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Hiking Weekends!

Since I've been in Ireland, I've had the opportunity to go hiking two different weeks. Hiking is one of my favorite ways to spend my time off - it's a cheap weekend getaway and you really get to see a lot of Ireland.

My first hiking weekend wasn't actually supposed to be hiking. I headed out to County Kerry, to a little town called Caherciveen. The reason I was in Caherciveen is because it is the closest town to Skelling Michael that has a youth hostel. Skelling Michael is an island and an old monastic establishment (and my description does not give it justice.) Anyway, I got in around 4pm on a Friday and the weather was not that great, so they cancelled the tours of the Skelligs for Saturday, and my bus schedule had been incorrect so I couldn't get a bus out of town on Sunday. Seriously... So on Friday night, while it was windy and rainy, I decided to go on a hike. By myself. On an unfamiliar trail. With no map or water. All of my camp friends may now comment and scold as they wish. In the hostel there was a poster that said this trail was 6K (3.6miles), and was easy. So I was picturing a nice, flat walk. I started out on my hike, trying to decide if it was too bad outside to go for a walk, but I decided to just forge ahead. Yeah that was at the bottom of the mountain. The top of the mountain was cloud covered and so windy I couldn't really walk straight. Oh and another fun surprise... I was walking through sheep pastures! That actually was fun, I was just walking along, and was thinking, "hey, there's a sheep!" Immediately followed by "hey... there's no fence between me and the sheep..." I found the hike extremely hard, and I know I'm out of hiking shape, but the poster said "easy" and I didn't think I was that out of shape. When I finally got to the beginning of the loop, I looked at the map to see where I had just gone, and the advisory on the map said the minimum gear for the loop was good sturdy hiking shoes (I was wearing runners) and water (which I didn't have) and it also said the route was very hard, as well as 9k (5.4 miles!) Yeah... I definitely got a bit more of a hike than I bargained for. But hey it all worked out. That night I met a nice Swiss girl named Skyla and we went out for a pint. Saturday morning I walked around Caherciveen and some of the ruins around the town, then go on the bus to go home. In spite of a few mishaps, it was a good weekend.

My second hiking weeked was just two weeks ago, and I did intend for this one to be a hiking weekend. I headed to County Wicklow to the first hostel I found online that looked somewhat accesible by bus. Definitely a good choice! This hostel was in the middle of the Wicklow mountains, was run totally by this one guy that knew all of these hiking trails and showed me some good routes to go. My first night there I met a Northern Irishman and his Lithuanian partner, and we had some good craic on Friday night and Saturday morning. Saturday I set out on a 16k (9.6 mile) walk up into the mountains - equipped with water, snacks, and a map this time. It was a nice day and I had a great time exploring. At the hostel I was totally on my own for a while, so I read a bit. The guy that owns the place came back and showed me the puppies his dog had a week earlier. They were so cute! They were a springer spaniel/sheepdog mix. The other people didn't arrive at the hostel until late, and then they didn't hang out there they went out to the pub... but I was pretty whipped from my day so I stayed in (good thing too, they didn't get back until 2 or so.) Sunday I went for an 18k (10.8 mile) walk until it was time to get on the bus home. It was such a relaxing weekend... it's probably good I didn't discover this place until my last weekend off, otherwise I would have just wanted to go there for every weekend off!

Plenty of great pictures from both of these weekends:
http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd114/luvstigger223/Hikin g%20Weekends/