Ireland day 0166. Sunday 13 March 2022- Glencree

Ireland day 0166. Sunday 13 March 2022- Glencree
Today’s summary Picked up a friend from the Walking Club at Portmarnock then drove down to Enniskerry to meet rest of the group at a coffee shop.   Drove up to Cloone then short walk down to the Glencree river for fabulous lunch spot.  Reversed the process at the end of the day.   Val completed the Engadin Ski Marathon in Switzerland
Today’s weather Overnight wind and rain died out by mid morning.   Very bright sunny intervals which were almost warm in the afternoon, between heavy showers. Light south-easterly wind.   About 9C
Today’s overview location
(The blue mark shows the location of our route)
Close-up location
(The green line shows where we walked)
(Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected):
Glencree DWC
Commentary

Do you ever have those days when you know you want to write something, but just don’t know how to start?   Well I’m having one of those days today.   I sat down in front of the computer and tried to think of something to say, but I couldn’t.   So I took these steps to try and remedy the situation:

  • went and had my tea (sausage and mash left over from last night – very nice, by the way – especially when I added half a tomato and a leaf of lettuce – transforming it at a stroke into a healthy fibre-filled salad) but still no words would come.
  • did my washing – it’s still churning away in the machine now but my mind was no more able to string two words together than it was before.
  • had a shower and see what effect that had – so here I am now.

Still not great on the creativity score, though, so I will avoid hyperbole and stick to the facts

Here are the facts.

  1. Got up
  2. Made packed lunch
  3. Drove to Portmarnock to pick up my walking companion
  4. Drove to Enniskerry
  5. Had a cup of coffee and a scone (by the way “scone” is always pronounced “sc-ohwne” in Ireland and never “sc-onne” which as a Yorkshireman is a bit hard for me to deal with)
  6. Drove to Cloone and parked the car
  7. Hiked down to the Glencree Valley with the Dublin Walking Club for a short exploration of the riverbank
  8. Had a picnic lunch by the river
  9. Noted that the river was very full
  10. Walked back up to the car park
  11. Learned that possibly the most famous feature of Glencree is the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, which will merit a blog all of its own one day
  12. Marvelled at the huge glacial boulders in the wood
  13. Discovered that there are two types of deer in the Wicklow Mountains.   Red deer are the native but they have interbred with the introduced Sika deer so now most are hybrids.   We didn’t see any of either
  14. Gave two walking friends a lift home
  15. Dropped off one friend in Donamede and the other in Portmarnock
  16. Drove back to Malahide
  17. Did the tea / washing / shower thing and wrote this blog
  18. Congratulated Val on her epic achievement! (see photo below)
  19. Thought about going to bed but haven’t decided yet
  20. Signed off this blog until tomorrow.

 

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

The walk down through the Millennium Oak Wood is well laid out and boardwalked.   The planks are stapled with U-nails which are partially effective at stopping you slipping off The Glencree River – dark brown today with the runoff from last night’s rain.   It’s pretty quiet down here- a well hidden spot.   Hardly anyone about
It was also in full spate.   Fortunately there were no river crossings called for today, otherwise we would have a long wait When the sun came out it was absolutely brilliant.   Crystal clear blue sky and actually some warmth in the direct sun.   All the trees are still looking pretty wintry though.   But I like the way you can see the delicate tracery of the branches when there are no leaves on them
Down by the Glencree River.   A bit further downstream it joins the Dargle River and flows out to sea at Bray (at the swannery, if you can remember back to New Years Day) The Millennium Wood is strewn with giant boulders like these moss-covered specimens.   They are presumably erratics left behind by the retreat of the glaciers about 10,000 years ago
In case you were wondering where Val has been for the last week – well here’s your answer!   She was competing in the Engadin Ski Marathon in Switzerland today.   She successfully completed the 42 km / 26 mi race in 5h 14m this morning.   What an epic achievement.
I’m a very proud husband this evening!
Interactive map

(Elevations corrected at  GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )

Total distance: 5890 m
Max elevation: 254 m
Min elevation: 134 m
Total climbing: 180 m
Total descent: -180 m
Total time: 02:43:32
Download file: Glencree River DWC corrected.gpx

You can read earlier and later days’ blogs below

Previous day’s blog
Next day’s blog
Ireland home page

 Save as PDF