There’s so much to say about our vacation hiking with Wilderness Ireland! 🇮🇪
I’m going to starting with an overview and recap of our four “big” hikes.
Hiking With Wilderness Ireland
We signed up for the “Coast To Coast” itinerary which was graded moderate to intermediate. Even though it’s right there in the summary, I didn’t realize that we were going to be hiking to the summit of three of the highest mountains in Ireland. 🤷♀️
The itinerary had us staying in three different areas (for 2 nights each), alternating driving days with a short hike with long hike days. (I’ll share more about the accommodations over coffee.) Except for our next-to-last day, we barely had any down time, heading out right after breakfast and returning from our hikes with barely an hour to get cleaned up for dinner.
Hiking In County Galway
We met our guide and the rest of our group of eight hikers in Galway. From there, we drove to Connemara National Park, for our first hike: Diamond Hill.
It wasn’t a long hike, but it was pretty much straight up and straight down.
The hike gets its name from the granite rocks that glitter in the sun, but we’ll have to take their word for that. The weather turned absolutely miserable just as we started out.
We made it to the top.
The weather limited our views, but it cleared up a bit on the way back.
Hiking In County Mayo
Luckily we all managed to dry out our boots for our hike the next day— a bit further north up Mweelrea mountain in County Mayo.
This hike was about 8 miles.
It was foggy as we drove to the trailhead, but not raining when we started. We hiked through boggy pastures, along a stream, and then up into clouds and rain.
I’m not gonna lie, the summit was miserable. How miserable? This is us eating lunch under the “emergency shelter” (tarp) to prevent hypothermia.
Thanks to Stuart who crawled out and took this picture!
Luckily the weather cleared as we hiked back down. We appreciate the views as the clouds lifted that much more.
That’s the Atlantic in the background!
Shockingly, thanks to the wind our clothes had dried out by the time we got back to the van.
Hiking Carrauntoohil–the highest mountain in Ireland
We had a day off between Mweelrea and our hike up Carrauntoohil—the highest mountain in Ireland. We picked up our lunch at a cafe at the trailhead (sandwiches, “crisps”, cookies, fruit) and enjoyed bright sunshine for the first 1/3 of the hike.
We passed a smug ram who knew what we were in for!
The first 1/3 of the hike was easy, along a wide path with bridges to take us over the streams.
You can see the clouds on the mountain top though ….
We enjoyed the views at the lake before we donned our extra layers for the climb up Devil’s Ladder.
This was the “scrambling” section that gave the hike a “red” grade difficulty rating.
I had followed the two “youngsters” in black up,
and they were about to head straight down. 😳
We still had a way to go to the summit. When we got to the top it was very foggy, but the rain held off until we were making our way back down.
Our hardy crew—four others spent a sunny day in Kilarney. 🧐
Instead of going down Devil’s Ladder, we took the ZigZags trail down, but that meant climing a second (shorter) summit first.
This hike was about 9 miles
The ZigZags were easier, but not easy as I had to carefully plan each step down.
Hiking in County Wicklow
We had a day off before our last big hike—up Lugnaquilla in County Wicklow. Because we were now on the southwest side of Ireland, it was warm weather that was a concern. We all agreed to an earlier start and finally got really lucky with the conditions.
This hike started on a logging road before heading up through fields of heather.
It was cloudy and windy at the summit, but we enjoyed our most relaxing lunch of the week with panaromic views.
This hike also got the prize for the most sheep.
The views down into the valley were stunning!
It was a great way to cap off a great week of hiking with Wilderness Ireland.
If you’re interested in a guided hiking vacation, you should definitely check them out. They have several itineraries of varying difficulty (including several “easy” ones), and also offer trips in Scotland. Our guide was awesome—very patient, kind, and encouraging, and knowledgeable about Irish history (which we quizzed him on) and folklore (he told us stories as we climbed!)—and our group meshed well.
A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.
Do you prefer an active vacation or do you want to relax and recharge?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Looks like you had a really adventurous time in Ireland! Depending on where we are going-I like to do some active things and some relaxing.
OMG the weather!!! Meanwhile, we had sunshine and up to 25 degrees all week (except the day of the solar eclipse, when it was cloudy but still very warm)! But you got some amazing views in most places and some exciting challenges. And sheep!
The Devil’s ladder looks super hard, especially with that weather! Was it slippery on those rocks?
Interestingly here in the south-west we rarely get the good weather. Heatwaves in Ireland are almost always focused to the midlands, eastern coast and Dublin area, while down here we get like 15 degrees and rain. This time the high pressure was over an area that gave the south-west the hottest weather for once.
We like active holidays but mix up the hiking/running etc with relax in the evenings and certain days of more relaxing activities.
We had lovely dinners every evening, but not much time to relax with having to get ready for the next day!
So were those first couple hikes fun in spite of the weather?It looks kind of miserable, but I can also see how it would be awesome.
I was thinking while reading this about different vacation styles. I would like a trip like this, but when my husband and I went to Maui (years ago- before we were married) he complained that every day felt like an “outward bound” adventure. Some people would rather relax, OR sightsee around a city. At this stage of my life, I would prefer an active trip out in nature like this.
Anyway- it sounds like you had a great time!
The first short hike wasn’t much fun, but the next one was only bleak at the summit and glorious coming down into the sunshine!
I enjoy sightseeing, but can only take so much of it.
Oh, this would be right up my street! I would LOVE all of this, even the bad weather. Somehow, bad weather makes for great memories – I mean, look at that emergency shelter where you had lunch!! 🤣
So much fun! I can’t wait to hear about your accommodations!
Hah, yes, you would have loved this!
I love an active vacation. Maybe not quite as active as yours. I had friends in Europe and they complained about how hot and dry it was.
Sorry about your weather. It seems like you had fun anyway.
It was only really bad at the summit!
The smug ram!
Not gonna lie, I would be pretty devastated by the weather, but what an amazing adventure! Such a beautiful way to take it all in and see the countryside.
i’m so glad you were able to make the most of it!
The weather wasn’t bad the whole time — we just learned that the mountain tops catch the clouds. 😉
Ugh I’m so sorry about the weather but looks like it hasn’t stopped you at all – still getting in so many great hikes! Looks like the sun finally came out and you’ve been able to enjoy some of the beautiful Irish countryside. I love an active vacation and it looks like you are getting just that!
We were able to enjoy a lot of lovely scenery and we all agreed it as better to have the best weather at the end than the other way around!
What a beautiful hike! This looks like my kind of vacation–I love an active vacation. Unfortunately, my hubs does not, lol… although I would not be a fan of that rain! You’re such a trooper.
What a memorable vacation! I would not have expected that first weather that you had, but obviously you were well prepared for it. I did have to LOL when I saw that orange blob of a shelter! So yes, it looks like your tour company was certainly well prepared. What level of difficulty did they rate your vacation? It looks like you all had a good time despite those challenging conditions at times!
I would pick an active vacation over a relaxing one… because I never sit still 🙂
Now that’s an action-packed vacation! Those mountains look intimidating, even amidst all the fog. The weather looks a bit…challenging (even more som than the mountains themselves. What great memories, though 😉
Loved this! For quick photo retouching I use nanobananopro.pics; it edits pictures from plain text descriptions. Wonderful read!
It sounds and looks like you had a great time in Ireland hiking! How did you go about choosing the company/guide you hired? Word of mouth or online recommendations? Do you plan on doing other similar treks? Our son and daughter-in-law hike the Highland Trail (I think that’s what it’s called) in Scotland in the spring.
Pingback: Sightseeing In Ireland : Got2Run4MeRunning With Perseverance
Pingback: Coffee and Scones In Ireland : Got2Run4MeRunning With Perseverance
Pingback: Where Did My Endurance Go? : Got2Run4MeRunning With Perseverance