Happy April!!
I am sorry that I was such a terrible blogger and didn't post much during March. It was an extremely busy month though, so luckily I have lots of stories to share with you!
Of all the outings and trips we've been on this semester, we have lucked out and had beautiful sunny skies almost every single time. In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of times there has been a drizzle. The trip to Glendalough was one of those days. It rained every which way rain could. It drizzled, it spit, it poured, it sun-showered, it "wintery-mixed" and it may very well have even hailed briefly. But try as the weather might, it couldn't stop us from adventuring. We did have a brief, good omen before we arrived in Glendalough- a rainbow stretched across two plowed fields - sadly, no leprechaun or pot of gold at the end.
Glendalough is in Wicklow County, where Bray and Greystones are as well. It is slightly further inland and a little further south of Dublin than Bray. Glendalough can be literally translated into "the valley of the two lakes" and is nestled in between several very large mountains. It has been this way since a glacier carved the valley at the end of the last ice age. There is a narrow strip of land which separates the two lakes and it is said St. Kevin lived in a cave on the side of a mountain, above the lakes, until he founded his monastic 'city' in the 11th Century.
This is all that remains of the city and during the majority of the year visitors cannot walk around the site anymore because of previous vandalism. However, you can still see the round watch tower, and St. Kevin's church.
After stopping to take a fair share of pictures we continued on with our walk and found the first of the two lakes, it is smaller in size than the second lake and has no foot path access when it is so wet out.
You can see in the background some of the mountains starting to get a little larger.
On the strip of land between the two lakes is a parking lot now, it holds only 20 cars or so and there is a great place to stop for snacks. I really wish it had been open when we walked by, but because of the weather and time of day, it was simply not an option.
We finally approached the second lake and walked right onto its sandy beach. After snapping a few photos of the scenery, like this one--
Lilly, our operations manager, made us all stand together for a picture. I can't imagine any of us look too happy since it had really started raining only a few minutes earlier.
On our way back to the visitors center, where we were going to have our lunch, several people decided it would be fun to splash in all the puddles along the way. Knowing we had a full day ahead of us still, Tricia and I walked towards the back to avoid any unwanted splashes. Good thing too since one friend jumped into what she thought was a puddle but ended up being a mud hole. She went in almost up to her knees! Then, when passing a certain part of the path that runs even with a dip in the road above, a car passed and sent a waterfall of puddle water over the wall and onto the heads of everyone in front of us.
Here is a picture of Tricia and I hanging back a little until the cars passed- I really like how green everything is in this picture. Including Tricia.
When we got back to the visitors center we decided to have lunch, however, there were no picnic tables and we weren't allowed to eat inside so we stood and watched as the sky cleared up a little. We noticed a mountain in the distance we hadn't seen before, mostly because it was so cloudy and this mountain was covered with snow. I think it looks rather hidden still in this picture. You can also see the top of St. Kevin's Church here.
Due to the lack of tables of benches for lunch most of our group stood and ate our sandwiches and crisps (potato chips). This little robin caught on and started hoping around our feet picking up our scraps, sometimes eating them and sometimes carrying them away presumably to her nest. A few other robin timidly joined her in picking up bread crumbs. However, she was the only one brave enough to get very close to us. Here she is on the stone wall, patiently waiting for one of us to drop more food.
From the two lakes we headed to Glendalough's horseback riding center. The small farm had about 15 horses. Behind the stables were several paths that led through the woods, along a stream and by a pond. The trees offered some shelter from the rain but everything was coated in little rain droplets and it was green everywhere. Here's a picture of some of the horses we got to ride in their stalls before getting all set up. I really like how all the horses in this picture are distracted by Sheeba, the stable dog, barking at another horse.
Here is the horse that Sheeba was barking at, her name is Pluto and she took quite a liking to Casey (also pictured). When Casey tried to walk away Pluto would kick her stable door and Sheeba would bark. Quite a symphony.
Due to the amount of students that wanted to ride, and the number of horses available for riding we had to go in a few different groups. I was in the second group and got to ride a horse named Belle. She was so gentle and really enjoyed stopping to snack on holly or ferns whenever possible. Here we are before our ride, I'm wearing my rainjacket, even though during our trip it was the only sunny time of the whole day!
Our ride took us over hills and through valleys, passed farms and fields and into the woods. The woods were definitely the coolest part too because all the trees were gray and dead but the ground was still damp and green and mossy. Our leader told us if we looked carefully we could see large herds of Irish gray deer in the woods and sure enough, there would be dozens of the standing just past the tree line starring at us as we passed. I tried to take a picture but this is the best I could get with one unsteady hand on the back of a horse.
You can see the rough outline of a deer between the two trees on the left, there are also several sets of antlers (the white horns in the background) I would guess there were between 5 and 7 deer near the edge of the woods when I took this picture.
Overall, Glendalough was beautiful despite the weather. Having the opportunity to ride horses was really nice and the scenery was breathtaking.
I promise to blog more soon and not get so behind, especially because my time in Ireland is coming to an end much quicker than imagined possible.
Love and hugs as always,
Annie
