The first thing you see is the harbour, very scenic.

In the water was this lone seal: I think it was a Grey Seal on account of the pointy nose. It seemed to be as interested in us as we were in it. Or maybe it was just hoping for fish.

I looked at all that, then took a walk round the headland: it was a bit rainy, but there are nice views: this is Howth Head, with a view south to glowering cloud over the Wicklows and Dublin to the right.

3 miles or so if you don't get lost I think. I did get lost. This was a good thing though, because it meant I ended up walking the back way back to Howth Village, over the top ridge of the island. There used to be an old victorian estate here, and as I walked across I went through what was gardens with 400 varieties of rhododendron. Now, the variety is still there, but gone wild and mixed with the native gorses and woodlands, making one of the most pleasant bits of walking I can remember, with a final view back over Howth.

I started from my B & B in Dublin, and walked South towards the start of the Wicklow Way. I wasn't going to walk the whole thing, only as far as Glendalough. I went through a soggy Rathfarnham, saw a soggy looking castle in passing (didn't go in), then walked on.

Eventually, I got to Marlay Park, which is both where the Wicklow Way starts, and where it started raining REALLY heavily. So, like all experienced walkers, I hid under the noticeboard, wondering what I was letting myself in for. It's odd how the steps look dry in this picture. Honestly, it was pouring down!

Anyway, I eventually did set off properly...

written by  martin_b on April 23, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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That was my thinking, anyway, as I set off on the long uphill stretch out of Marlay Park into the mountains. Marlay Park is a great little victorian park, slightly run down, with little bridges and lakes and things.

Climbing up Kilmashogue Mountain, everything was fine: the rain was keeping it nice and cool really. But when I got near the top, it got a bit dodgy. Suddenly there are paths in every direction, and I'm walking along a ridge, called Fairy Castle, hoping that the fairies haven't got me entirely lost. It's pissing down, right into my face, my glasses are wet and steaming up, there's no chance of getting a map out. The only thing that would make it worse would be some sleet hitting me in the face.

Eventually, the fairies let me loose, and I was sure I was on the right path. I did however have sleet hitting me in the face. Ho hum.

As I started to come down the other side of the ridge, the rain did start to peter out, and I could even see again, which helped.

I was making really good time still, down into the valley, and up the next hill, Prince William's Seat. There were starting to be some good views, too.

By early afternoon, I was thinking that I had broken the back of the day, not bad for 15 miles plus. I hadn't seen any walkers all day, but as I came down off Prince William's Seat there were a group ahead of me in the distance.

I caught them up pretty quickly: they were 4 lads from Dublin, walking and camping, and I walked along with them for a fair way. One of them was in the army, one (Aaron) had just left, and those two were strong walkers. Unfortunately the other two weren't, and they had a long walk ahead at the pace they were going!

They seemed a good bunch of lads, although I may have demoralised them saying I was only a few miles from my B&B with a nice hot shower!

The B & B was in Knockree, just off the Wicklow Way, maybe a mile from Enniskerry. Very unexceptional, but with the added entertainment of a mid-evening power cut.

Enniskerry is an unusual little village. It's near to the Powerscourt estate, so gets a lot of tourists. As such, although it's just a few shops around a square, it has loads of places to eat, and clothes shops and things.

It was here that I found out that Ireland has 2 sorts of lemonade, red and white. Red lemonade looks a bit like Tizer or something, and tastes different to white lemonade, but I'd be hard pressed to know what else goes into it. Definitely worth trying, but not quite sure whether I prefer it or not.

written by  martin_b on April 23, 2007 from Enniskerry, Ireland
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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Climbing the hill on the other side, suddenly I rounded a curve and Powerscourt waterfall came into view.

I carried on along the path, and at the top of the waterfall hit the one bugbear with this walk: tree clearance. I don't mind walking through trees, and I don't mind walking across moorland. But here, vast areas of trees are being felled, and it feels like walking across a World War 1 No Mans Land. The path becomes very hard to see, and tree stumps could easily be leg breakers.

As I passed the top of the waterfall, I passed to walkers going the other way. Not talkative types though, just a vaguely germanic "Hello".

Then I started up the biggest mountain on the route, Djouce Mountain. It's big, and dark, and covered in cloud at the top. It started raining as I went up, but it was a hot day, so it was actually a blessing. I stopped just on the other side for a fig roll lunch.

I'd seen the Dublin lads in the distance just before, so I decided to push on and catch them up (it's nice to have a target to break up the day.)

So, I went switly up the hill, then at the top along a sort of raised planking thing which protects the moor from walkers. It makes for really fast walking, with fabulous views over the whole range, and I was soon looking down on the next valley, and running down the hill.

Sorry about the cheesey grin!

The lake in the bottom pic is in the bit of the Wicklows still owned by the Guinness family, and as far as I can tell still pretty much off-limits. It's a shame, because it looks like one of the nicest parts of the whole thing (no surprises there.)

I did catch up to the Dublin lads...you can see the edge of one of their sandwich wrappers in one of the photos. They had a looong way to go: I tried to break it to them that at the pace they were going they wouldn't get to Glendalough before about 8pm. I don't know if they made it, that was the last I saw of them. Maybe they are still wandering lost in the mountains....

Roundwood is not the nicest place in Ireland. It's a very small town expanding quickly, like most of Ireland. It's functional rather than pretty, and I wouldn't recommend it to visitors except for walkers. One of the pubs does serve interesting food, which may be German or Scandinavian, the latter I suspect. Lots of cold smoked dishes anyway. Good food, but not what I was expecting. Dessert was a very nice blueberry pancake though.

You know you're in trouble when your B & B landlady introduces herself with "welcome to Fawlty Towers!". Not the nicest place to stay, sort of run down. The shower worked fine until I switched it on, then fell off the wall. Getting clean thus became a sort of juggling act, as it wasn't the sort of shower you could hold easily, more prop in place.

written by  martin_b on April 24, 2007 from Roundwood, Ireland
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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The walk itself was uneventful, except that when I was walking along the top of paddock hill, in a world of my own, I suddenly found that there were two hares right in front of me. I hadn't noticed them, and they must have been so immersed in sporting with each other that they hadn't noticed me either. They wheeled away from me without stopping, but they must only have been about 10 yards away, which is really unusual for hares. They usually just sit on the horizon looking at you, then run away just to be on the safe side.

Anyway, pretty quickly (6 miles doesn't take long to walk), Glendalough and the valley it's in came into view...and it was stunning. Those Irish saints weren't stupid, when they decided to set up a monastery in the middle of nowhere, they made sure they had the best spots!

Walking past the main site, there are great views up the valley, plus some more isolated sites, and even a very classy waterfall.

This would be the place I'd most recommend visiting, from what I've seen in Ireland. Ideally, with hindsight I should have planned to stay a couple of days and use it as a walking centre.

written by  martin_b on April 25, 2007 from Glendalough, Ireland
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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In the morning, I THOUGHT I had plenty of time to get to the ferry. I thought wrong...the bus took forever to get in to Dublin, and I arrived with just 5 minutes to spare. On top of that, I'd lost my ticket. Well, technically not lost...I distinctly remember throwing it out, thinking it was just an old train ticket. Duh.

In future, I will keep all crap until I finish the trip, just in case. Anyway, I did make it, just, and so it was bye bye Ireland.

written by  martin_b on April 25, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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The middle of the bridge has lots of round plaques...these two reminded me of the animals I'd seen in Ireland.

Otherwise...one grubby main street, not worth bothering with.

written by  martin_b on April 26, 2007 from Holyhead, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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