August 26 & 27, 2023

Because we were without Wi-Fi for the last couple of days, I’ll combine posts for days 4 and 5 of our Wicklow Way hike.

Day 4 was chilly (sorry Houston friends) and rainy. We wore our rain gear all day as the rain came and went and alternated with mist. Still, the countryside is lovely. The morning began with a kilometer of steep uphill. We remarked that when we did a walk in Tuscany in Italy, we walked through beautiful rolling valleys each day only to end with a steep hike to a town on a hill. Here, we start up at the beginning of the day, spend the whole days getting high into the hills, and, at the very end of the hike, drop way down into a valley. (25,000+ steps)

Day 5 started out in the mist/rain with a hike up through another old forest. I hope you’ll enjoy the picture of the view at the top of the pass taken from the boardwalk which lets hikers avoid the marshy ground. 

Following this section, we headed down into a National Forest that runs along 2 lakes. We saw a lovely waterfall here to go with the long white ribbon of a fall earlier. 

We have arrived at a small town where we’ll spend a rest day tomorrow. (29,000+ steps)