15 miles to go...

That was my thinking, anyway, as I set off on the long uphill stretch out of Marlay Park into the mountains. Marlay Park is a great little victorian park, slightly run down, with little bridges and lakes and things.

Climbing up Kilmashogue Mountain, everything was fine: the rain was keeping it nice and cool really. But when I got near the top, it got a bit dodgy. Suddenly there are paths in every direction, and I'm walking along a ridge, called Fairy Castle, hoping that the fairies haven't got me entirely lost. It's pissing down, right into my face, my glasses are wet and steaming up, there's no chance of getting a map out. The only thing that would make it worse would be some sleet hitting me in the face.

Eventually, the fairies let me loose, and I was sure I was on the right path. I did however have sleet hitting me in the face. Ho hum.

As I started to come down the other side of the ridge, the rain did start to peter out, and I could even see again, which helped.

I was making really good time still, down into the valley, and up the next hill, Prince William's Seat. There were starting to be some good views, too.

By early afternoon, I was thinking that I had broken the back of the day, not bad for 15 miles plus. I hadn't seen any walkers all day, but as I came down off Prince William's Seat there were a group ahead of me in the distance.

I caught them up pretty quickly: they were 4 lads from Dublin, walking and camping, and I walked along with them for a fair way. One of them was in the army, one (Aaron) had just left, and those two were strong walkers. Unfortunately the other two weren't, and they had a long walk ahead at the pace they were going!

They seemed a good bunch of lads, although I may have demoralised them saying I was only a few miles from my B&B with a nice hot shower!

The B & B was in Knockree, just off the Wicklow Way, maybe a mile from Enniskerry. Very unexceptional, but with the added entertainment of a mid-evening power cut.

Enniskerry is an unusual little village. It's near to the Powerscourt estate, so gets a lot of tourists. As such, although it's just a few shops around a square, it has loads of places to eat, and clothes shops and things.

It was here that I found out that Ireland has 2 sorts of lemonade, red and white. Red lemonade looks a bit like Tizer or something, and tastes different to white lemonade, but I'd be hard pressed to know what else goes into it. Definitely worth trying, but not quite sure whether I prefer it or not.

written by  martin_b on April 23, 2007 from Enniskerry, Ireland
from the travel blog: Eastern Ireland
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