Day 6: Roundwood to Enniskerry
Distance: 22 km / 13.6 miles. Ascent: 799 m / 2621 ft. Descent: 885 m / 2903 ft.
Approximate walking time: 5 hours.
Tuesday, May 21 continued our journey through the Wicklow Mountains. Lucy arranged for a transfer to Powerscourt Estate with its magnificent gardens while the rest of us continued using our ankles. And although the weather threatened through parts of the day, we were spared.
The trail took us through several mountain passes. We never did decide whether the yellow bushes were broom or gorse. I imagine we encountered both. They are very similar, but gorse has sharp spines. Brave Heart and several other movies were filmed in this area of the country. No surprise in that as the countryside was astoundingly beautiful. The Guinness family estate was also in this region. I am not certain which one, but apparently it was one of the estates we passed over. We were often hiking along the edges of fields, many marked by stone walls which have probably been there for decades, if not hundreds of years. And around several bends we were greeted by lakes below in the valleys. It was breathtaking.
As we ascended one of the larger hills we passed a group of local men who were out trekking for the day. They hike every month as a group with whomever can make it joining in. My memory isn’t great, but I seem to recall they said they were on their 100th outing. Unfortunately I can’t lean on Michael for info. He didn’t chat with them as he had returned to the bottom of the hill where he had left his bag when taking photos.
Towards the end of the day we had distant views of Powerscourt Waterfall which is the highest in Ireland. Somewhere down there was Lucy! The day ended with a walk through forested roadways leading to our next stop. We actually did a bit of backtracking as we weren’t sure which route to take. In the end we probably could have continued on the road we originally took, but it did make for interesting spooky scenery by taking the alternate route.
Our accommodation that night was full of enchanted gardens, replete with a ‘dome of silence’ in the midst of all the garden art. As we were lounging around having a drink, a couple of Scandinavian girls hiked in. One girl had horrible blisters on her feet and couldn’t even wear her shoes any longer. Lucky for her, her partner was a doctor and was treating her feet as well as could be. Surprisingly, they set off the next morning with feet fully booted up – I’m guessing she may have been pain-killer loaded also!
