Glendalough & Wicklow Mountains

To top off my weekend in Dublin, we travelled an hour south to the small rural village of Glendalough (pronounced Glendalock). This tiny town is nestled in Wicklow Mountain National Park and offers astounding views of rugged Irish landscape. It was in this area that the movie P.S. I Love You was filmed, and rumour has it that star Gerard Butler has a cottage somewhere nearby. I resisted snooping in windows...

The road up through the hills was a windy one, but really breathtaking. It was a great example of rural farmland, with a mix of deciduous trees and cleared postage-stamp fields.

Our Glendalough hostel was clean, cheerful and friendly, with room sizes ranging from 4 to 10 people. Travellers willing to stay one week could work for their accommodation. 

After we arrived, our evening consisted of making dinner and socializing. We walked down the lane to the nearby hotel and turned the unsuspecting pub into a dance party. I have a slight suspicion that the UL visit is probably their busiest night of the year.

The next morning, after 100 people had waited in line to use one toaster, we set off on nature walks of the surrounding area. Sadly we were only given one hour, which is not nearly enough time to trek many of the available trails. However, it was a true Irish morning with fairly substantial rain so perhaps it was best to keep our hike short.

Located very near the hostel is an old monastery founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin, a hermit monk who lived in the Wicklow Mountains. The main attraction in the monastic site is a tall round-tower which rises above the gravestones and other ruins. Our guide Kennedy explained that the tower has a door located part-way up so that during Viking raids the monks could climb into the tower and pull up the ladder for safety. In this way the Vikings could ransack the monastery, but not harm people or steal hidden treasure.

Other features in the monastery included quite old gravestones and the ruins of other buildings.

We took a nice walk along a lake and managed to see some wildlife. Besides the abundant sheep in the area, I excitingly saw a doe and faun! Deer are not very common in many areas of Ireland. They look similar to white-tail deer, but are redder in body colour with more pronounced black on the tail.  I only managed to get one blurry picture of one rear, so I didn't think I'd bother sharing it. Instead here is a picture of sheep!

The bus driver took an alternate route back to Limerick from Glendalough, so we got to see a different landscape. The land was more rugged, steep and dry, and covered with pink heather. There was also the occasional small stream running down the mountain-side. This particular landscape was used in P.S. I Love You, but sadly still no sign of Gerard Butler. The land is used for sheep farming because it is too steep for much else, including fences. If so inclined the sheep could walk right onto the road!

I really wish I had had more time to explore this area, but it will have to wait till another time.
Best wishes,
Shannon