After over a year away, I am back in Europe! Ireland is one of the easiest countries to get to and they have made it very easy to fulfill the requirements to come to the country. I had looked at several other options but Ireland had done a fantastic job of centralizing all of the information one needs in just a few places. Even once I had booked my flight Aer Lingus repeatedly sent me helpful emails to make sure I had done everything I needed to in order to travel. It also doesn’t hurt that you do not need a COVID test in order to enter the country, just proof of vaccination. Way to go Ireland!

Now the first day is almost always the hardest. The flight is overnight and I just can’t seem to sleep on the flight over. So, I usually end up staying awake for over 24 hours on the first day, ugh!

Today’s travel would take me south to Wicklow Mountains National Park, then to Glendalough, on to Dunbrody Abbey and finally to the city of Waterford.

Wicklow is one of the many sites that I had to drop from my first trip to Ireland due to time constraints, so I was very excited to finally be able to drive through the park.

Now, I will fully admit that I still have no idea what Wicklow is supposed to be protecting as it seems that shepherding is still allowed on the park grounds and there seemed to be a fair number of fences up.

That being said the drive was fantastic and I wish I had been more awake to enjoy it. What would also be nice is if the park had a lot more places to pull over to take pictures and just soak in the views.

The landscape is very similar to Western Scotland, open hills with a lot of heather. One thing I really noticed was the sound of the wind whistling through the hills. I would say that if you are big into hiking this area and Glendalough need to be high on your list.

My next stop was the town of Glendalough. Known for the monastic ruins, the area is another hiker’s paradise. The main site itself has many hikes past the ruins into the hills and along the nearby lake.

Yes, I was stupid enough to take one of those hikes. I have not done much of what people would call exercise in the past forever so the only reason I can give for going on these hikes is just curiosity. The lovely maps at the entrance rate the difficulty of the hikes. They need an update for out of shape Americans.

The hike I took from the monastery to the upper lake was not arduous but I definitely have some muscles that are protesting their use after such a long hiatus!

The forest along the path very obviously gets a lot of water. There was moss everywhere. Ferns were abundant and the air was very humid. It was not that hot out but I was sweating before going too far up the path due to that heavy humidity.

The visitor center was not open but, thankfully, their restrooms were!Never pass up restrooms when touring around, you never know where the next one will be.

I tried to have lunch at a local restaurant but they weren’t going to be opening for another hour. So, hungry and tired I continued on. Yes, I should have stopped at a gas station for food. No, I was not thinking right by this point .

My final visit of the day was to Dunbrody Abbey. This is one of the many ruined abbeys that dot Ireland and the UK thanks to King Henry VIII. The history behind it is fascinating, go look it up!

The abbey is part of one of the oldest continually owned estates in the country , with ownership by the same family going back over 400 years!

The abbey itself originally housed monks but transitioned to a private residence before falling into ruin. Irish weather was in full force by this point and a heavy mist was falling over the whole area, fun!

By the time I left the abbey I was, admittedly a bit worse for wear, tired and very hungry. So I decided to head for my lodging in Waterford early in the hopes of finding some food afterward.

My lodging is not fancy but it is very easy walking distance from multiple restaurants and shops.

Yes, it’s tiny but it has a private bathroom and it’s inexpensive!

After an unintentional nap I did finally find some food. Thank goodness!