Wicklow Way, Day 3

Day 3: Roundwood to Glendalough, 7 miles

On night 2 we saw the full moon rise above the Irish hills, on morning 3 the sun followed in almost exactly the same spot. After a quick petting session with Picasso (aka Mr. Friendly), the B&B's blind cat, and another delicious breakfast, we hitched a ride with the owner back to the trail head. After the spectacular views of the second day, our last stretch wasn't quite as picturesque, but it was still quite beautiful.

The hills are aliveeeeeeeeee.....

As we reached the end of our hike we suddenly came upon an incredible view - a beautiful lake with a typical medieval round tower and some other stone buildings. Glendalough is the home of the monastic city of St. Kevin, first founded in the 7th century. Some of the buildings, including the round tower, still exist today. It was a beautiful, serene place, and it was easy to imagine why monks had settled there and why medieval Christians pilgrimaged to visit the site.  

Glendalough at a distance

Ruins of the church

The round tower and graveyard. You can see the door on the tower about 12 feet up in the air. The inhabitants used a rope ladder to get to the door because then they could pull it up if invaded and the enemy wouldn't be able to get in.

From Glenadalough we took the bus back to Dublin, arriving back around 6:30. We found a pub with live traditional music and listened for awhile. The music is very appealing and it's fun to watch everyone in the packed pub sing and clap along. We saw lots of burrito places (sort of strange) so I insisted we go to one for dinner. Best decision in a long time. The burrito was exactly what I needed to refuel after the hike, and my taste buds were so happy to have salsa, guacamole, and spice.

It really was a tiny place.

Cradling my burrito baby.