Linda shared a story about how the valley got it's name. The story goes that two ancient tribes the Milesians and Tuath d Danana were feuding, to keep the peace they had a marriage between the tribes. The story goes that after the couple had three children the mother died and the father married another daughter from the Tuath d Danana tribe. Unfortunately, she was jealous of the love the father had for his children so she cast a spell and turned them into swans banishing them to spend 300 years in the south, 300 years in the west and 300 years in the North only having the spell broken when they heard the bell of the christian faith. They were known as the children of Li'r The belief is that they passed through this valley which is how it got its name.
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| Children of Li'r statue in Dublin |
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| Glengesch Valley |
Once we reached our starting point, we began our hike in the pouring rain. By the time we reached the first stop we were all soaked - I was very grateful for quick dry clothes. Lucky for us (?)the wind picked up and we all got wind dried! The hike up was just that UP. Linda had shared earlier that the views would be breathtaking.
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| one of many beautiful watrfalls |
The footing was a little tricky as it was rocks and some bogs. The closer we got the colder and windier it got. The clouds had not left us. We continued bravely, seeing some amazing waterfalls, formations and another pilgrim site. I was amazed that they managed to carry the rocks up to the point we were in order to build this (for the time) rather substantial church.
It was in ruins but one could picture how it looked when it was standing. We trudged on and got to the end of the first section.
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| The ruins of the church |
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| Visability was pretty poor |
The plan was to go over one mans pass, a razors edge, to the top of Sleive League... only problem was we couldn't find it in the cloud. Visibility was very bad. We stopped for a very quick lunch and reconvened to decide what to do. I know Linda was holding out hope that the clouds would lift and we would be able to see the view. It was not to be. As we went down she was telling us - "If it clears by the third marker we are coming back up." Sadly it did not. Par for the course in Ireland - the weather is often unpredictable. The hike itself was amazing, and as she often tells us "you will feel a great sense of accomplishment!" Which we all did.
After we got done we headed to the Rusty Mackerel for a celebratory toast. I went for the Irish Mist (as our guide was trying to get us all to try it - considering we had just come OUT of the Irish Mist...yes I know very literal... :-) So I did - I had it in my 20's when I dated a guy who was partial to the stuff.
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| Our happy group at the rust Mackerel |
Anyway, Linda was determined to show us what we missed so we headed to the Bunglas cliffs and it was truly breathtaking. We finally got to see where we had hiked! We were very impressed with ourselves :-)
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| Our group at the Bunglas Cliffs |
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