Prior to leaving home we had booked two one day coach tours out of Dublin. Today was the first of them to the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough. A 9.15 start in an almost brand new Mercedes with driver Richie and 36 passengers from 16 countries (Australia, England, Ireland, USA, Canada, Chile, Spain, Finland, Japan, Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Nepal and us).

The Wicklow Mountains are the largest area of continuous high ground in Ireland and are now a National Park and a Special Area of Conservation and Protection under European Law. The’re not very high, the highest peak is only 926 metres. The mountains are all very rounded and although there are forests of introduced spruce from North America at low levels, and some forests of birch, beach, oak, holly and ash, the uplands are dominated by blanket bog, heather and grasslands. Today was overcast and so it all seemed quite bleak and the heather was brown although it becomes purple later in the summer and with red berries from other plants it becomes more attractive.

For a large part we followed 60km of the Wicklow Military Road, built at the beginning of the 1800s by the English army so they had access to root out rebellious insurgents hanging out in the mountains. Four barracks were located along the road and we stopped at the first, Glencree, for coffee and scones with jam and cream. The road is narrow, often single lane, twisting and undulating with many blind corners. The coach driver knew the size of his vehicle down to the inch as he squeezed past, cars, trucks, tractors and other buses.

There was a special photo stop at a rather picturesque stone bridge where apparently in the movie P.S. I Love You, Holly and Gerry kissed. Some couples wanted to recreate this ultimate romantic moment. If you were single and female then Richie would help out in the magic moment.

Then on to Glendalough and the ruins of a monastery founded in the 6th century by St Kevin. Kevin was a descendant of one of the ruling families in the area. The monastery is in a beautiful forested valley with two lakes. For six centuries the monastic settlement flourished as a centre for religious study and pilgrimage. In 1214 the dioceses of Glendalough and Dublin were combined and from then Glendalough declined in status as a centre of cultural and ecclasiastical study until it was destroyed by English foces in 1398 and left a ruin.  Today over a million people each year come to visit the jewel in the crown of the Wicklow Mountains.

We had a very nice walk up a parrallel valley and over a ridge to the upper lake and then along a boardwalk down to the lower lake. On the uplands it had been windy and cold but down in this valley it was warm and still. The monastery buildings are set in a large cemetery with many large and ornate head stones. We explored The Gateway – two fine  arches now totally unique in Ireland, the Cathedral – the largest structure, the Round Tower – 35 metres tall and used as a bell tower, food store and place of refuge, the Priest’s House – a small reconstructed stone building, St Kevin’s Church (“The Kitchen”) – it has a steep roof of overlapping stones supported inside by a stone barrel vault, and the remains of about four other churches. Overall a very special and serene place.

A late lunch at 3.15 in a traditional Irish pub in the tiny village of Avoca, famous in the past for its copper mines, hand-weaving mill and being mentioned by the Greek mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Ptolemy (AD 100 – 170) on his early map of Ireland.

Just as we left Glendalough a few drops of rain began to fall, and by the time we got back to Dublin about 6pm it had well and truely set in. Overall a very good day. A bit of exercise, some good company, and we learned a bit more about the people, history and landscape of Ireland.