Blog Posting

We finished out walk and we both head off in our separate ways. Peter is staying on in Ireland to play some golf and myself of for a bit of work. Peter and I cross paths every year for a walk and our friendship always there to get us through those long uphill walks. I appreciate Peter’s humor as we chat and work on solutions to the world’s problems. We never quite get to the solutions to all the problems but we sure have fun trying. We may get lost, such a harsh word that is, I like to refer to these times as times of alternate locations. Lost means you don’t know where you are. We always know we are, thanks to the gadgets. We just may not be in the correct place.

We always get to our goal of the day but maybe not as a direct line as we hoped. As Peter refers to them as the gadgets that help us get there it is ironic we walked 2.5 miles. this AM, to get to PC World so Peter could get a new gadget for his navigation for his golfing trip. He has almost caught up with me in number of gadgets .

We end our free day touring around the town of Dublin. Definitely a great tourist town. Of course the Guinness Museum was on list as well as Peter finding a great restaurant for our late lunch. I was able to sneak into a church and be thankful for another safe trip. We started off our day with Peter meeting me for breakfast to plan our day. I always like the shirts Peter finds.

This church was a Catholic Church

The Guinness museum is definitely worth the visit. Do love the many logos that Guiness has come up through their long history.

Lovely day for a Guinness

After the tour we were off for a Beard trimming.

Our lunch consisted of an Anchovies and capers.

The waitress showed us how it is done. Anchovies. On top of the capers on top of Butter on top of Sour dough bread. Absolutely wonderful. Spanish Anchovies in olive oil and not salted.Peter chose the Brisket in Mac and Cheese. My chose was Mussels.

As we head our separate ways this AM there always is the sadness of the trip, fo us , coming to an end but knowing we have many more walks to come. To may family and friends who support and follow our trip. Thank you. To Betsy who lets wander around thank you. I very much appreciate her support.

Finally A beer to say good bye. And a final Guinness saying.

A beer with our freshly trimmed beards.

Best Leslie

The transformation is complete

George Clooney is going to be so upset

The master sculpture at work !

By the way it means FINISHED

Hallelujah we did it ! We walked over 100 miles in 8 days and we broke the Guinness book of record to be exact we did it in 147609 seconds and broke the old record by 11 seconds . Anyway that’s our story .

Our last walk was a pleasant uphill followed by a cruel uphill followed by the longest last 3 miles ever walked . It seems that the last few miles in every walk get longer and longer . Blue skies , lots of sun and plenty conversation what kind of became a lot of bitching on my part during the last 3 miles .

When I arrived in Ireland my first stop was a pub, surprise surprise, close to my hotel where I meet the bartender and he told something what stuck with me .

“You never ,he said , be lonely in Ireland there is always somewhere around who wants to talk to you “. And this is so true , people are so friendly here and helpful ,have great sense of humor, I guess 363 days a year of rain will improve your sense of humor . There is always an exception to the rule of course .

We had a late pick up from our finishing point and our taxi drive , an intellect but jolly fellow got Leslie started on native Indian slaughtering in America . Oh god , poor me upfront I could feel the fire coming out of Leslie’s mouth and burning my neck hairs. It was a very colorful taxi ride. Les and Roger (taxi driver who’s 43 anniversary was yesterday and than try to drop us at the wrong hotel) got into a a verbal battle . Not sure who came out the winner but it was quiet an event and Les was still steaming at dinner time. A bottle of lovely primitivo got him back to being himself.

In my years of hiking and with all of my experiences after 6 years i came to a very interesting conclusion . Don’t talk going uphills . It saves you lot of oxygen for the rest of the hike. Only problem I found here in Ireland most days are just uphills so that makes a very quiet day .

Les is still into darts but now started watching cricket . He was watching the test match ireland vs England , I won’t mention the score , and a 1000 question later I believe he be starting the Yakima cricket association . His website should be up soon and he is looking for founding members . Maybe the north Myrtle beach cricket association could be a partner .

As you can see not to much sunny days in Ireland .

This is not a picture of Les , it is a wine suggestion . The super Tuscan on the board is real good .

We are now in Dun Laoghaire , at least 3 Irish ales to pronounce that town , and than off to our next hotel . One of the pleasures of hiking is laundry so this could be the day .

More adventures to come .

The last day of the Gentle Wicklow Hike started off as most of the Wicklow day’s gentle hikes with a serious up hill climb. As Peter said the adjective Gentle may need to be redefined in Ireland. On the climb out of The Valley we got passed by a party of 3 plus their 2 dogs.

Question of the day:

Is it considered being passed when you are stopped along the trail hydrating and breathing? So many things to ponder.

They were mostly younger than us. I think it was a mother and her two daughters plus their two miniature dogs. Before the top of the hill they stopped for hydration. They seemed to be breathing alright though. We went right by them like the wind. Never to be seen again. Steady wins the day.

The view from the Top was amazing view of the Irish Sea. We had been denied that view previously because of the Irish Mist

The Irish Sea in the distance. A long walk up hill to this vantage point.

After one more hill it was a down hill walk into Marley Park, the official end of the gentle WIcklow Walk. To be fully transparent we did skip the last hill. It was a straight up climb and then back down to the road. So we chose the more civilized walk around the hill. Some of our fellow hikers confirmed the decision was a good one.

Another walk done. The adventure is not done though. Off to Dublin for a day of rest tomorrow. Cheers.

What a walk we had yesterday , over 2 hours of uphill to start this misty Irish day than 1 1/2 hour downhill , surrounded by sheep, fog , you couldn’t see more than 20ft at parts and than came a steep, steep downhill over huge rocks , but Les insured me once we are down we turn right . Well guess what , when we got down we crossed a small wooden bridge and went straight uphill I mean straight uphill . Our hike is called the gentle Wicklow way hike I am not sure but I guess gentle in Ireland means something else here .

Our dinner last night was very British, hog shank terrine and fish and chips and it was accompanied by a very lively discussion about the EU . I believe the farmer who’s fence was crashed under the weight of “Henry” is still looking for us . I wonder what his bill will be, but I can’t imagine that a few Guinness and a couple of sheep couldn’t settle it .

I still can see a smile but it seems to get a bit smaller

They do love there dogs here

Tomorrow is the last day hopefully we make it without any navigation problems ,because being honest my feet are pretty sore.

Today is next to last the last day of walking. A beautiful day it was at the lower altitudes. Up and Up we went into the misty clouds of the Wicklow Mountains.

Most of the three hour up hill walk was on trails but we had this road section

My Drivers’ license Test said hat double yellow lines is a non passing zone.

Interesting long single lane road.

A lot of it was on the board walks , as we call them. This picture reminded me of the Chevy Chase movie, Vacation, as the family visited the biggest ball of string. Heading uphill for the biggest rock in Ireland.

One we got to the top of this hill we got a beautiful view of Ireland. We also got a peek at the memorial to JB Malone, the fellow who laid out the Wicklow Way.

we were not done going up into the clouds

Finally we made it to the top I guess. We couldn’t see much and the fun continued.

Peter was starting to grumble some words after this one.There was a beautiful stream at the bottom of the hill but that didn’t seem to impress Peter much

Walking the board walks is challenging and you need to pay attention at all times. A bit worse than the rock paths. But then there is the Sheep droppings that pose their own challenge

Well we made it to the Car park for our pickup and delivery to a lovely B&B called Coolakay. We will need to be bussed in for dinner but she was kind enough to serve us a beer until the Bus leaves.

Later

Lar

Day ?, not sure what day it is but it is getting closer to the end . Today was the nicest day we had so far . Some blue skies , sun and very warm . According to our guidebook it was suppose to be 10km but we ended up with 18km. Not sure if we took a longer route but I just followed my navigator . After 3 steep climbs Les’s famous words of the day were “no more uphills”, well that didn’t quiet work out that way . 3 more steep climbs were still ahead of us specially the last one was as I called it a real bitch . We did arrive safely at our location and waited patiently for our pick up back to our B&B and we’re joined by a few pints of beer.

The British Open is over and won by an Irish guy whole of Ireland celebrating and we helped a bit . Les now a golfer and looking for another sport got into Darts today . He is watching the dart match play world champion ship tonight at the pub and i had to wrestle him out of the pub and away from the tv . He is totally in it and the future looks a bit like this . Morning round of golf followed by evening dart . I think an RV would be ideal .

Here is his favorite player so far what unfortunately lost last night . I think the run out of beer and he lost his concentration . Darts does is a better fit into the hop business ,the consumption of beer during a game is quiet high .

On a more spiritual note Betsy accepted to be the godmother of my son “paddy”, what was really kind .

Leslie’s new sporting hero, a well oiled Maschine

If you look at the left another dart fanatic!

Hill #4!

Not much to report this AM. Quite dinner last night salad and Salmon.

The world Dart championship was on the Tele here so Peter gave me the low down on the rules and strategy of the game. He was a serious dart player in his younger days.

On the wall of the Pub.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 was an uprising against British rule in Ireland. The United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced by the ideas of the American and French revolutions, were the main organising force behind the rebellion,… en.wikipedia.org

Yesterday was a long slog up out of The Valley. The picture below is hill one of 4 hills yesterday.

Beautiful views of the heather fields and Fern fieldsPesky crop circles again.

Off to meet my breakfast mate. Another 12 mile day of the hills of the Wicklow. The walk is consider the gentle walk of the Wicklow. Peter says he is about ready to write them a note on their description.

🙂

If I made ANY disparaging remarks about B&B I take them all back. We are staying, two nights, in a lovely place here in Laraigh. What a wonderful couple that own it. He also owns the pub up the road.

We arrive in Laraigh around 1 PM but the B&B does not open until 4 PM because of an Irish Football game of their son. Unfortunately we did not stop to read the sign on the B&B and went straight to the pub. Walked down to the B&B read the sign. HMMM decided to walk back to the PUB>. There was a phone number for John. We rang him up. No answer he calls us back we find out he is the pub owner. Nice little chat. Watch the British open. Then we decide to walk back to the B&B. We walk outside and the skies opened up with a deluge of water I had not seen before. We made it about 20 meters and BACK to the pub. As we contemplated our next move. John walked over and said his wife had driven up to fetch us. What a nice thing to do. She then drove us to dinner later since the rain had not stopped. After dinner the restaurant drove us back. I got to say some of the friendliest people I have ever met are here in Ireland. Everyone wants to chat and Peter being the social one of the crowd has garnered many new friends.

I would show pictures of the lovely room , actually the annex, but Peter has not seen it and best not aggravate him. He has a lovely room also. Both have nice walk in showers. A walker’s dream.

Off to dinner at the pub. Some picture of the day.

Peter has been studying Navigation at night and has applied to the apprentice program. “Navigation for those who do not trust the Navigator”

Been trying to tell Peter that Navigation is tough. But he does not believe. I offered him to interpret the pole. He said he had not gotten to that chapter yet.

Yesterday we waked about St Kevin’s church. He started the monastic movement in Ireland. He was born after St Patrick. 100′ and 100′ s of people in busses were swarming the place on Sunday. We walked back through the place this AM and they were MORE people there

Got to go. More later

Last night we had our reserved table and had a quiet dinner

I chose the venison and garlic salad Peter had the smoked salmon salad. Both outstanding. and then. A venison dinner or me.

Peter went for the corn beef. All good. Pretty basic fare around here.

A good. Nights sleep.

I will,take the door to the right.

Peter was downstairs and In the nose room

.breakfast of poached eggs and ham is the fare these days. The full Irish breakfast seems to be to much to walk off as well as a bit heavy.

Good thing today. We started going up hill immediately and got to the top about two hours later.

Just a long slog up the hill and then another couple hours going down the other side.

A bit of rain and a lot of mist.

Pouring down rain now. Our B&B May reaffirm my belief in B&B

Off to celebrate the British open win by Shane Lowry an Irish golfer.

Cheers