we’d reached the summit of the mountain in Glendalough, Ireland, and felt good about reaching it. but there was a long path down, and a gentle rain was falling, that crazy soft rain that i described before –
we passed a big group of french people who were huddled under a rock, eating their lunch. we’d gotten a packed lunch from our Riversdale House B&B, but we didn’t see any spot that might be nice for sitting and eating. but see down there, waaay down below on the right…that’s where we were headed. it looked like it was probably a nice smooth path down there.
uh oh, dangerous cliffs! this was a different sign from the ones we saw in wales, and this didn’t seem terribly dangerous either, unless you were suddenly drunk and careening all over the place.
a stream coming down the mountain.
it’s just so beautiful…i think i was more focused on not slipping off the path than thinking about the incredible beauty.
we hiked down and down and down, and i wonder if i have any video of the craziness that we encountered when we got all the way down to the path that looked flat from above? because it was the opposite of flat – the path was filled with many, many huge rocks that we had to scramble over and around. i think this spot is higher than the rocky part, but this is the kind of rocks were were navigating on the “path,” which seemed to go on forever.
over an hour passed between that last picture and this one, so that was the scrambling and me saying “WHEN is this going to be over?” there weren’t nearly as many people on this part of the path, and i’m pretty sure we encountered at least one couple who was coming in the opposite direction and wondering what it was like and we were able to say DON’T GO THIS WAY!
here, we were around on the other side of the lake and by this time we were pretty darn hungry, even though i’m sure we snacked as we hiked.
across the lake was kevin’s bed…not my kevin, but st. kevin.
i don’t think there’s any way to see the spot up close unless maybe you had a little boat.
we finally found a dry bench to snarf down our cheese sandwiches.
it was pretty over on this side of the lake, too, with so many ferns everywhere.
we finally made it all the way back to our b&b, and it felt like the most exhausting hike we’d done. even though we finally had some lunch, we were still pretty hungry, but too tired to march back to the inn for some dinner. instead, we had some camping oatmeal, and some fruit, cookies and chocolate we’d bought in Kilkenny.
and i had to take these two pictures, to illustrate one difference between kevin and me.
here’s my stuff from my suitcase:
and here’s kevin’s. neat and tidy, not like the big slob that is me.
oh, and here’s the sad kitty on the roof, desperate to get inside. even though the owner told us not to let her in, i should have let her in! hopefully she’s doing well, there in her remote little corner of ireland.
poor kitty!
although i guess it isn’t really such a remote part of ireland; glendalough and st. kevin’s monastary and cemetery and all get lots and lots of tourists every year. it’s pretty close to dublin, one reason why it’s so popular.
whew.
ok then,
mrs. g. hughes.