Ireland Day 9 Swords

Location: Swords
B&B: Abbeyglen Cottage
Attractions: Wicklow Mountains National Park
Drink of Choice: Blacksmith (Smithwick’s with the head of Guinness)

Alan’s breakfast at the Glendine House was superb, as it was the day before. We reluctantly packed up our stuff and headed towards the Wicklow Mountains and our final destination. A bittersweet moment to say the least.

The drive was nice and we really enjoyed getting into the rolling hills that gradually got steeper and more scenic. We couldn’t help but stop a few times to take some pictures. Once we got to the National Park, we stopped and talked to one of the rangers and bought a map. We knew we would want to fuel up before our hike, so we headed to town and found a place called the Wicklow Heather. It was a charming restaurant with very good food, but like we kept saying, we never had a bad meal while we were there. Jill ordered some Bruschetta and Shane had a BLT.

Once we ate, we found a place to park near the ranger station, grabbed our backpacks, and headed for the trail. We were sure to hide all of our valuables since there were signs everywhere posted saying there were thieves that had been going through people’s cars and stealing their stuff. We walked along the bottom part of the trail and stopped briefly at an old village with a small church and round tower. There was also a cemetery near the church. Shortly after, we were climbing a trail along side a waterfall and later took a trail that took us deep into the woods. The trail system had stair like planks when things got steep that appeared to simply be a couple of railroad ties strapped together with a bunch of staples on top for traction. It really made for a nice trail.

Once we made it to the top, the view was breathtaking. We stopped for a break, making sure we stayed hydrated and were replacing some of the calories we were burning, and then continued along the trail. There were many people also hiking that day, as it was a beautiful day and I’m sure because it was the start of the weekend. Instead of taking the longest route around the entire lake, we cut back on a less strenuous trail that led to a wider, road like trail. From what we could tell, we were the only people on this trail, which was nice, because we got to see a young deer not too far from us. Once we got to the bottom, we were both glad we didn’t try to do the whole trip around the lake, because we were both pretty exhausted.

Once we got back to our vehicle and made sure everything was still where we left it, we headed to our final stop before heading back home to the states: the Abbeyglen Cottage in Swords. Along the way, we hit some mean traffic that added an additional hour to our drive, but we tried to stay positive and enjoy the Irish music on the radio. The Abbeyglen was the most modern B&B we stayed at during our entire trip and it was super close to the airport which made it the perfect stay. The bathroom even had towel warmers, and Jill loves a warm towel after her shower! The couple that hosted us was incredibly nice and gave us fresh orange juice and biscuits upon arrival and pointed us in the right direction to find some good food and entertainment for our last night in Ireland.

We sought out the Old School House, like they recommended and after a little confusion, we found the place with the help of some friendly locals. We were first seated upstairs, which was the restaurant area. This was a bit more fancy and has a completely different menu. Once we realized the difference, we asked for a seat downstairs at the bar, which was much more our speed. We had some drinks while we waited and once we got our seats, we ordered a pork burrito and some stuffed mushrooms. The food was fabulous and service was perfect. We found ourselves wondering how in the heck all these places serve their food so quickly. I don’t think we waited more than 15 minutes for a meal the entire time we were in Ireland. And it didn’t seem to matter if the place was packed.

After eats, we were on the lookout for some live music and ended up at the Lord Mayor’s Pub. They didn’t have any live music, but we found ourselves entertained by an older lady (with bright red lipstick) who was making a complete fool of herself. She appeared to be a date with a nice gentleman. The gentleman ended up talking to us for a bit and confided in us about his first relationship that was less than successful and how he would never trust a woman. Yeesh! His date was a disaster, but was good for a few laughs nonetheless.

Shane tried to order an Irish Car Bomb here, since we hadn’t had one and it seemed fitting to do so, but the bartender all but refused to serve that as a drink, saying he’d prefer not to do that to Guinness. Instead, he recommended he have a Blacksmith Smithwick’s with the head of Guinness. It was very good, and Shane was not disappointed. After some talks with the bartender of Hurling, an Irish sport much like field hockey, we then headed back to our B&B for some shut eye before our flight in the morning.