This day 5 weeks back we took off with the girls on a post Leaving and Junior Certificate trip. We headed off to Spain and Santiago de Compostella to walk the Camino Finisterre from the Cathedral to the end of the world. It was our first introduction to the Camino Concept.
That trip was just 1 week long, with 5 days of walking. I became an addict. I am now a self-confessed Caminista. We are planning another trip before Christmas and looking forward to the day we can commit the time to walk the big one, the Camino Frances. I'll write up a piece on our Camino experiences once I get my photos sorted.
A Camino is just a walk, a long walk. You can do your Sunday long walk, but walking all day, day after day does something to your body and mind. Something good. In the beginning, it is tough, but then your body adjusts and that is where the mind and soul start to kick in and the endorphins begin to feed your pleasure zones.
4 weeks back in Wicklow and the urge to walk again became an itch. I thought back to a year or so when I was planning a walk from Wicklow to Glendalough. The late Pat Kavanagh put the thought in my mind and I began to explore maps and aerial photographs to find a doable route. On Friday, I walked it.
Pat had the idea of a Camino St. Patrick, while I felt a Viking Raider Route would be more fitting. Having done a Camino, I think the spiritual aspect is more important than the warrior side. Though I have yet to clarify which Saint would work best.
For me, this early version of the route starts at the Abbey in Wicklow, heads out the gate and up the Marlton Road to the Ashtown Road and on to the Rocky Road before crossing the M11 to the Blackhill Road. I chose these roads because they are either quiet or have a footpath. In reality, I skipped most of the Marlton Road, because Caroline and I just walked out our front door and cut over to the upper end of the road.
Looking back at the sea and Wicklow.
Looking forward to the distant hills.
From the end of the Blackhill Road, we dropped down a wooded track, our first off road section, toward Glenealy. We crossed the railway on the footbridge and came out beside the Pub in the village. It was closed, so we had our lunch on a picnic table beside it. This was about 2 hours into our walk.
Our first off-road trail.
From the pub, we crossed the main road and headed up into Carrick Wood at Ballymanus, past the local GAA pitch and the Christmas Tree Farm. From here we headed generally west on beautiful forest trails. From the edge of the wood a bit of thrashing through Ballydowling Wood, about 100m, took us to another easy trail.
Leaving Glenealy over a stile beside the church.
This trail emerged onto a quiet back road, where a short road walk took us into Ballinastraw forest and on to one of the loveliest pieces of woodland in Ireland, Clara Vale. At about 20km into the walk, the beauty of Clara Vale recharges the batteries. The babbling sounds of Croneybyrne Brook and bird song draw you down to the more placid waters of the Avonmore River.
For scale, that hairy critter is beside my size ten and a half shoe.
The Avonmore Way
From here we picked up the Avonmore Way, Wicklow's newest way-marked trail and headed north toward Glendalough. Passing the beautiful Church and School at Clara we turned uphill along a path to Our Lady's Statue and on through wooded trails to a quiet high road.
The church at Clara.
After 7 and a half hours of walking, we crossed a gate into a field and pitched our tent behind the ditch amongst the flies and the evening midges. A quickly cooked dinner, tea, dessert and Captain Morgans and Coke saw us retire to the tent at about 8:30 in the evening, to escape from the dreaded scourge of two of Ireland's carnivorous critters, the Midge and the Horse Fly.
Somewhere above Clara Laragh Waterpark, near where we camped.
For the past three weeks, I have had a fierce itchy spot on my right shin where a horse fly took a bite. Last night I took another hit to the same spot. Is there no god?
Despite our early retirement to bed, I slept. Not a great sleep. Bits of my body were moaning after the day's exertions and I could only be comfortable for a short while in any position. However, like any professional sleeper, I soon managed to complete these positional adjustments without really waking up.
At various times during the night I heard the gentle pitter patter of a light rain shower on the tent, the screaming of a lonesome deer as he gave out about something and the occasional yapping dog in a distant farmyard. I think about 5 cars passed the other side of our ditch during the night. I did wonder about the deer and if he was in trouble, but he just seemed to be wandering about the field complaining. Maybe we were in his favourite spot.
Saturday morning saw us rise bright eyed and bushy tailed, though stiff of limb and joint. Unfortunately, at 6:00am the Midges and Flies were either still about, having lain in wait for us, or we disturbed them opening our tent. They proved a good motivation to get moving. By 6:30 we were packed and gone, leaving only a small patch of flattened grass to show someone camped there. You carry out what you carry in, leave no trace.
By 8:00am we were sitting at a picnic table outside the visitor centre in Glendalough brewing up our tea and eating our cereal, fruit and yoghurt for a pleasant breakfast, accompanied by a selection of begging birds. We gave the birds some cereal because they were probably part of the reason why the flies kept away.
Can you spot the birdies?
The Avonmore Way doesn't actually go into either Laragh or Glendalough, those links haven't been completed yet, so we just followed our noses, finding a pleasant descent through the woods to the Derrybawn Wollen Mills and in the Green Road to St. Kevin's 6th Century monastery at Glendalough.
We had completed our pilgrim's way. We had walked from one major settlement to St. Kevin's centre of worship and pilgrimage. Over the coming months, I hope to meet with others and explore the best walking options from the Parish of East Glendalough to Glendalough. In that exploration, we will gather together the history and features of the places passed through. Hopefully, Wicklow will have a new Camino to join the growing web of fabulous trails through its landscape and its history.
Of course, this tale doesn't end here in Glendalough. We were on foot and now some 30 odd KM from home. Glendalough doesn't offer a direct public transport option back to Wicklow, so we retraced our footsteps back to Clara and onward along to the southern end of the Avonmore Way. From the trail end, it was a short walk into Rathdrum village, a welcome coffee shop and a bus home to Wicklow Town.
I'm still in that Camino State of Mind. I've let the genie out of the bottle again.
Thanks for posting your walk. I like your pics and the path is very inviting.
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