A walk with Peter and Leslie along the Wicklow Trail, Ireland
Day 4 started with a rather long up walk. Seems like,most days start with what we call the morning cardio
Then the up hill continued into the forest. People kept saying it was going to snow. It was cold
Peter,admiring the local,fauna.
We ran into multiple sections of board walk. The round is so wet and mucky. The had nails on top of the boards for traction which actually create a slippery surface,
after the day had and chips for lunch and a beer celebrating paddy’s birth.
First of all I want to announce I became a proud father of a kidney stone . After 3 days of suffering but never complaining or bitching , maybe a little bit , I gave birth this morning around 3.35am to a kidney stone . Les and I named him “Paddy” . Paddy hindered me in my alcohol consumption but I should make up for it over the next few days .
As Les mentioned our accommodations are not Trump tower ,close but not quiet . I was lucky today I got the master suite . Well if you call this luck I never want to be lucky again . I don’t have enough space to put my bag anywhere so I am blocking my entrance door . Smallest bathroom ever, not sure why there is a sink. The sink is a big or smaller as our water-bowl for our beloved Woodle Marley ! I am downstairs so above me and i hope they stay above me i can hear every step, snore or other noises . I am hoping the ceiling is not coming down on me .
Now to golf , as a few of you realize the British Open is on in the moment and me enjoying a game or 2 myself i am watching it any moment I have . I even got Les all excited and he is watching it with me . I think he might start up the game . I am so sorry Betsy but his routine will change a bit , 3 hours of walking followed by breakfast and than straight to the golf course for 5 hours , back for some Pilates and than a light dinner . Roy Farms be sponsoring all the golf tournaments in Yakima better get the RV fueled up.
An Irish guy is leading the Open and the Pubs are going crazy . if he wins free Guinness for everybody.The favorite was another northern Irish guy Rory and to my surprise there is a lot of support for him here . I believe he actually switched to represent Ireland in the next olympics .
A very nice article .
Our walk was very pleasant 2 really steep uphills and walking on wooden blanks .
We are both warmed up now and ready for the second half of our hike .
Oh on another note, Les is staring a beard and I gave him a nickname .
” SEAN “
Spitting image
An Irish Rasta , testicles or no testicles ?
9.5, 9.5 and a 10.0
I hope they don’t turn on the heater tonight .
Hat safely tucked away in my pack. useful place for a useful item. While waiting for the WiFi overload to slow down I went to Peter’s suite for a chat about dinner arrangements. The restaurant is across the street and they say you MUST have reservations for the weekend nights. I am a bit baffled over this. Only eating place in this town of Glenmure. Miles from anywhere What happens if you don’t have a reservation.? There isn’t no other option. With no cell connection up here at the four corners and only 4 buildings Uber eats is off the table. Peter was not game on testing my theory. As we walked into this place this just seems odd.
One my way to the down stairs suite I ran into our hostess for the night. Missed her name as I miss most of the things the locals say. I was able to glean she has been doing this at this house for over 22 years. She started off with 3 rooms and then added 2 more. I suspect the converted closet was my added room. She said she is adding 3 more rooms next year. Hmmm. She and God only know where she is squeezing in the rooms in. She then proceeded to chat about walkers and drinkers. I guess the only two designations for her guests. She said “ they don’t mix well”. Walkers come in early go to sleep early and leave early and are quiet. I suspect drinkers are the opposite.
I am not getting into,our walk today much yet. Sorry about that. Peter is into the British open and everyone of his picks, betting, are in the game. I never seem so excited. I will add one more picture and then off to our dinner reservation.
. I just had to share the highly space efficient bathroom.
I love the mirror. One of those magnifying ones on one side and standard on the other side. Sink is efficient I can get one hand in at a time.
Enough off to dinner
Before I get into day 4 I thought I might add a few things.
We are staying in B&B accommodations. Houses where they share a few rooms with us walkers and such. I do not believe I have seen a proper hotel since we left. Granted we are not on the major tourist trail. The hosts are nice and friendly and always trying to make our roughly 20 hr interaction as pleasant as possible. Most B&B’s usually have 4-5 rooms available. So with much admiration for folks opening up,their houses to strangers on a daily basis I am reluctant to cast stones. But a few pebbles from time to time should be ok.
With that said the hot shower after a day of hiking is the high light of the day, even higher when it is a walk in shower. Muscles do not work properly after a day of walking anything now vertical is challenge. . Yesterday’s shower was one for the record books.
I will give them an A for inventiveness but operationally a F.
Basically, to have fully multi uses, hand shower and bath, the rubber cups slide over the existing faucets and direct the water to the hand wand that basically hits you about waist high at best when lifted up. . If you try raising it higher you run the risk of pulling one of the,plastic cups off the faucet. Very interesting outcome as in: hot water cup comes off and streams hot water onto your feet which leaves the cold water streaming out of the hand wand onto whatever part of your body you were,washing.
After I explained this to Peter his sympathy was at the lowest I had seen it for awhile. His bathroom was across the hall and he said you had at least your own bathroom in your room.
Since we are discussing room designs here is the picture of my room closet tonight.
Again I greatest for people opening up their houses. God bless motel six
Peter in his last post, casually mentioned, the lost hat.
My hat has been a,part of my walking since the beginning. I have lost and left it in more places than I can count. Yesterday, during a rain event (that is what we call them here in Ireland) I put my hat in my pocket so my poncho could be put on. Somehow it came out and It hit the ground. Peter saw it and retrieved it. He carried my hat along the trail for awhile waiting for my epiphany which did not happen. He got tired of carrying it he said “you are going to thank me” and handed me my hat.
I am truly grateful – so Peter in a public form I say
“Thank you
So with oddities of the day out of the way peter and I started off the day at a place they call he iron bridge.
Pictures will have to wait. No cell connection her and the house is full of the daily guests and over loading the WiFi
Did I mention how in these B&B’s the major group.activity, among other things, is noise sharing. Soundproofing has not made it to the B&B circuit here yet.
Later
Day 2 was a blur ! We had a lovely hike through the Irish hills and finally saw some other hikers . The trail is not busy at all , so who is looking for a quiet peaceful hike this could be the one . It still was around 12 miles and to my surprise we didn’t get lost or did not do any extra miles . My chief navigator behaved himself . He was very disciplined and polite to his co hiker .
We arrived in tinahenley had a pint , lovely dinner , really good lemon tart and rushed to bed .
Than came Day 3!
It rained all night but to our surprise we woke up with no rain and suddenly the whole village run on to the street , they ripped there shirts off and stood in the middle of the street. What happened ? The sun appeared and for the next 5 minutes the locals enjoyed a ray of sun, apparently this event only happens in leap years , but because of global warming I guess it came early .the ray of sun only lasted for 5min. and 30 sec but long enough for them to,get a 3rd degree sunburn.
Well off we went , as you might recall on a picture posted by Leslie of a broken fence . Here is the story behind it .
We hiked 2 km to the start of the Wicklow way and the start was at that famous fence . Big signs everywhere directing you but I guess one day of a polite navigator was enough . Les pulled out all of his gadgets leaned or sat on the fence and suddenly I hear this enormous crashing sound , I looked around and here was “Henry the navigator “ flat on his ass . At first I had a smirky smile but than I got a bit worried . I helped him up,and thank god he was fine and all the gadgets were still in working condition. Fence was completely destroyed.
From there we hiked on the Wicklow Way for most of the day with a few changes, a lost hat , pretty good weather , some real steep hills , dead animals and not a soul in sight till nearly to the end . 3 1/2 hours in the walk I dare to ask how long to go . A quick and very short answer as I recall about 2 miles . Oh good ! I thought we be shortly there. A short while later a few signs appeared Wicklow Way turn right , navigation gadgets appeared , a bit of studying and than came a famous quote . “ found a better route “. Instead of crossing the hill let’s walk around it . Me being a polite Austrian , never question the navigator , ok let’s go .
20 minutes later the sky turned black , my feet started to rebel , in my gentle voice I whispered “how long to go “. Firm answer “about 2 miles “. Now my head starts spinning . About 50 minutes ago it was 2 miles before we changed direction and now we still at 2 miles . Hm , I know we lost 2 wars in the row oh don’t let me lose my feet . 30 minutes later another gentle question this time in German “ wie lange noch ?” . Quick answer no more than a mile . Wow , we must be walking slow or backwards. Finally we saw our destination . We are actually called for our transportation ahead for us to be picked up and there he was waiting for us patiently. First words out of his mouth , hm where you come from never see anybody arrive from this direction before .
As Les mention I didn’t bring my cel so I can’t take any pictures and so I guess my stories are a bit longer .
Overall we might walked an extra mile or 2 but between friends that a piece of cake .
Had a great dinner , solved world problems and in bed by 9pm. Still daylight out there .
Can’t wait till tomorrow . Another day another story !
The Wicklow society named a statue after us what is now proudly displayed.
We believe leprechauns leave this on our path.
delicious lemon tart !
After a long time of heavy rain we woke up to a misty morning.
After breakfast and a farewell to Madelline we were on our way.
View from the door way of Madelline’s this AM
We had to walk to the trail start. Some tight walking along the road
We had a Leprechaun moment with the fence. Peter might make a comment about it. He doesn’t have his phone with him so his pictures come from his ipad.
We had light rain off and on through the day.
PIctures from the day
Then the Leprechauns posing as cows. Sneaky little rascals.
After a rain wet foliage. Makes for interesting walking when the path is so overgrown.
Got to love Ireland book stands. Horse and Hound – then Farmer’s weekly.
Below is about every gossip magazine you can think of 
At the pub now watching the British Open then dinner
Later
Quick update of dinner last night.
We went to the recommended restaurant next to our B&B, Madelline’s Restaurant. I nice restaurants with some interesting twists.
Your Wine list was basic.
One option for each wine type. We went for the Premium Red wine BUT unfortunately they were out of that wine. So we ended up with a Merlot. Not bad.
The dinner menu was a prefix menu. Choose three or two items
We took a whack at the Apricot – White Stilton ,Black pudding & bacon salad.
Actually pretty good.
Got peter’s approval.
Peter went for the chicken and I for the steak.
A nice meal after a long day of walking.
Couple of interesting signs from the day.
Cheers
LAR
The day started off with breakfast and a quick discussion on the day’s agenda. Peter has taken a keen interest in logistics of the day.
We had a taxi ride to the start point today.
General scenes front the day. A rural walk through rural Ireand
We finally ran into some other hikers for the first time. The were semi running on the trail.
Notice the the tissue hanging out of the shoe on the right. Not a good sign of things to come. Must be a bad rub.
We did see two other hikers going North to South. Other than that it is just Peter and I walking along discussing the finer points of navigation in a foreign country. We did come across another couple of signs.
A half circle seemed like a good omen. Yup that is Peter up head leading the charge.
Looks like Loop trails are a way of life in the Wicklow Forest. We were pretty keen on not pretty keen on both repeating yesterdays loop. Especially considering this one was 25 km. And up a nasty hill. Peter’s navigational skills were on high alert as we walked along the combination trail. This means were were walking on the trail with two symbols. 
We came across a little pub called the “The dying Cow”. Interesting place in the middle of no where. I think the owner was a hoarder of the highest order.
Made a stop for coffee and a snack. With the misty day and high humidity we were a bit wet. – or is that sweat/?
We ran into fairy land along the day. We were both on alert for the Leprechauns who surely would be about.
As today was mostly on narrow country roads we passed many houses. One house with 10 dogs at least behind the fence was particularly interesting.. All the dogs barking at the same time. This was turn and we had to walk around three sides of the house as we took a left turn around the house. The dogs followed us along the turn. The owner came out tried to silence the mob to no avail. Over the noise we asked if she was a dog sitter. The yard was full of dog toys and various items no lawn just dog stuff. She said Nope they are all mine.
Then we saw the Laurel and Hardy characters. Were they there to placate the dogs or invite / or scare the fairies and Leprechauns .?
Some random shoots from the day.
Beautiful site.
Many cute cottages like this doted the countryside as we walked along the roads.
the Daily church
Peter said it was a fairy trap and was on high alert.
Another day done. We stayed at the same place as the previous night – THAT LOOP THING AGAIN. No fear of extra luggage not arriving at least. Madelline was there to greet us and make reservations at the restaurant, next door, called Madelline’s More on that later.
Off to meet Peter for breakfast and the discussion of the day. Navigation.
Another 12 plus mile day along with a designated pickup time at a designated time yet to be discussed agreed upon and a call to the taxi service for pickup. The pickup location has no cell connection so this could be interesting.
Lar
As Peter said the hardest thing for a Navigator to say is. ” I believe we have been here before”
Definitely a bizarre day with us doing a complete loop around the mountain and ending up back at the beginning of the forest trek. The interesting thing is that we were always following the signposts for the walk. I could go on about the signpost leading us into a circle etc etc. But Peter and I pretty well sorted it out yesterday with the conclusion that it was my fault. I graciously accepted the conclusion. 🙂
Did see some nice scenery along the way though so was not a total loss.
After we reached out starting point of the forest walk AGAIN I fired up the Pocket Earth App and mapped out our path to our destination of the day.
Of interest is that our journey for the day was to be 20 km. It would take 6 hours of walking. Our scenic way of getting to our destination of the day showed, after we arrived, that we had IN TOTAL walked 20.4 km and we had done that in a bit under 5 hrs.
HMMM – Strange.
We finally got to our B&B for the next couple of nights. Nice town of TInahely. We went out for dinner.at Conner’s. Peter was trying the various ciders available. Pretty good. Had a nice meal of Salmon and then off to bed.
The view form TInahely out into the country side.
Hopefully tomorrow offers us a clearer path. Pocket Earth will be close at hand tomorrow.
Peter has made his choice for the evening meal.
Gaelic word for the day.
The word aduantas doesn’t really have an English equivalent, but describes that feeling of unease or anxiety caused by being somewhere new, or by being surrounded by people you don’t know.
It’s derived from aduaine, the Irish word for “strangeness” or “unfamiliarity.”
🙂
It was a typical misty Irish day , I think when God created Ireland he created the most wonderful people but somehow he forgot about the sun .
Les and I set up early in the morning with a full Irish breakfast once the eggs arrived , to conquer the Wicklow Way .
The green hills surrounded us and the smell of fresh cut hay was floating around . With firm steps and a poetic heart with thought the Wicklow Way is ours and nothing could stop us . 12 miles of easy walking and navigation for a 5 year old what could ever go wrong .
But we forget that Ireland is the land of Leprechauns and not knowing how devilish and mischievous they are , us foolish innocent hikers got caught in there mischief and suffered badly.
It all started after 5 miles. We followed the sign and turned into woods of county Wicklow . There we hiked upwards and upwards and upwards still following the sign .1 1/2 hours hiking through forest , funny shaped wood structures and on occasion , thinking back some green flashes appearing in the thick misty forest. Suddenly my navigator , the navigator of navigators said one sentence what gave me shivers and I will never forget, ” I think we been here before “. Oh god , oh no we just walked around a mountain and got back exactly were we started from.
You couldn’t hear a pin drop , silence , we looked at each other and I knew Les in his mind try to figure out how to blame me and I had the same thoughts in my head . But being such experienced hikers we knew that it couldn’t have been any of our mistakes , well definitely not Henry the navigator , so who and what got us so f……d up !
There was only one conclusions
LEPRECHAUNS!!!
After a heated discussion we both , me a little bit more hesitated , agreed and somehow figured out that those mischievous little green creature switched around the signs and directed us into as we call it now “THE WICKLOW LOOP”.
Anyhow this our story and we sticking to it.
Here is a video of eyewitness of leprechauns and Les and I as of this moment are firm believers .
After the new created Wicklow loop we dragged our asses for another 2 hours to the town of Shillelagh ( 2 guiness to pronounce this village ) what was the end of our hike today .
Exhausted, confused but still good friends we reached at Tinahely, ( 2 Guinness and a shot of Jameson whiskey to get this pronounced ) were we staying for the next 2 nights.We had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant and looking forward to our hike tomorrow .
But one thing is for sure be aware of Leprechauns , they can come in all different identities.
“oíche mhaith agus codladh sámh” ( good night and sweet dreams) . Impossible to pronounce because there ain’t enough beer in Ireland .
We came to the conclusion this is an undercover double agent Leprechaun.
Lovely Day for a Guinness 