E8 Trail

Today I will finalize the Irish section of the E8. I have come for a short trip to Dublin, with the forecast having to hike only 31km to the docks in Dublin Port. Although my physical condition is not very good, that should be achieveable. I have spent the night in Dublin, and I take the first train (yes, always early, even on easy days!) to Bray, where I take a taxi to my starting point in the middle of nowhere. Just like on many of my August hiking days in Ireland the weather is great!

there is gold on the horizon, in the east!

The trail that is leading the E8 over the Wicklow Mountains and the Dublin Mountains is comfortable, the signs are very good and the views can be fantastic. Ireland is treating me today on such conditions that I can really enjoy vews to the Irish Sea and overlooking Dublin. Wonderfull! 

Great views!

The conditions up in the hills are very nice; the heather and many flowers are blossoming, the air is fresh and clean, and it is quiet. Absolutely lovely! How easy can it be to enjoy the E8 in Ireland!

lovely conditions in Ireland!

When I approach Dublin (this is announced way ahead by the noise from the highway that needs to be crossed) there are more people enjoying being outside and I make some small chats. After the highway is crossed the best part of the day is over, although the weather remains fantastic. The last kilometers to Marlay Park are in the urban environment. The parc is astonishing for someone from the Netherlands; enormous lawns with just grass. In our country this would have been converted to football or hockey fields or just residential area’s. At the end of the parc I look for the ending sign of the Wicklow Way but I cannot find it on the parking space. Due to the nice weather the parking is filled with cars, and it is probabely hidden somewhere. Never mind. I continue trailless, guided by google, to cross the city to the port. At first I come through nice residential area’s, using long straight roads with few crossings. Coming nearer to the city centre there are more turns and traffic lights that make it difficult to keep a moderate pace. The last 4km I walk in the port area towards the passenger terminal; this section is truely horrible. Many heavy trucks are passing by, the air is thick of the smell of oil and refineries, and the straight roads are endless. Very sad to end the Irish section this way, but it is inevitable if one hikes from coast to coast. The contrast to the starting point on Dursey Island could not have been bigger than this!

arriving in Dublin Port

I was hoping to be able to make today’s hike one of the big days on the Trail. But when I get up at 04.00am I feel exhausted. It is the first time that I travel without my (heavy) cpap-equipment, after being diagnosed with sleep appneu a few years ago. I have been sleeping without the support of the breathing machine now for three nights, and I feel more tired than when I went to bed last night. Not a good choice to leave the 2,5kg of machinery at home.

Just before 4.30am I put on my trousers (still moist) and my shoes (still wet). Before I reach the front door of the hostel my socks are already soaken wet; I am not even outside! The sky is dry, and it is very dark around here. The signs are easy to pick up again. From Glendalough the Trail goes up a steep hill, leading to heather and open fields. Halfway up the climb I am exhausted and can hardly move on. I take a mini-break and continue in a moderate pace, not trying to push too much. My pace downhill is reasonably well, but I feel powerless. After the first hills there is an easy section where the Trail uses a local road. Also here my pace is not great; not good enough for one of them big days. The biggest climb of today is up the Djouce Mountain, where many panoramic views could be obtained, but not today. It is foggy, there are incidental rain showers and there is fierce wind blowing (tail and side). Incidentally there is also some snow on the highest section of the mountain. 

Tough conditions on Djouce Mountain

The signs are comfortable, even in these conditions, and once hiking down the hill, the weather gets better; the rain stops, the temperature goes up a bit and the Trail is shielded from the wind. After some time even the sun starts peeking through! In the lower section of the hill, on my way to Knockree, there are also people walking and enjoying being outdoors.  At least they do. I am extremely tired, my feet are soaken wet and my movements get uncoordinated. After arriving at the parking at the foot of the Crone Hill, I get rid of the rain suit. The next section follows the small river, but its banks are transformed into sort of marshlands. After arriving on foot of the Knowckree hill the weather gets absolutely lovely but I am finished. I follow the easy trail and road to the next parking, west of Enniskerry, and I call it a day. I have covered 34km so far, and I was hoping to be able to do the last 17km of the Wicklow Way also (and I was dreaming to be able to do the next 14km to the port also) but that won’t happen today; my pace is too slow to reach Marlay Park in Dublin before dark, and I don’t want to risk stumbling and injuring myself; I have done that enough in Ireland so far!

E8: on the way to the horizon to find a pot of gold?

I start walking down the hill towards the village of Enniskerry, where the nearest bus stop is located. A friendly van driver is kind enough to give me a ride. He is in good spirits; tomorrow is the national holliday in Ireland and it is also his 5th wedding anniversary. He is looking forward to a long weekend of patying. I am in a different mood, although 34km in tough conditions is a very reasonable performance. The bus takes me from Enniskerry to Dublin (I was hoping to arrive there by foot) and the next day I experience the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin, and I fly back home. 

After almost five years I have returned to Ireland to continue my E8. The delay was longer than anticipated. First my desire to be an ultrarunner were interfering with ruining my legs & feet while hiking. After that covid made it difficult to enjoy travelling. But I do have the desire to pick it up where I left it so I booked the airline tickets and scheduled to be in Dublin on the famous St. Patrick’s Day. As I have done during almost all of my E8 I travel as much as possible forwards, meaning I fly to Cork, spend the night in Wexford and take the first train north to Arklow. There I take a taxi to the infamous bridge where I had to quit the last time.

The disadvantage of living far away and having a full calendar is that you have to plan way ahead. Aspects like the weather conditions are irrelevant in the planning. Consequently this trip in March treats me with not-optimal hiking weather. When I start my hike at 07.30 it drizzles, the temperature is a few degrees above freezing point and there is some wind. However, I am excited to be back on the Trail, I follow the signs up the hills and make the best out of it. The drizzling stops and it starts to rain. It won’t stop for the rest of the day. Higher up in the hills there is fresh snow, but it is not uncomfortable or slippery.

E8 in March

Today I have to climb and desent two main hills. The first one goes up in stages, from 175m altitude to 510m. The descent, down to the village of Glenmalur, is pretty steep, which is not appreciated by my legs and feet. It is quiet on the Trail, there is nobody out there in the pouring rain. When crossing Glenmalur, just a very small village on the crossing of two main roads in this valley, I decide not to stop for a break but continue. Today’s stage is not very long and I would like to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. The second hill of the day takes me from 125m altitude to almost 600m. The slope is steep, the wind is blowing harder than earlier in the morning. There is no visibility, no view at all, which is a shame since I am hiking to Glendalough; many visitors of Ireland consider this to be one of the highlights of the Irish countryside. In the forrest, before arriving in the valley, the conditions are not so bad anymore and the pictures that I take look lovely.

comfortable roads & signs

Down in Glendalough there are some tourists but there are no views of idyllic lakes and scenery. Everything is covered in clouds and fogg. I check in at the international hostel and change to dry clothes. Due to the international energy crisis the costs for heating have exploded and so the heating is only switched on in the living room between 1900 and 2100! The guestrooms remain as they are (cold, moist). I try to get my soaken clothes to dry in the heating room, but to very limited avail. Not a nice end of a tough day.

I have slept reasonably well; I oke up a few times, looking many kilometers away in the sort-of-dark. When the day has started I get up and pack my gear together. There is not so much to pack: I have a bivouacsack, no sleeping bag or tent or so.

At 06.06 I start hiking again. I am not in a hurry, I want to maintain a modest pace and want to make a really long day, again. The Trail leads down and up on small hills. In the far distance the higher hills of the Wicklow Mountains are visible, this excitement for later today and the stheas to come. The slopes this morning are getting more and more steep. After 13 kilometers, in a section that goes gently downhill, I feel two painful stitches in my right Achilles heel. My first thought is that it must be some thorns that got stuck in my socks, or so. But the pain continues and I rub the places that are hurting. I try some careful small steps, some massaging and some light stretching but the pain continues. This is not good. I am in the middle of nowhere and I have to walk at least to a road, to get back to the civilization.  By making very small steps I arrive on the next local road. I don’t want to stop just somewhere along a road (could be difficult to get back to the exact spot to continue the next time). I continue for 200 meters to a bridge that crosses a small creek at the location known as Ballyteige.

Ballytiege Bridge

I take a break, I am very disappointed and very concerned about my leg. A fellow hiker pass me by; he is also from the Netherlands, and he is doing the Wicklow Way. It is difficult for me to be excited, but I whish him all the best and watch him crossing the bridge and going up the hill, that I have to save for my next trip. I stumble back to the local road and start hitchhiking my way to the east, to the coast, to the national railroad. It is an easy road but with very few traffic. Within 20 minutes I am lucky and I get a drive to the village of Aughrim, and later on to Arklow, on the coast. While waiting for my train south (remember: I always ravel backwards back home, although it would be a lot easier to travel north to the close-by Dublin) I chat with the railway station chief in Arklow. Again, we talk about how it is to live in a country that is attached to other countries, and the differences between people from the countryside versus city folks. I spend the night in Wexford, and continue the next day to Cork. Later on, back home it turns out that I have two microruptures in my Achilles heel, recovery can take quite some time.

But I will be back in Ireland . . .

Again a hiking day without a proper breakfast. I leave the B&B at 4.55 and I start the E8, where I left it yesterday, at 4.59. My feet are really hurting and I get back in a, somehow, modest pace only after a while. The direction of the Trail is more or less straightforward northeast bound. I prevent standing still as it causes much pain to get moving again. Around lunchtime I arrive in the village of Inistoge, after passing the “wall of shoes”.

The village has a lovely square, with a small grocery shop (lunch!) and  some benches that provide a great place for a little rest. The weather is delightful, and after lunch I have huge difficulty in getting to move again. Leaving Inistoge the Trail leads up the hill in wide curves. There are very few people out in the hills and in the forest. The final kilometers of today are getting more and more of an ordeal due to the pain in my feet. During the day I have tried to find a B&B in the village of Graiguenamanagh but I was not successful. After a long downhill section I arrive in the tiny village along the river Barrow and I ask here and there for a B&B. I find one on the side of the river, close to the city center.

I have dinner in the local snackbar (pizza with dipsauce) and I decide to take a day off tomorrow to give my feet a break.