When we woke right at dawn, the weather seemed to have calmed down and instead of rain, we had a gray sky. After showering, we went over to Mr. C’s place for breakfast, which was full Irish right away to get the energy for the first stage of the Wicklow Way.
After getting some bread and other stuff for the way, we walked towards the bus stop Rathfarham Road while it slowly started to rain. On the bus we put on our rain jackets and covered our backpacks, still convinced that the rain would just be a temporary thing…
The real walk started in Marlay Park right after we got off the bus at Grange Road. There was some public run going on and surprisingly many people in general were performing outdoor activities, not caring about the pouring rain. We were wondering if this is the normal attitude that people develop in a county which is mostly made of fog and wet.
Walking uphill towards the moor of the Wicklow Mountains, we were overtaken by several joggers (yeah, really), a fact that confirmed our theory of the Irish people. As we were quickly completely soaken, we kept walking without looking around too much. In better conditions, the landscape must have been superb. For us, it rather looked like this:
While planning the trip, I added several peaks to the original route for enriched fun and also to perform plenty of Gipfelmoshen on the way. Now we were much less in favor of the detours. Our way thus took us down again without the summit of Two Rock Mountain. In the valley, we were greeted by the first sheep fields in the distance and some blooming gorse bushes, which both were to escort us throughout the whole journey.
After being warned of MI5 operations, we had a quick lunch while standing in the forest, constantly being wetted from atop. Our question for a hut or something else to cover was answered with a desperate “there’s nothing but more rain” by to a couple coming our way.
As moaning does never help, we decided to go at least for Prince William’s Seat (555 m), where I finally performed the first Gipfelmoshen on the tour (yay!), while the now freezing wind had meanwhile turned the rain into snow, which was harshly blown into our faces.
After some more wet kilometers, finally, there was a sign letting us know that it was “only” another one point four kilometers to the Oaklawn B&B were we were staying. These last steps were actually the most painful of the whole day.
John and Kay O’Connor were wonderful hosts and immediately offered to dry our stuff in the machine and make us some tea after we had a hot shower. To show us who ruled the game, the weather decided to bring us bright sunshine while we were still standing at the door. The palm tree in the garden really looked a bit miraculous at that moment.
After a bit of rest, John drove us to the Nancy Murphy’s Pub in Enniskerry, where we enjoyed our first pints of Smithwick’s and Mr. C and I had burgers, while Mrs. E went with bangers and mash next to the fireplace. At around ten pm, we fell asleep without regretting any of the 24 km of rain 🙂
Stats: → 24 km, ↑ 831 m, ↓ 769 m
NP: Flunk – Personal Stereo
About a year ago I got a can of La Costeña Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce as a gift from a friend, who was in Mexico for a few weeks.
