Ireland, Day 2: On to the Wicklow Hills

And then the rain came, just as we started up into the hills.

 Our guide kept up a running commentary as we traveled; the rain obscured the view, and taking any photos as we traveled was difficult as the bus rocked and rolled its way through the countryside.

We passed quickly through the little town of Enniskerry, a place I would have liked to explore.

Rain, rain and rain. The photo below is difficult to make out, but this was a place up on the bogs where peat was being harvested. Peat is vegetation compressed and rotted over the years into a dense mat. It is harvested by cutting out in blocks, then dried. 

 Our driver Dennis stopped the bus to tell us about the peat, and passed around a piece that had been dried and was ready for the fire.

The creeks and streams were running at full tilt. These feed the River Liffey, according to our driver. Water from the bogs is the water used (after processing, of course) for both Guinness stout and for Jameson whiskey, if I remember Dennis' words correctly.

A bit of heather bloomed along the roadside.

 We stopped at a picturesque bridge in the Sally Gap that was the scene of the proposal in the movie PS I Love You. Parts of Braveheart and other movies were also filmed in the Wicklow hills.

A fellow traveler offered to take a photo of us. At this point a stray ray of sun filtered through, but it didn't last.

 I waited for my fellow travelers to head back to the bus so I could get one photo of the bridge with no one on it. It was a mystic place, certainly, one I would have liked to visit all alone, even on this rainy day, just to listen to the water rushing and the winds, and to smell the rain and the bogs.

Goodbye, beautiful bogs.

I was fairly soaked and chilled by the time we arrived at our lunch destination, Roundwood. The pub had a warm peat fire burning, and the smell of it was heavenly. The best I can describe it is sort of like the smell of Amphora pipe tobacco, but not that strong. It's earthy and comforting.

We enjoyed a good lunch of soup and bread; some of the tourists had traditional Irish Stew and Shepherd's Pie, but the soup was just what Larry and I wanted. 

Lunch over, we boarded the bus again and were off to the last stop of the day: Glendalough.

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