Glendalough ....nearer my God to thee

   

 

Glendalough (pronounced Glendalock).

Glendalough, the valley of the two lakes, is renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlements founded by St. Kevin in the 6^th century. I have to say the name Kevin doesn’t sit right with me as it conjures up Australian names with Kevin Bloody Wilson and Kevin Rudd as examples. Not sure if Ruddy is still in the top job as we haven’t seen any TV up here in these mountains. We have had another great day of just taking in all of this wonderful green countryside. Apart from the few little noises from me as the navigator to Paul, who has been doing most of the driving we are doing remarkably well, but then again Paul does have the patience of a Saint.

As I have had a little red wine, I will give you some info about Glendalough straight from the horse’s mouth = the brochure handed to us at the Visitors Centre. (I will do an abridge version though). Kevin was a descendant of one of the ruling families in Leinster, studied, as a boy, under the care of three holy men. During this time it is told he went to Glendalough and lived “In a hollow of a tree”. He was to return later, with a small group of monks to found a monastery. His fame as a holy man spread and he attracted numerous followers. He died in 618. For six centuries afterwards Glendalough flourished.

The present remains in Glendalough tell only a small part of the story. The Monastery in its heyday would have included workshops, areas for manuscript writing and copying, guest houses, an infirmary, farm buildings and dwellings for both monks and a large lay population. The buildings which survive probably date from between the 10^th and 12^th centuries.

It is a pretty amazing place to visit and it is free! We did do a small film and an exhibition before we tackled the sightseeing and it was only 5 euros for both of us as Paul got his seniors rate. No one asks for any ID to see if you have turned the big 60 and I am guessing that it is up to you to request the seniors rate as no one wants to assume that you are a senior and you’re not. (Like me). I was told that this is the second biggest tourist spot in Ireland and I can see why. What is the biggest attraction then? Blarney Castle and kissing the Blarney stone, The Ring of Kerry……..to be continued to be sure to be sure. I will find out. The one disadvantage of being a top spot is apparently the number of break-ins to vehicles. I am now paranoid that our hire car will have a smashed window. St Paul (the Patron Saint of safe travel) is placing all objects of value into our boot. After clocking up a few k’s of walking we headed home via a different route with spectacular views….you never get tired of them.

Once we were home and items for our tea packed away in the fridge, St Paul decided that we should go for a walk to what was considered our local pub, via the short cut around the back of where we were staying. With our local dog “Star” joining us we set off down the track, passing the Military Land that no-one dares enter unless you were a sheep. Star’s mate from up the road tagged along so there we were two happy tourists with 2 local dogs going for a walk to the pub. OMG…the back road that is not accessible by car has pot holes galore, a small creek to cross, brambles that seem to come from nowhere  and empty bullet shells on the track to remind you that if you hear someone shout out the word  “duck” you need to do just that. This walk is going to be worth a couple of pints of Guinness I am thinking to myself as I start to froth at the mouth. We eventually hit the pub “Glen of Imaal” known to the locals as “Fentens”. I now know how Slim Dusty felt when he wrote the song “Pub with no beer”. The bloody pub was closed and I had another F word to describe it and it wasn’t failure! It had only taken us 50 minutes to walk there. The dogs seemed pretty happy though as they were still madly racing about. Chins up we tackled the journey home knowing that there was a good bottle of red at home with our names on it. Nearer my wine to me.