Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Mar 24th, 2011 @ 11:30 pm
Glendalocked!
Yeah Stephen essentially wrote this post days ago but I want to get it out of me. Also, let’s just ignore the title and move on ok.
As part of the Gaisce Award some of us do in Transition Year we have to organize and complete a 25km walk or hike. I had no part in the organisation thank god (I am so lazy that we probably would have walked around the lake 20 times to get the distance covered) but other people pulled through and everything was set. We had a route, thanks to Stephen, a place to stay and a way of getting home. There were three volunteer parents who were to accompany us so when the morning of March 19th came around we were ready to go.
We got the school’s bus down to the village at Glendalough and then had to walk to the hostel where we’d be staying.
We were shown to a recreation room where we left our bags, had some chocolate biscuit cake (bad idea before a walk but still great cake!) then set off on the first walk. Stephen lead the way because, let’s face it, the volunteers didn’t have a fucking clue where we were going. We went down to the car park and then to the start of our route. From there the trek began. Here are some photos from the early part of that day to make up for my lack of things to say on the matter
Outside the hostel
Our tour guide
Wreckin’ it at the lake wah??
So from there we kept on walking and found ourselves at the ruins of an oul mining village - the perfect place for an undeserved break! We had so much fun climbing on the castle thing and up the rocks
Martin! My favourite parent
We wrecked it on the castle thing… We later saw the sign that said “Danger Keep Out Falling Masonry” Oops…
After the break we began hiking up a path to get to the cliffs. We took waaay to many breaks on this walk and a lot of us (well, the people who wanted to keep an in any way decent pace) got a bit pissed off. But all that was soon forgotten because walking along the cliff-side board walk we could see all of this. It was breathtaking
You guys I really have no words. It was just the most amazing vista I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. You know people have those moments of seeing how small we are and how grand the world is? Well looking over Glendalough was my one of those moments. The sheer size of it and its vastness just brought everything home to me. I rarely have these kinds of life-affirming moments so having one in such a beautiful place was just wonderful. I was kind of preoccupied with the whole beauty of the place to take many photos during this part but here are a few
Seriously though, look how big the place is!
So yeah we kept on walking. I was with Aoife, Richard and Amy for most of the boardwalk and the forest. The route basically went along the cliff for a good hour or so and then down through the forest for 20 minutes. The craic was had and we listened to a bit of Arcade Fire on someone’s iPod.
Legs wrecked, we finally finished that part of the walk. We had covered about 9km in total and we were in need of some ice cream. Well not really but we had been talking about ice cream since 11 o’clock that morning so yeah, ice cream was had. We fecked about near the lake for over an hour and then when the slow-pokes had finally finished the first 9km and had a rest we set off to do the final 4km of the day. We just walked around the Lower Lake once and that was it. It was grand! I had a cozy chat with Magdalena and convinced her to read Never Let Me Go so even if my legs were in dire pain that walk was worth it.
We got back to the hostel and eh.. yeah I don’t remember much else. I fell asleep you see. While the lasses and lads were having a ball playing their guitars and checking the score of the rugby I slept. Well no I wasn’t really asleep for most of it. Eoin’s incessant (but brilliant) guitar playing kept me in a dream-like state for the best part of 90 minutes. I have vague recollections of people coming to the door of our dorm room thing and laughing and pointing and me shouting “GWAY YIZ BITCHES!!!” but that’s about it.
I got up anyway and then we were called down to the kitchen of the hostel to make the dinner. The volunteers had bought loads of food so the girls and I (no other boys helped with the cooking) got to work on preparing about a tonne of spaghetti bolognese. It went quite well apart from the disaster that was the pasta
FUCKING YUM!!!
We all ate anyway and seen as I had cooked I didn’t need to clean the dishes. Brilliant! After dinner is a tired blur of me playing songs on Leah’s phone and nobody liking what I chose. At about 10 (I don’t know what time it was but we’ll say 10) we all went into the Rec room and attempted to have a kind of a campfire-without-a-campfire-singsong. It was a disaster! It was awkward and the less said the better. Basically we ended up doing our dances that we would be doing for variety night and people videoed them and if they ever find their way onto the internet someone will pay.
Richard preparing the following day’s lunch
We went up to our room then to sleep and eh that was fun. I fell in love with Magdalena (the babe in the pink trousers in the second photo up there) for a few hours. Stephen, Mags and I tried and failed to get someone *~*de shift*~* (you guys I never had that whole “Let’s arrange it so so and so meet each other!!!” thing when I was 12, ok?) which was fucking hilarious and involved throwing coins at people’s windows. It ended in Stephen flashing us all and none of us ever recovering from that. It was beautiful.
So the next day we woke up and there was a determined atmosphere in the place. We were gonna get the next 12km covered in no time!! After breakfast of course. It consisted of sausages and coco-pops and tea and (really) two mugs of hot chocolate. So yeah I wasn’t exactly fit to be walking again. But how and ever we started walking and it quickly transpired about 20 seconds in that I was about to die. What can ya do, eh? Whatever, I kept on walking and once we got over the steps it was ok-ish. An awful lot of the second day’s walk was either a steep uphill struggle or a gentle uphill slope. Great fun, eh?
We broke (breaked?) and continued on walking a few times. Stephen, Aoife, Richard, Jamie and I were in front for a good portion of that walk so it was a lot easier to stay motivated and keep on walking. At one point we ended up on top of a mountain marshy type of thing so we decided that it was a perfect place to take photos. Yep, we’re logical
THE VIEW!!
Just a few minutes after we took these photos - during a discussion on Barack Obama actually - I took a lovely trip on my arse. It was adorable and I was so filthy and ugh it was horrible.
I think it was after this part of the walk that we ended up back on the cliffside boardwalk. It was just as stunning the second time around. The photo I took is the same as the other one so I won’t post it but ugh I love that place so much.
After walking through the forest again we had basically finished the walk. I needed the toilet so I can’t remember much of the end part. I was in a rush you see. But basically we finished and we were victorious and we had walked 25km. Fuck yes it felt wonderful.
‘Victory swag’ as Richard put it
After that we chilled at the waterfall and drank the water. It was so much fun.
Leah was a lege and got herself soaked too
After that we ate chips and ice cream and had fun and I can’t remember anything because all I was thinking was ‘I am having the time of my life I never want to go home’. Cute, right? But seriously it was such a brilliant weekend. It was the first overnight thing I had done with anyone from school before and it was just amazing. I know it’s typical etc etc but I kinda got closer to people and I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in my life. I also walked 25km and am still feeling it now (no really my hamstrings oh sweet baby jesus). I cooked for 23 people which is always an.. interesting experience, I saw Stephen flash us and of course, I fell in love with Magdalena. What more could I have asked for? It was easily the best thing we’ve done and will do in Transition Year.
GlendalockoledgesWAHHH!?!?!?!
