A Dubliner’s Weekend in Wicklow

17-18 April 2009

A Dubliner’s Weekend in Wicklow

Ryan was given the day off on Friday, unfortunately for me I still had to go into work. I really can’t complain that much because I was out around lunch time. When I got home, we packed a small bag of items so that we could spend Friday night and Saturday visiting the Wicklow mountains. These mountains, often called the Dublin Mountains by the city folk, are located in County Wicklow a little more than an hour south of Dublin. Our goal was to visit the park there, called Glendalough which has not only mountains, lakes and natural beauty, but the ruins of very old monasteries begun by St. Kevin in the 6th century.

The best way to reach the sights with out a car is via the St. Kevin’s bus which departs from Dublin a couple of times each day. We discovered that the St. Kevin’s bus also leaves from the town of Bray about 30 minutes by train from Dublin. Since we had some extra time before the evening bus, we decided we’d kill a few hours in Bray rather than Dublin. We took a short train ride south along the coastline and soon disembarked Bray. Bray is a major commuter town of Dublin and also a seaside resort in the summer months. It is home to Ireland’s only film studio where Braveheat and Excalibur were filmed.

When we left the train station, we really had no clue where we were going and so we approached a parked bus to ask for directions. There was a 10 year old freckle faced boy sitting in the driver’s seat of the bus and a few rows back was the real driver. We asked him for directions to the center of town and he offered to drive us up there for free! After hopping off the bus, we saw a beautiful Victorian style building which upon closer inspection turned out to be a McDonalds! We even indulged in some fries and a Cadbury cream egg McFlurry. After consulting our map, we decided to talk a bit outside of the town and visit the Killruddery House.

Killdruddery House is a beautiful mansion built in the 17th century, home to the Barbazon family. It apparently also has Ireland’s oldest formal gardens. Likely due to it’s proximity to Dublin and location in Bray, it has been used in many movies and TV shows including: Becoming Jane, My Left Foot, The Count of Monty Cristo, Lassie, The Tudors, Far & Away, Angela’s Ashes…and the list goes on! After walking at least 2 miles in the rain to get to the mansion, we were greeted by a sign which said that the house was only open to visitors during the weekends in the off season! Essentially we had walked all that distance for nothing! There were a few horses grazing in the grass right past the entrance gate so we wandered inside to pet them and take pictures. Since we had already trespassed into the “closed” grounds of Killruddery House, we figured what would be the harm in going a bit further? Ryan said there was no way he was turning around that easily after we came out of our way in the rain! So we headed down the long driveway leading to the house. A couple cars actually drove down the driveway to the house and no one seemed to care that we were there after hours. We went up to the main gate of the house and took a bunch of pictures. I would have loved to have seen the house in full swing and the garden in full bloom.

We made our way back towards the center of Bray but veered off course to walk by the seaside. It was still a gloomy and grey day but we got a sense of what Bray might have been like on a summer sunny afternoon. The beach was not the sand we are used to but instead a rough shore of grey pebbles. The beach ended in an abruptly tall green mountain cliff. The main drag as lined by Victorian era hotels and houses as well as ice cream parlors, cafes, and fish & chip shops. Even on this misty afternoon, there were still a few families out with kids enjoying the seaside atmosphere.

With only a little time until our bus would depart for Glendalough, we strolled inland and back to the McDonald’s. Right on schedule at 6:40pm, St. Kevin’s bus arrived and we hopped aboard. Over the course of the 1 hour drive, the weather did not improve at all, but the scenery turned into what we had come to expect from rural Ireland: green hills, mountain peaks, cows & sheep, and yellow furze bushes.

The bus dropped us off at the Glendalough Park visitor’s center and from there we walked about 15 minutes up the road to our hostel. On the way, we walked right past the beautiful monastery ruins we had traveled her to see. As it was late in the afternoon on a damp and foggy Friday, there was hardly a soul to be found on the premises. The monastery seemed that much more mystical and remote as it sat nestled between two mountains and enshrouded in fog. We took in the beauty and serenity of the scene before continuing up the narrow country road. St. Kevin was a hermit priest who founded this monastery sometime in the 6th century. Unfortunately the dreaded English destroyed much of it in the 1300s. The hostel really couldn’t have been any closer to the park and monastery; in fact all that separated the hostel from the ruins was a field of grazing sheep! We checked into the cozy and quiet youth hostel and this time got a room of our own.

After getting out bunk beds set up, we figured we’d better go in search of dinner since most of the pubs stop serving around 9pm. Right near the park there was really only one restaurant, located in the Glendalough Hotel. Since it was cold, late, and pitch black out…we didn’t make it any further than that hotel. We sat down in the pub and order two burgers and a Killkenny beer. Moments later, the entire pub was filled by wedding party festivities! Ever since we got to Ireland, Ryan had been remarking on how thin the Irish were…well, we seem to have found all of the fat Irish in this one wedding party: from the beer-bellied men to the round-faced boy continually shoving chocolates in his mouth, even the bride was plump herself! We enjoyed watching the group become progressively more intoxicated as the night went on! Instead of joining in their revelries, we headed back to the hostel, now in total darkness, and thankfully made it there safely. Before going to bed, we popped in one of the hostel’s many video tapes (can’t remember the last time I watched a VHS) and relaxed in the living room.

We arose the next morning to bright blue skies and sunshine streaming through the windows. After freshening up, we took about a 2 mile walk do the closest village, Laragh, for breakfast at a cute and cozy restaurant called Wicklow Heather. Ryan and I indulged in some hearty and greasy Irish breakfasts before heading back the way we came to the park. Right before we reached the visitor’s center, we noticed a sign on the road pointing to “Braveheart movie drive-Hollywood.” We were obviously right in the area where most of the movie was filmed (even if it is about Scotland!) With the gorgeous weather, already the park was filled with tourists and Dubliners down for the day. Ryan and I got a trail map and charted out a course. Glendalough means the “glen of two lakes.” We decided that first we would walk around the perimeter of the thin lakes which sat in the crevice of the mountain’s valley. This would lead us to the ruins of an old lead mining village from the 1800s and would also offer us views of some of the monastic ruins along the lake shores.

It turned out to be a splendid walk! The weather was just perfect: warm in the sun, cool and crisp in the shade. After seeing the mining village, we doubled back on the trail, arrived back near the picnic area but this time headed up Derrybawn peak. On the way up, we passed a somewhat anticlimactic waterfall, but nonetheless pretty. We continued to summit the mountain for the next hour or so and when we reached the top, we had gorgeous views of the Wicklow mountains and lakes, sprawling farmland, and the monastic ruins below. The further we go down the trail, the less tourists we had around us and we were able to relax in these peaceful surroundings.

When we were back in the valley again, we found ourselves on a shaded path with a tiny babbling brook running alongside of it. Off to the right, through the trees, were fields with goat, then some church ruins, later on an old horse…on or left was a forest of pine trees and everything was covered by bright green moss. Finally we were back where we started, at the visitor’s center. Before calling it a day, we went back to the area with most of the monastic ruins and old gravestones. It was a bit more crowded than I’d like to be, but still a beautiful place. We realized in retrospect that we were very lucky to have gotten to see it the day before in foggy solitude.

At 5:45pm we lined up with probably a hundred other tourists to catch the St Kevin’s bus back to Dublin. When we saw the crowd waiting for the bus, we were sure that some people would be left behind. Ryan and I were ready to elbow the competition out of the way, but apparently the bus people were on top of it and instead of one bus, two showed up! When we returned to Dublin, the sun was still shining in St. Stephens Green and the city folk were out in droves enjoying the weather. We rewarded our day of hiking with a delicious and large dinner at a reasonably priced Italian restaurant off Grafton St called The Steps of Rome. Then we figured that since this might be the only Saturday night we get in Dublin, perhaps we should have a night out on the town!

We went home first to drop off our belongings and then I found us a pub across the river that would likely have traditional Irish music! We made our way first to Brazen Head, which claims to be the oldest pub in Dublin, but the music there was not Irish by any stretch of the imagination, it was just a mediocre cover band. Across the street was O’Shea’s Pub. We walked in to a steamy crowded pub that was lacking in character but had the Irish music. We sat down for our pint of Guinness at the bar and as we looked around, we realized we were the youngest people in the place by at least 50 years! I don’t know of it was senior night at the pub or what, but I swear I saw the Golden Girls across the room! These elderly folks were having a great time, drinking away, flirting with each other, having a grand time. It was actually pretty great t see them out like that! But alas, we felt that we should be with some of our peers, and we walked down to Temple Bar area. This is the main nightlife area of Dublin and on a Saturday night it was crawling with people! I have never seen so many different groups of people in themed outfits…the Irish really like dressing up. There was the “slutty nurse” group, Disney characters, cute insect costumes, color-coordinated clothing and so on. There were drunk people dancing and jumping in the streets to live music, girls stumbling by barefoot on the cobblestone carrying their high heels…in short, the place was crazy! I wanted to go in for just one more Guinness, but Ryan dragged me home, reminding me that we had to get up early the next day for more traveling!