Glendalough

The B&B was reasonably close to a small town in the Wicklow Mountains called Glendalough which is home to an old monastery started by St Kevin in around the 6C AD.   As we hadn’t got to visit it on the Friday due to the rain, we decided to head over there again on Saturday (Karina was sick of the Wicklow Gap by the time we left!).

Coming up through the Wicklow Gap, the weather was so cold overnight that the water running off the hills had frozen into these icicles.Alexandre was teething and was sick on the way over the hills, so Andrew and Sophie decided to head home for new clothes (they only live 30 minutes from Glendalough) and we looked through the monastery ourselves.

The dominating feature of the ruins is this round tower, still intact from the 6C, which was probably used as a combination Bell Tower, retreat in time of war, lookout and guidepost for pilgrims. Round towers like this are uniquely Irish and a common feature of old monasteries.

Another key feature was the little church of St Kevin, which was built around the same time and is one of the few with an original intact stone roof.

Ella and Tim near the remains of the monastery gate house.

A robin amongst the ruins.

After an interesting guided tour, we met up with Andrew, Sophie and Alexandre again for lunch in the Glendalough Inn. Jasper loved playing with Alexandre.

It was then time to head off for a walk and we set out to visit the upper lake where St Kevin had his hermit cave. The weather continued to be cold and as we were walking it actually began to snow very lightly, although nothing settled on the ground.

Upper Lake

We found a great tree and Ella and Jasper decided to pose for us.

Sophie, Andrew and Alexandre rugged up against the cold.

Ella and Karina

Heather in flower.After this, we headed back over the mountains to the Blessington where we enjoyed a nice Italian meal and headed back to the B&B and bed.