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Art O'Neill Challenge route plan notes and GPX

Disclaimer

All information, data and routes available here are provided without any guarantee of accuracy. This is basically just a rolling snapshot of my own navigation planning process. If you decide to use any of it in your own route planning or navigation, you do so entirely at your own risk.

Current draft GPX route

GPX files of draft route plan (two versions) as of 16-Jan-2026:

• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_TableTrack_20260116a.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_FireRoad_20260116a.gpx

Notes / updates:

• The GPX route was created in gpx.studio (a free web app). Initially, I combined sections from several recces to cover the mountain section. Then I just extended the route at either end along the roads to the start and end points, following the directions given in the Event Pack.
• 12 Jan Added the small looped route through Kippure Estate, which was explained in the Zoom presentation on Wed 7 Jan, but is not shown in the AON Challenge Event Pack.
• 12 Jan Tidied up the routing on the road sections (using Activity=Bike in gpx.studio) to make it mostly follow the road rather than trying to follow footpaths exactly.
• 12 Jan Added several more points of interest that are mentioned in the Event Pack directions (e.g. Blue Haven, Firhouse Inn, "bad bridge").
• 15 Jan Some minor route modifications: from Mullaghcleevaun to forest gate, mostly along easting 050; approach Art's Cross on a 90 degree bearing; use footbridge at Baravore.
• 15 Jan Added some additional POIs: Start point at Cork Hill Gate of Dublin Castle; two river crossings on descent from Mullaghcleevaun to forest gate; the forest gate itself; both ends of access path between Table Track and fire road.
• 15 Jan Created two versions with alternate routes for final descent to Baravore, either via Table Track or via Fire Road.
• 16 Jan Added one or two additional POIs and added grid reference to the comment field of most POIs.

Click on the image below to open the GPX route (Table Track version) as an interactive map (created using GPS Visualizer). This interactive map loads image tiles from OSM, so it won't work reliably without phone coverage. If you want to use the GPX route where phone coverage is inconsistent, you can download the GPX file above and import it into mapping software of your choice (personally, I import it as a "track" in Osmand).

Other GPX routes

• 27 Dec 2024 Ballydonnell Forest to Baravore
• 27 Dec 2024 Ballydonnell Forest to Baravore (minified for smaller file)
• 02 Jan 2026 Ballydonnell Forest to Baravore
• Combined route using bits from several recces
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_20260111a.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_20260111b.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_20260112a.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_20260112b.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_TableTrack_20260115c.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_FireRoad_20260115c.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_TableTrack_20260115e.gpx
• AON_route_plan_BAC_2026_FireRoad_20260115e.gpx

Heatmap of 2022 participants' routes using tracker data

Fabio Baltieri created an amazing interactive heatmap of the 2022 participants' live tracking data, which is very useful for route planning:

https://fabiobaltieri.github.io/aon2022/

Thank you Fabio!

Points of interest CSV data

I exported the points of interest (POIs) from the GPX file (all are strored as elements) and then used the Irish Grid Reference Finder to convert the latitude and longitude coordinates of each POI to an Irish grid reference. By hand, I also added an approximate distance (from the start) to each POI:

The full list of POIs can be downloaded as CSV or MS Excel file:

• AON_POIs_gridrefs.csv
• AON_POIs_gridrefs.xlsx

This is the full CSV data:

Distance (km),X (Easting),Y (Northing),Latitude,Longitude,Grid Reference,Name
00.0,315417,233983,53.343711,-6.267578,O 15417 33983,Start point at Dublin Castle (Cork Hill Gate)
06.7,312832,228339,53.293571,-6.308378,O 12832 28339,The Blue Haven pub
08.5,311291,227531,53.286637,-6.331765,O 11291 27531,The Firhouse Inn (closed permanently)
09.3,310668,227005,53.282045,-6.341287,O 10668 27005,The Speaker Connolly pub
12.6,309006,224463,53.259552,-6.367070,O 09006 24463,Fort Bridge (aka the bad bridge)
15.1,307519,222762,53.244571,-6.389918,O 07519 22762,Stone Cross (Henry's Aid Station)
25.9,308440,214168,53.167187,-6.379045,O 08440 14168,CP-KIPPURE (Kippure Estate - Red Hugh's Kitchen)
29.5,305651,214808,53.173498,-6.420526,O 05651 14808,Ballysmutten Bridge
31.9,305816,213189,53.158921,-6.418591,O 05816 13189,Gap Rd junction
33.5,305800,211800,53.146449,-6.419289,O 05800 11800,CP1 (Ballydonnell Forest)
36.6,304890,209088,53.122264,-6.433770,O 04890 09088,Transition from road to open ground (bearing 210ish)
37.4,304434,208539,53.117428,-6.440762,O 04434 08539,Join BH-MC path
38.5,305198,207781,53.110466,-6.429606,O 05198 07781,Right turn off BH-MC path (bearing 180 for 600m)
39.1,305201,207197,53.105223,-6.429741,O 05201 07197,Change to bearing 208 for 437m
39.5,305003,206804,53.101728,-6.432838,O 05003 06804,Change to bearing 180
40.3,305019,205983,53.094351,-6.432859,O 05019 05983,River crossing 1
41.5,305043,204864,53.084296,-6.432865,O 05043 04864,River crossing 2
42.6,304910,203854,53.075245,-6.435187,O 04910 03854,Gate to access forest road
42.6,303725,204209,53.078666,-6.452746,O 03725 04209,Glenbride Hamlet (not on planned route)
45.7,303300,201600,53.055310,-6.459920,O 03300 01600,CP2 (Art's Kitchen)
49.5,303382,198935,53.031358,-6.459553,T 03382 98935,Bearing 90 from here to Art's Cross
49.9,303786,198936,53.031285,-6.453531,T 03786 98936,Art O'Neill's Cross
50.6,303814,198246,53.025078,-6.453341,T 03814 98246,Possible stream crossing? Change to 220ish bearing and skirt Conavalla
52.7,303436,196301,53.007680,-6.459596,T 03436 96301,Road bridge over Avonbeg River
54.5,304639,195278,52.998260,-6.442002,T 04639 95278,Access point for road
54.9,304613,195149,52.997100,-6.442431,T 04613 95149,Access point for TT
56.8,306600,194190,52.988099,-6.413168,T 06600 94190,Baravore carpark
62.2,310685,190889,52.957614,-6.353480,T 10685 90889,Finish point at Glenmalure Lodge

Filtered list of POIs with incremental distances:

Dist (km),ΔDist (km),Grid Reference,Name
00.0,00.00,O 15417 33983,Start point at Dublin Castle (Cork Hill Gate)
06.7,06.70,O 12832 28339,The Blue Haven pub
12.6,05.90,O 09006 24463,Fort Bridge (aka the bad bridge)
15.1,02.50,O 07519 22762,Stone Cross (Henry's Aid Station)
25.9,10.80,O 08440 14168,CP-KIPPURE (Kippure Estate - Red Hugh's Kitchen)
29.5,03.60,O 05651 14808,Ballysmutten Bridge
31.9,02.40,O 05816 13189,Gap Rd junction
33.5,01.60,O 05800 11800,CP1 (Ballydonnell Forest)
36.6,03.10,O 04890 09088,Transition from road to open ground (bearing 210ish)
37.4,00.80,O 04434 08539,Join BH-MC path
38.5,01.10,O 05198 07781,Right turn off BH-MC path (bearing 180 for 600m)
39.1,00.60,O 05201 07197,Change to bearing 208 for 437m
39.5,00.40,O 05003 06804,Change to bearing 180
40.3,00.80,O 05019 05983,River crossing 1
41.5,01.20,O 05043 04864,River crossing 2
42.6,01.10,O 04910 03854,Gate to access forest road
45.7,03.10,O 03300 01600,CP2 (Art's Kitchen)
49.5,03.80,T 03382 98935,Bearing 90 from here to Art's Cross
49.9,00.40,T 03786 98936,Art O'Neill's Cross
50.6,00.70,T 03814 98246,Possible stream crossing? Change to 220ish bearing
52.7,02.10,T 03436 96301,Road bridge over Avonbeg River
54.5,01.80,T 04639 95278,Access point for road (option 1)
54.9,02.20,T 04613 95149,Access point for TT (option 2)
56.8,02.30,T 06600 94190,Baravore carpark
62.2,05.40,T 10685 90889,Finish point at Glenmalure Lodge

Filtered POI list PDF:

• AON_POIs_summary.pdf

Preview image of above PDF:

Loading grid reference points into Irish Grid Reference Finder

The Irish Grid Reference Finder is a useful web application for converting coordinates between Irish grid reference, latitude/longitude (i.e. GPS), ITM and other systems. It can be used to plot out a number of points on a zoomable map.

It allows a set of points to be exported as CSV, Excel or other formats, but as far as I can tell it doesn't allow multiple points to be imported as a batch. As a workaround, I've been using the Javascript console in the browser to automate the input of a list of points, by copying the grid reference string for each point into the relevant text box (id: #txtGridRef) and then clicking the accompanying "Go" button (id: #find3).

For example, suppose we have the following list of Irish grid reference points:

O 0488 0907
O 0452 0847
O 0525 0775
O 0500 0715
O 0487 0387

I use Vim to pad that out to the following snippet of Javascript:

txtGridRef = document.getElementById("txtGridRef");
btn = document.getElementById("find3");
txtGridRef.value='O 0488 0907'; btn.click();
txtGridRef.value='O 0452 0847'; btn.click();
txtGridRef.value='O 0525 0775'; btn.click();
txtGridRef.value='O 0500 0715'; btn.click();
txtGridRef.value='O 0487 0387'; btn.click();

For the actual coordinate lines, I begin by visually selecting the lines in Vim (Shift + V) then run the following command to prepend/append the required text to each line:

:s/\(.*\)/txtGridRef\.value=\'\1\'; btn\.click();/

Finally, I just open the Developer tools panel in Chromium (Ctrl + Shift + I or F12) and click the Console tab, then paste in the Javascript shown above and press Enter.

Converting latitude/longitude points to Irish grid references

Same idea as above, but using different text entry fields to enter the points in latitude/longitude format.

txtLat = document.getElementById("txtLat");
txtLong = document.getElementById("txtLong");
btn = document.getElementById("find5");
txtLat.value=53.343711; txtLong.value=-6.267578; btn.click();
txtLat.value=53.293571; txtLong.value=-6.308378; btn.click();
txtLat.value=53.286637; txtLong.value=-6.331765; btn.click();
txtLat.value=53.282045; txtLong.value=-6.341287; btn.click();