1/18/09 Part 1: Wicklow & Glendalough

Woke up at 8:30, got ready, and had breakfast at the hostel before our tour. Our tour leader was an elderly Irish gentleman named 'Ed' who was very knowledgeable on Irish history. The tour first headed up to the hills above Dublin where we stopped for a magnificent view of the entire city.

From Ireland Trip

Next we headed further up the Wicklow hillside, which at this elevation level was covered with light snow. We were about ½ the way up the mountain (300m above sea-level) when we stopped to get a view of a lake far below us at the base of the mountain. There was a huge snow squall right as we got there, and I tried to take a picture of the lake, but the wind was so strong that facing towards the edge was like getting hundreds of little needles whipped at my face as the snow and sleet swirled by. As we were leaving the snow squall calmed down, but we were forced to turn around and drive back down the mountain because there was too much snow on the narrow mountain passes ahead of our tour.

From Ireland Trip

We headed back down and into the town of Glendalough to stop for a quick lunch and then headed out to see a waterfall on the side of a cliff wall. It was an incredibly magnificent panoramic view of the Irish countryside, as in front of us were two mountains on either side of a green farmland valley below, with the top of the mountain behind us.

From Ireland Trip

Next we headed to an ancient 6th century monastery that was run by Saint Kevin. The monastery was torn down by King Henry VIII after he created the Church of England, and only a graveyard and ruins remain today.

From Ireland Trip

At this point we were allowed to take a walk to visit the two lakes a few minutes walk away. By this point the batteries had run out on my camera, and I ran back to the tour van to get new batteries, so I got separated from the group. I walked around the first lake but could only take one picture because it was so windy and rainy. My face was numb and my feet were freezing cold and soaked. Apparently I took the long way around the second lake, but I got a spectacular picture of the lake with two mountains on either side in the distance.

From Ireland Trip

I looked around for my tour van but they had just left to go back to the monastery without me. Luckily I found the other tour van for the Celtic tour (similar to ours), and they were very nice and drove me to meet the rest of my group. We headed back to Dublin with a quick stop at the ruins used as a set for the dragon movie “Reign of Fire” and the lake/river that is the water supply for Dublin.