Just keep climbing

On the way over Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains, we saw a bunch of cars parked by the side of the road next to a trail. So we got out and decided to climb the mountain. (strangely enough, one of the cars was a taxi, I have no idea what a taxi was doing in the middle of the mountains.)

We climbed to the top and found a bog. A bog on top of a mountain.

Then we climbed back down again. We never saw any other people even though there were at least four cars. We think there was the possibility of a bog monster.

We drove on and in the parking lot of the Gelndalough visitor's center we looked up at the mountainside. Picked the highest place we could see and joked that we weren't going to climb up to there. (observe the scattering of trees on the high hillside)

So we explored the ruins of the monk's habitations . . .

and stayed on the civilized paths down in the valley. (observe the high up trees again)

We walked on a paved trail and took pictures of the lake.

But somehow we were lured away from the lake shore. We ended up climbing again. We couldn't help it when the mystical forest path presented itself (click link to see pictures). We saw deer. We climbed above the lake and took more pictures.

And do those trees look familiar? We didn't climb to the spot we had joked about, but we climbed just as high and possibly a bit further.

Where we said we wouldn't climb.

Where we ended up.

What can I say? Hiking up mountains is just so much fun.

Torc waterfall and the surrounding mountains

We escaped from the manicured gardens of Muckross house and went seeking Torc waterfall.

We walked through open fields and then into a forest.

crossed under a bridge

and the stream came into view

it was a quite lovely waterfall as well. Even if it was a bit crowded (observe the corner of somebody's blue umbrella on the left).

But almost everybody turned around at the waterfall and went back, not bothering to go up these really beautiful steps.

We climbed the steps and ended up above the waterfall in a sort of cleft between two mountains.

There was a marked loop, but there was also a different trail through a wildlife preserve. We left the loop and headed off into a mossy forest.

It was pretty. The stream ran right next to the path and everything (including us) was covered in a light rain.

Then suddenly the trees just stopped. It was as if they couldn't cross some invisible line. We left the forest and walked out onto the open mountainside.

It was still raining. But it matched the scenery.

The trail went on forever. We hiked over a few hills of the mountain and still the line of the path went on and on into the distance. We could see it on the mountainside far in front of us.

Eventually we turned back. Muckross closes it's gates at 7:00 and charges a 37euro fee if you want to get your car out after they've closed.

Too bad. I would've liked to see where the endless path led.

Never ending Mount Brandon

Early evening on the Dingle peninsula we decided to stop by Mount Brandon. We read the sign about the old pilgrimage trail and decided to climb part of the way though not the whole 18k. On the way we noticed a strange, whistling, wailing noise. . .

upon closer inspection it turned out to be the stone walls that were making the strange noise. We thought it was perhaps the wind blowing through cracks in the walls.

The view was really nice, but the climb... we kept saying, "let's just get to the top and then we'll turn around." But we never got to the top. There were countless little ridges that looked like they would be the top, but we would climb to one of them only to discover that the trail went on.

But this is a pilgrimage trail after all. Perhaps it was a purposeful design of the path. Even when you seem to reach the top of the mountain there is always another mountain to climb.
I hope the ancient pilgrims enjoyed it. It seemed to me that the sheep were laughing at us.

The Rock of Cashel and Hore Abby

So on the way back to Dublin from Dingle we stopped at the Rock of Cashel

Instead of going inside the castle, we walked around it, looked down a hill and saw this

we walked a little further and found a path down the hillside . . .

through a sheep pasture

we got to the bottom of the hill and had a nice view

crossed a street and found this

(click the sign to view it larger)

and a gate, and a path with a little company

like this guy

then we got into the ruins of the old abbey

flowers. . .

the sun came out and it was quite pretty

and there was a great view of the Rock of Cashel

I liked the old abbey, cows, sheep and all

eventually we went back to the Rock of Cashel and toured around there

but I still think the Hore abbey was my favorite part of the day

Into the Forest

and then back out again

(Wicklow Mountains National Park)