Aug 07 2012

Up and down the Wicklow Mountains

Published by Lynn at 1:59 pm under Uncategorized

I’ve come to love an Irish breakfast:  eggs, thick and meaty bacon, small delicious sasuages the size of my pinkie finger, grilled tomato, and thick brown Irish soda bread. Yvonne, the owner of Coolakay House and our host for the night, explained to us that her husband and several generations of his family were born on this farm. Her mother-in-law bakes the Irish brown soda bread for breakfast each day, and it was by far the best soda bread we’ve yet enjoyed. Their 19th century farmhouse is home to not only the B&B, but is also a working farm with sheep and cattle in the fields.

Well-fueled, we were ready to go when Kevin picked us up and dropped us off at the start of today’s 19km walk.

The Wicklow Way is well-marked, but the detailed route description provided by Wonderful Ireland walking tours is priceless. We walked through pine forests which opened to amazing views of the Glencree Valley, Sugar Loaf mountain, and even the Irish Sea in the distance.

Glencree Valley

Glencree Valley

 

Sugar Loaf mountain

Sugar Loaf mountain

About 4 kilometers into the walk we came out of the forest and into wide open fields with heather and bracken - and lots of sheep. It’s windy, barren, and extremely soggy underfoot making walking down the steep descents and back up the equally steep ascent on the other side a bit tricky.
There’s a wooden ‘boardwalk’, which is really a 2-foot wide wooden bridge that stretches for over 1 mile over the most boggy area on War Hill. It’s wide enough for to walk in single file, and when we met people coming in the opposite direction, someone had to step off to the side. There are puddles of water and mud all along the boardwalk, which reminded us of the treacherous scenes in Mordor from the Lord of the Rings movies. The wind picked up, the fog blew in, and a thick mist enveloped us. Summer in Ireland isn’t always sunny skies and warm weather, and it seemed somehow fitting weather for a trek across the mountains. Thankfully we didn’t step off the boardwalk and fall into any of the puddles, several of which looked quite deep and dark.
After the boardwalk ended, we crested a steep hill and came down into a mixture of pine trees and and areas that had been heavily logged. We walked on dirt forest roads that in places were even wider than the paved roads designed for cars, narrow paved country lanes with very little traffic, and at times a winding path through heavy forest and bushes with all kinds of thorns and thistles.
As we walked closer to the town of  Roundwood the forest opened up into fields planted with wheat and barley. We climbed over stiles and walked through gates as we wound our way through the fields and finally onto another narrow country lane.

 

We walked the final three kilometers to the Wicklow Way Lodge, our B&B for the evening, on increasingly narrow country lanes that were lined on each side with stone walls overgrown with ivy and holly. As we crossed the River Avonmore on a stone bridge built in 1828, we saw an Irish family throwing sticks into the river for their Lab to fetch. As usual in Ireland, we struck up a conversation and learned that the wife had played basketball for the Irish national team and traveled to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. Her daughter plays Gaelic football, sort of a cross between soccer and rugby and hugely popular in Ireland. Her team has been invited to play in Boston next year, and we chatted about travel, sports, and Irish connections around the world.

We kept our fingers crossed all day that it wouldn’t rain while we were hiking, and we were actually rewarded with bright sunshine as we finished our walk at the beautiful B&B.

 

Wicklow Way Lodge

Wicklow Way Lodge

 

Our room is lovely, with wooden floors, a cathedral ceiling, and floor-to-ceiling windows that seem to attract the family’s chickens. It’s a comfortable spot to put up our feet and relax after 5 hours walking, and to rejuvenate before tomorrow’s walk as we head into Glendalough.

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