Trip to County Wicklow

June 6: Wicklow Tour

Our tour today didn’t start until 9:15 so we had time to enjoy another of Bernadette’s fabulous Irish breakfasts.  I had ham, eggs, mushrooms, sausage, fresh fruit, and fresh baked rolls.  A weight increase may be a problem on this trip.

Our tour started south out of Dublin for the County Wicklow which consists of a large national park in one on the high country regions.  The road quickly became narrow and winding.  Our bus driver, Joe, was a skilled driver and bright, witty and entertaining as our tour guide.  He sang to us, encouraged us to sing and added a special dimension to our trip.  The Wicklow region is a gorgeous place.  High mounts, deep valleys, beautiful lakes and rolling streams.  In the high country, there are all but no trees.  The area was deforested by the early inhabitants for fuel.  There are also scars where the locals mined the “turf” or peat for fuel.  It has since been outlawed in this region because it is a dwindling resource that is nonrenewable.  One old fellow still is allowed to collect his turf; the evidence of his workings were neatly stacked along the road.  The blocks of turf look like big bricks and they are arranged in neat little pyramids to dry.

Youth Barracks at Glencree

Our first stop was at an old monastery called Glencree that was converted to a barracks for orphan boys from Germany after the war.  The government raised the children and gave them a trade many of whom stayed in Ireland and some returned to their native land attempting to find their ancestors.  It was a moving place.

Valley owned by Guinness Family 

From Glencree, we traveled over the mountains past Sally Gap and traveled along high above a beautiful valley and lake called Laugh Tay.  This area is owned by the Guinness family and their compound is a most picturesque place where numerous movies are filmed.  Our guide said that one of the heirs of the Guinness family bought his wife this 3 mile by 1 mile wide valley as a Christmas present.

Next we stopped at Glendalough.  This is a monastic ruins where we wandered amongst the tomb stones the earliest of which was around 900ad.  Early inhabitants had built churches, and other structures, the most interesting of which is a 30 meter high round building that was about 15 feet across.  The door is located 3 meters off of the

Glendaloough monistary with safe hous in the rear

ground and was entered via a ladder that was then pulled inside to prevent unwanted guests.  This was a safe apartment.  There were originally 5 floors for apartments in it and had a spring in the bottom which would allow the inhabitants to survive a siege.

From Glendalough, we traveled to the town of Avoca which is where the BBC serial Ballykissangel was filmed.  The place has been left as it was in the filming and is now a busy tourist attraction.  I understand that the series, which was aired in the late ’90’s is being rerun currently.  We also visited the Avoca Mill

Fitzgeralds Lounge

which is reported to be the oldest continually operating weaving mill in Ireland.  We took a tour of this interesting place and were allowed to leave as much money as we liked in their gift shop.  They ship their quality products worldwide.  Most of their work is now down on modern looms.  They still have a couple of the old hand looms still in operation.   We enjoyed lunch in the Fitzgerald Lounge in which much of the series was filmed.  Both of us had fish and chips. 

Fitzgerald's Bar

As we traveled about in this whole area, our tour guide kept mentioning films that had been produced.  It seems that one of the government officials who was given the task of increasing revenue in the country developed a plan by which artists of all types could come to Ireland and do their thing tax free hence the film industry took advantage of the incentive.  Also, a number of the big name stars are either from Ireland or have adopted Ireland as their home.

From Avoca, we drove on south to the coast and then headed back north to Dublin.  This was a wonderful trip that I highly recommend visitors to Ireland take. 

Once back in Dublin, we caught the bus back to the Azalea Lodge, freshened up and walked down the street to the Cheese Palace where I had guinea fowl and trimmings for dinner.  We were back at our room by about 8:00.