Wednesday 17 October 2012

One Day One Photo - 29

Saturday 29th September

As I was having another weekend away in which I wouldn't be able to ride my bike or do any significant amount of sport I decided to make the most of the walking opportunities that presented themselves.

Since we were in the Wicklow mountains it would have been remiss of us not to stop and walk around Glendalough, a glacial valley in County Wicklow. Although it was getting late in the day when we arrived there Higg and I still chose to do one of the many walking routes made available. We chose the blue route, which consisted of almost 2 miles of uphill around an area called the Spinc, followed by a mile back downhill to reach the lake.

I quite enjoyed the route as it was varied. Starting from the lake, we climbed up past a waterfall, and then continued through woodland.

The path consisted of what must have been thousands of wooden steps that continued upwards unrelentlessly, until the landscape opened out about two thirds of the way from the summit. I can't believe people actually would have laboured to put all these steps in. The wooden steps even had various nails and meshing over them to stop them from becoming slippery in the wet. Very considerate of them!
At the summit we could see the lake and the carpark, 250m below us, where we had started! Breathtaking views.

Luckily we managed to get across the exposed area just as the rain and the wind took over and we were able to duck back into the shelter of the woods to return to the start. It had been a brisk, if hilly 5km, but for me it had done the trick of giving me a little work-out. So I didn't feel too bad about tucking into fish and chips later that evening!

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