Today we were off to the Wicklow Mountains, and we took the scenic route, of course. As we entered the Wicklow Mountain National Park, the landscape turned into peat bog, and at some points we could see how think the peat was. I remember from the Museum yesterday that 98% of Ireland’s natural peat bogs are gone due to fuel extraction, so this being a National Park, is protected. The cotton grass was out which was how I could tell it was a bog.
The landscape changed from peat bog to heath land to forest, reminding us of the road to Tofino in Canada, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Derbyshire Peak District all in one go! The roads were rough and windy, and we stopped off at several viewpoints along the way, and eventually we got to the Heritage/Visitors Centre in Glendalough, which we didn’t go in with the exception to ask for a map of walks and some information about the park. It looked pretty empty though…
First, we strolled around the historic ruins. We walked through “The Gateway” to the “Monastic City” of Glendalough which took us into the old graveyard with its old old gravestones. There was a round tower in the graveyard, very much like the one we saw at Monastaboice just the other day, only this one was complete. Like all or most of these round towers in Ireland, this was built of solid granite and mica-slate, standing at 30 metres in height with the doorway 3.5 metres from the base. It had a complete conical roof although it had been rebuilt from the original stones. They were bell towers but were also used as store houses and places of refuge in times of attack.
There was a small church of “St.Kevin” which we couldn’t enter, but it too had a little round tower at the end, as its spire, and the “Priest’s House” which as in ruins, but almost totally reconstructed from the original stones based on a 1779 sketch, we could walk around and explore. along with the Cathedral. There are more monuments and ruins like these nearer the water.
We decided that it was really quite hot and layers and thick socks were removed before continuing. We did two walks combined into one. The first was the pink route called “Poulanass” which from the Irish imeans “Hole of the waterfall” and we stopped when we got to the Upper Lake for lunch just 20 minutes into the walk. Afterward, we followed the route up hill and this was where I got my walking sticks out - which I found out today, are REALLY very good! I was having trouble breathing at points because of my bruised ribs on one side, but I soon discovered a position to take in order to take a big breath. I went at my own pace, but the sticks made it better, made me go faster, and I really felt I was getting a full body work out and not just using my legs. I think if I hadn’t had them, I almost definitely would have been moaning all the way.
We soon got to the junction where the second walk called “The Spic” began. It was basically ALL uphill. Now, I don’t usually go for these, but I had my sticks and I was in the mood for achieving something today, and although we didn’t complete the entire walk of “The Spic”, we got to the very top where we were rewarded with a great view which we enjoyed for a little while before going back down. The entire walk here had been on wooden board walks, basically large chunks of wood which were built as a staircase. I actually felt scared coming down them, mainly because of my fear of falling which arose from what happened on Monday, but all the wood was covered with chicken wire and had lots of these metal stud things in to prevent slipping. AND I had my sticks. I had to stop a couple of times because my legs were feeling wobbly, otherwise I made it just fine back to the beginning of “The Spic”. My right knee was just starting to hurt as I bent it so I had to change my stride to come down with a straight right leg. This was the bruised knee….! Everything else was fine, I just think I burned quite a few calories today! The total distance we walked today was 7km (4.5miles), and the total ascent was 250metres which I have to say, is pretty damn good going for me, not being an experienced walker! The sticks definitely helped, and I don’t care whether or not its real or psychological! They’re great!
We celebrated by going back to the main hub of the Glendalough where Mathew got some strawberry sorbet and I decided to get an ice cream “99” with a flake, the ice cream flavoured with butterscotch sauce. MmmMmm! Just what you need after a good long “up” walk! So much for "99" these days, this one was E2.50! While we were there, we noticed there seemed to be a randomly ad hoc “market” there selling souvenirs and such like. I had a look, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. You know you get good souvenir shops and bad souvenir shops? Well, this wasn’t really either, it was a souvenir shop in limbo selling nothing particularly special. I checked out the postcards and I couldn’t find anything I liked at all, that I wanted to send home. I was hoping to send some tomorrow but I just couldn’t find some really nice ones. Perhaps I was being too picky? I have noticed there seems to be a distinct lack of Irish souvenir shops where we have been so far. Not even the Visitors Centre had anything - and it was more like an information desk, as you had to pay to get in and see an exhibition, and there wasn’t even a shop there. I found this lack of shops very strange, and I just wanted there to be something, as so far I hadn’t bought any sort of souvenir for myself, save a small book for the National Museum of Ireland which I bought yesterday. I was looking for something like a cross stitch kit or something - and I hadn’t seen anything like that so far. I don’t want a bright green furry hat with a Guinness logo on it or a t-shirt with a shamrock on - I want interesting, unusual things. I ‘m pretty sure they do exist though, as I am sure we have driven past a few shops which may have sold something more interesting but we couldn’t stop in the middle of the street now, could we?!We started off on our long journey back - this would be the furthest we were going to travel this week, with the exception of driving to our second holiday cottage on Saturday. We stopped off at Aldi in Ashbourne to get a few bits and pieces and finally made it home at 7:15pm, which is the latest we’d come back that week. Hopefully a really good night’s sleep would follow.
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