Ireland Adventures: Day 4

Up and about early for day four! I just stretched in the morning, as we planned to go hiking. Having had some stomach distress the day earlier, I decided to go for a bland breakfast. I expected the Weetabix to to be like bland, dry shredded wheat, but to my surprise, found that they melted into the milk and had a slightly sweet taste. This day, I also tried muesli and yogurt and topped off the morning with a mocha made from the automatic coffee machine. Mmm!

We walked 1.62 miles through some cool neighborhoods to catch the bus. We rode two hours on the top deck, and then hopped a single bus to Glendalough Visitor's Center. This was a bit rough, as my husband got nauseous, and there was another woman on the second bus who apparently felt the same, as she vomited during our ride. That was unpleasant, probably more for them than for me, but still not great.

The visitor's center is on the site of the round tower and monastic ruins, and we explored those first.

It was apparently school field trip day, and the place was filled with kids (as well as with other tourists). Once we moved away from them, we chose less traveled trails. I felt very good and energetic and wanted to keep walking. Somehow, we got up the Spinc trail. It was as bit steep, but had gorgeous views.

As we kept walking, we realized we were on a long trail. We thought about turning back, but my husband kind of wanted to keep going. "I don't know if we'll ever get to do this again," he said. That was good perspective. I didn't want to be fatalistic, but the truth is that life and health are not guaranteed. Who knows if we will do this again.

We went slow, but steady. I started dreading needing to turn back and retrace our steps. Thankfully, we made it: over hill, over dale, past sheep and deer; over a boardwalk, through the ruins of an old mining village, past waterfalls, and then back along the lake to the visitor center. We were definitely underprepared with only one water bottle each, and some snacks, but we did it.

The bus rides home were a little better, but with traffic took a while. It was past dinner time when we got back, so we stopped to order takeaway (take-out) fish and chips. The people of Ireland are so kind! The waitress vinegared our fish before packing it, and then helped me bag up the boxes for my walk back. On thing about Ireland: they give disposable bamboo silverware and use boxes rather than styrofoam. Yeah for sustainability! I didn't expect to eat three pieces of fried sole and an entire box of chips (French fries), but I did. I also normally don't like tartar sauce, but this was good stuff. Dinner: demolished! (And then I was hungry again later.)

This was definitely a red letter day, rough rides and all. Ireland was pretty awesome, but after this mountain-top experience, pretty much everything else, well, faded in comparison.