Laragh, Co. Wicklow (2019-09-22)

The weather forecast for today, suggested that the overnight rain would end around 9 am, with a chance of rain again around noon, but of course the forecast bore little resemblance to reality.

We would have liked to do a hill walk today, and had decided on the Spinc and Glendalough Valley trail, which is a 9 km loop, has 380 metres of elevation gain, and takes you past the ruins of an old miners’ village.  But when we got outside, we could hardly see the hills for cloud, so decided instead to walk the trail as far as the miners’ village, which is 10 km return, but with only 20 metres of elevation gain, keeping us down out of the clouds.

But all of these trails begin and end at the National Park Visitor Centre, which is almost an hour’s walk from our B&B, via the Green Road, so we get tired just walking there and back.  As we walked along the Green Road, we saw a pair of deer off to the side of the trail, and they hung around long enough for me to get my phone out and take a photo.

Irish Deer

When we arrived at the trail starting point on the edge of the Upper Lake, it was not raining and the cloud had lifted a little, but we could see a lot of water gushing down the hillside at the top end of the lake, after a night of steady rain, so stuck to our plan B - walk to the ruins of the miners’ village.

Upper Lake

The trail was well-gravelled and followed along the shoreline of the Upper Lake, mainly through forest, but towards the top it was through a boulder-strewn open area.

Walk to The Miners’ Village Ruins

There is not much left of the Miner’s Village which was in use from the early 1800s until the mid-1900s, mining primarily lead, but also other elements, including silver.

Ruins of Miners’ Village

We watched some intrepid hikers continue on up the valley from the ruins, but after enjoying a snack in the rain, we turned back and headed for the B&B, with a brief stop for sustenance at Anne’s Cafe in Laragh.

It rained most of the afternoon, so we read and relaxed, before heading back for a third meal at Wicklow Heather.  I am amazed at the efficiency of the place - there must be 20-30 serving staff in the restaurant, and they do not appear to have assigned tables to look after, there is no assigned greeter to seat you, yet you get seated, orders are taken, drinks arrive, food arrives, etc., all very efficiently.  Best of all, the food is very good!

Tomorrow we are again at the mercy of the weather, on our last day in Laragh.