Last week I traced the River Liffey from mouth to source in an attempt to see one of Dublin’s most famous landmarks in its entirety. The rout proved a fascinating one. Read about it here:
http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/travel/features/2014/0417/609466-tracing-the-river-liffey-to-its-source/
TP
Tadhg Peavoy 
Fascinating stuff, thanks for sharing 🙂
Cheers, Ed. It was pretty eye opening to see something I know so well from a totally different perspective. Adventure starts at home.
Hi Tadhg, fantastic work on tracing our wonderful river. I am beginning an important project and I was wondering if you could send me an exact location in Kippure for the streams that are the source of it all? I will be visiting in the next few days and I would prefer not to have to end up spending too much time searching as my project involves all 125km of the Liffey, thank you.
Hi Declan,
These paragraphs give the last instructions on how to find the source:
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All the while the river and the route rise higher into the mountains on the Old Military Road, with peat bogs stretching out in vast swathes on either side.
It’s at this point that the Liffey passes under a small, unmarked stone bridge that runs under the R115 road. It’s an easy spot to miss and if you get to the access road for the Kippure communications mast then you’ve gone too far.
I know because I made that mistake myself and wasn’t sure at exactly what point the river had turned off. Thankfully a Garda SĂochána pulled up in his squad car at that exact moment to ask if I needed a hand before escorting me down to the point where the river veers off into the bog.
From there one has to jump down the bank and make your way by foot across the bog, tracing the river as it winds its way south-east. About ten minutes later the river, which is really only a stream at this stage, swells out into a pool of water about 20 feet in diameter: the source of the Liffey.
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If you are driving up the R115, the Old Military Road, go just past the entrance to the Kippure TV mast and you will find the route of the river on Google Maps running to just past this spot. One then needs to park up and walk out towards the marked river spot, where one can see the pool of water from which the river – or stream at this point – rises.
Hope that makes sense?
Thanks.
Tadhg
The Kippure TV mast entrance is searchable on Google Maps, which should be the easiest way to get you as close as possible to the correct spot.
Tadhg