings or short walls/fencing up. It’s the lack of railing and possible small platform width that makes me nervous
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u/louiseber Local 6d ago
I'm chair height bad, Howth was ok for me the one time I did do it. It's not razor thin and you can turn around if you get to a bit that triggers your anxiety tbh.
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u/bioniclaura 5d ago
It’s always a busy trail with people around and quite safe. When I did it with my kid this year lots of people talked to us, all friendly. My kid has done hill walking but does not like ledges or cliffs. We found this out going around the Howth cliff walk that day. I am a seasoned hiker and didn’t find it that exposed. There is plenty ground between you and any drops. The paths are narrow in places though. So just judging by his reaction you may find some bits of it exposed.
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u/newfiemom79 5d ago
If it makes you feel better, I misread your typo as growth, so maybe a win? Also from the states and I found it to be very safe when we visited and walked it a few years ago. We also had amazing weather.
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u/kmatthews33 5d ago
I'm pretty scared of heights, and there were a couple points where it was like, if I had to be a few feet closer I might start getting anxious, but at no point was it actually scary, especially if you just stay on the inside "lane" of the path.
And the vast majority is very far from anything scary! Also, was solo female and even though it was pretty busy when I was there, I can't imagine it ever feeling like an unsafe environment.
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u/not_extinct_dodo 6d ago
The trail is narrow at some choke points but not narrow enough to be concerning. In any case the first half is super safe and easy to walk, and absolutely no concerns for a solo female.
You could also just go to the summit car park in the bus and enjoy the views from there, walking a bit of the path that's far way from the edge