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July 28th-29th
This weekend we went to Glendalough. Pronounced Glen-da-Lock. Which means the valley of two lakes. It was a beautiful two-day trip. Our group took the train out there early Saturday morning. We had a little trouble getting ourselves out of the train station to the actual location, but hey that is what traveling is for, to learn and figure things out, right!?!? J Anyhow, we were staying at the only hostel in the area. When I mean this place is small, trust me it was tiny! There was the Glendalough Mountains, a hotel with a restaurant and a hostel. That was it! We had lunch at the hotel when we arrived. As we were finishing our lunch, one of the girls in our group got stopped by an elderly women, we offered to take us on a hike that she goes on nearly every weekend, rain, shine, snow, wind, anything! This woman was a trooper and she was even 62 years old!
The women, who was name was Irene, told us that this hike would be fairly easy. So all of us thinking, "well if she can do it at 62, us in our 20's it should be a walk in the park". Well to our misleading information, it wasn't a walk in the park, but some stages it was easy. As we were on our hike, Irene told us many stories of her childhood, the history that surrounded the area, along with other bits that we would have never known about if it weren't for her being there. She actually grew up in the area and had family that lived throughout the Glendalough and the surrounding areas.
During our hike we passed a spot that was really rocky and up hill the whole way. Our feet were a little sore and getting tired. Just in the nick of time, Irene took us to this little pool of water that connected to the waterfall going down the mountain. At this site there was enough room for all of us to site down, take our shoes off and soak our feet in the ice cold, soothing water. It was just what the doctor ordered. J Also on our hike up the mountain we saw old ruins of an old coal-mining village. They were pretty torn down due to weather, but were intact enough to give us a feel what the buildings might have looked like. We made our way almost to the top of the valley and it started lashing rain on us. There was major wind; rain and I thought a little hail. The end of the story is we basically got soaked to the bone. As soon at this downpour ended, instant sun. We were able to dry off fairly quickly by the time we started walking the Spink. It was easier walking because we had a small 2 foot wide path to walk across the whole way to the stairs. On the easy part of our adventure rain came down again. But this time we got an amazing view over looking the two lakes and the valley with not one, but two rainbows!!!! It really was picture perfect!.
The weekend in Glendalough was a really laid back and being one with the outdoors. I personally really enjoyed this experience and will be one I will always remember; the fresh smells of nature around, the sound of the water flowing down into the lakes and the beautiful views along our hike. One that is unforgettable.
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