Wicklow National Park

I arrived in Glendalough on Wednesday evening after a long day of traveling on two buses. Thanks to the amazing powers of WiFi I was able to complete a lot of blogging en route! The first bus was 3.5 hours from Cork to Dublin, then I had an hour wait in Dublin with my small house on my back. What is one to do whilst waiting? Buy a bottle of wine of course as I knew that the facilities in Glendalough were few and far between. The bus from Dublin to Glendalough was 2 hours and the views were gorgeous. Also it had been raining and Quel surprise! I saw a rainbow outside my bus window. I don’t know about you, but I cannot remember the last time I saw a rainbow, and this one was GIGANTIC. I could see it from end to end over the fields and rolling hills. So beautiful.

Glendalough is pretty basic, it is in a national park and there is a hotel with pub attached, craft shop, tourist information center, and the hostel. This hostel is massive, I believe they had around 150 beds, and they were the most expensive. 23 Euros per night. Breakfast was extra (first place this has been the case) and I declined it as I had bread and butter from Cork with me. It was a true joy to find only one other person in my 6 bed room and she was a lovely young woman from Galway named Eimear.
I was starving so it was off to the kitchen as soon as I arrived to prepare a meal of pasta with butter and tomatoes. Eimear and I enjoyed a bottle of wine post dinner and some lovely craic in our room until midnight. The next day it was up early (8:00am… ah I love vacation!) to try to get a head start on the tourist attractions before all of the buses arrive.

I went to the tourist information center and asked the man behind the desk what hike to take if I was only there for one day. Ah how maps can be deceiving! He did mention it went along the top of the mountain, but I neglected to fully read the brochure which would have told me that I had 600 steps ahead of me! Before the hike I wandered around the ruins of St Kevin’s monastery. This is typically as far as most tourists on buses from Dublin make it when they come to visit. There are several ruins of churches as well as a large tower and a cemetery which is still in use. The ruins are just beautiful to behold, grey stone against a backdrop of green mountains with the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping.

St Kevin was a hermit who came to the Wicklow Mountains in 601 AD to live in a cave near one of the lakes. Glendalough literally means glen of two lakes. Once word caught on that St Kevin had a wee bit of paradise he had other people showing up who wanted to join his party so to speak. Thus the monastery was developed but then the Norman raiders found out about it and routinely sacked the monastery. By 1300 it was sacked for the last time and fell into disrepair. It is now a very highly regarded national monument and many tours come daily from Dublin. The distance is only around 90 minutes so it is a nice day trip. But I digress.

Post monastery touring it was time to set off on my hike. I had come prepared with plenty of water, crisps, an apple, and a sandwich so I was ready for an adventure. The hike started off easy enough, a light ramble up a road with gorgeous views of a waterfall. See Flickr for pictures. At one point in the road I came to a fork. On my right was large planks that had been nailed together to form a footpath. This was covered with imposing looking trees. On my left was my friendly road. Of course I had to take the footpath as the friendly little arrows pointing me on my trail were headed in that direction. I then ascended into the trees and started formulating plans for what to do if a Sasquatch or a scary mountain person came running at me. There were no people to be seen, and so many trees that the sun was obscured. Ah hiking alone! This coupled with the sign saying “WARNING treacherous trails ahead, compass needed” made me feel super safe and confident. I ponder as I hiked… “Does a Blackberry count as a compass?”

I climbed up around 400 steps and reached what I thought was the top of the mountain. The views were amazing. I could see both of the lakes, beautiful mountains, and the monastery ruins in the distance. I had such a feeling of accomplishment… until I looked up the trail and realized I had another peak to climb! Post second peak I felt ALIVE. Okay maybe a bit tired, but amazing. I had a moment of looking around me, surrounded by purple heather and green trees, mountains as far as the eye could see, beautiful valley below me, and just felt thankful. SO thankful that I could be there in that moment, that I could hike a 7 mile trek alone (I know some people hike alone all the time but not this girl!) and that I had been on the most amazing journey to get me to this place. It was one of those moments when you know you will always remember it, and as you turn to head down the mountain you want to linger a bit more, to really make the moment last.

As I headed down the mountain I took a lunch break and observed other hikers along the trail doing the same. So interesting to see people outfitted in hiking gear, and smoking! The hike is a loop so the return is along the opposite sides of the lakes and was a bit of a scramble down large boulders. Post boulder scramble and almost falling flat on my face 3x I walked down a lovely tree covered road. To note: As I almost fell on my face I had visions of a sharp rock leaving me bloody or poking my eye out and me walking the 3.5 miles back to the tourist office looking like a complete idiot. Thank goodness that didn’t happen! (: Also to note: only 3 plastic bottle were to be found on the whole 7 mile stretch! What a wonderful surprise upon leaving trash laden Cork.
As I was walking down the road I was able to see St Kevin’s cave across the water, unfortunately the only way to get there currently is by boat, and currently there are no boats, so alas no spelunking for me. Post hike I returned to the hostel and took a bit of a nap before going out to dinner with my new friend Eimear. We walked to a restaurant in the nearest town that was fantastic. The outside looked like a large Irish cottage and the inside matched it. Dark wood furniture, dark wood paneling on the walls, gabled ceilings, and all sorts of old farm equipment nailed on the rafters. My aperitif was a Bellini, I mean who doesn’t love a Bellini? I just wish they were larger. Oh wait, maybe that is a good thing. (:

I had a goats cheese salad to start followed by homemade parpadelle pasta with mushrooms and spinach. YUM. During the meal we had really great conversation, sharing stories of our lives and experiences. Eimear is a teacher and has traveled all over the world, she had some really great stories of traveling to India and New Zealand. We also discussed religion and compared our experiences of religion in our youth and adult years. It made me really thankful to have such options for different religions as we have in the US, as she pointed out, she only has one, there aren’t a lot of options in Ireland. I told her that there was a Unitarian Church in Dublin but seeing as how she is from Galway, not really a feasible option. She also informed me that there is a large number of illegal Irish immigrants in the US. I had no idea! She said during the Clinton administration there were 80,000. She has known several people that have done it, and then had to return to Ireland to visit family or friends and not been able to return to the states. Including people that have business and houses. I have a different picture in my mind when one says the term “illegal immigrant” and now my horizons have widened.

This is what I love about traveling; meeting people sharing your experiences and your lives, not only have I learned so much about this wonderful country and the people within, it has also given me a new perspective on my own country and my views of it. After our sumptuous dinner the restaurant offered us a free glass of Bailey’s and who are we to say no to that? It was lovely. We then walked back towards our hostel stopping at the pub at the hotel for a drink. The pub had about 3 people in it and one drink was all that was consumed as we were both exhausted. Upon entering the hostel who did I see by one of my new friends from Dingle (originally from Holland, met him at the hostel in Dingle) Anton! Quel surprise! Upon talking to people in Ireland, this happens all the time. Anton and I had a cup of tea and shared stories of our travels since leaving Dingle.

It was up early the next morning to take the bus to Dublin for my last two nights in Dublin. I said goodbye to Eimear and am hoping she will come visit me in the states. Anton was planning on coming to Dublin in a day so we made plans to tentatively meet up.