My magical mystery tour of Co. Wicklow! LOSE YOURSELF IN THE GARDEN COUNTY
Is there any county more beautiful than Wicklow? ‘Yes’, I hear you all shouting from the depths of Kerry and Antrim and Donegal, and every other county in Ireland. And understandably so, for we are lucky to live in a country that is renowned for the beauty of its landscape all over the world. But for me, Wicklow has been home now for almost 20 years and I have a particular attachment to it.
I don’t live in the heart of the Wicklow countryside anymore. Nowadays I live in a coastal town, with the sea on my doorstep and the mountains an ever-beckoning backdrop to my daily life.
I thought, having lived for some years in Glenealy and close to the beauties of Avondale and Deputy’s Pass and Glenmalure and Glencree that I knew most of the highways and byways that criss-cross within the county boundaries. Then, when I recently found myself lost, on a sunny Saturday, somewhere beyond Aughrim as I was trying to drive to the village of Rathdangan, I realised that I haven’t seen the half of it.
I was heading for Rathdangan to visit ASH, the animal rescue centre there. A quick look on Google maps before I set off from Greystones told me that the quickest route was via Rathdrum, then Ballinaclash, then in the direction of Aughrim and past Macreddin Village, and on to Rathdangan.
All was going swimmingly until I arrived at a crossroads about five or six kilometres outside Macreddin. Glenmalure and Greenane were featured on a signpost, but not a sign of Rathdangan. The road was narrowing and I could see it disappearing into infinity. I stopped and turned the car around.
But before I set off again, back in the direction of Aughrim, I got out of the car and took a look around me. Sunlight was streaming down over the fields and glinting off some of the pine trees along the road, transforming the tips of the branches from green to silver-blue. The only sound was of a bird, somewhere in the distance. It was utterly beautiful.
Back in the car I resorted to trying to find another route. Google told me that I could exit Aughrim in another direction and head towards Kiltegan, so back I drove into Aughrim before leaving the town by a different road. A signpost on a bend about a couple of kilometres out of the town told me that I was heading in the right direction.
So I drove, for ages, the road at times overhung with trees so that, from the distance, it appeared as if I was about to enter a green tunnel. After a few such ‘tunnels’, the road started to rise (this is all part of the Wicklow Way) and I found myself driving, alone, into the wilds of Wicklow. Pine trees were everywhere – alongside the road, down below, up on the other hillside, with, once again, that silver-blue hue the predominant colour.
Why, I wondered to myself, had I never driven this road before? What a gem of discovery it was, and, while I still wasn’t totally sure that I was going in the right direction, I suddenly didn’t care anymore. If I missed Rathdangan, then I missed it. I’d visit the rescue centre another day. For now, I was totally immersed in the moment – in the beauty of the landscape all around me on this stunning, sunlit day in early autumn.
As luck would have it, a signpost suddenly appeared along the roadside, and there it was – Rathdangan, now just eight kilometres away. And so it was that I eventually pitched up at the animal rescue centre, a full two hours after leaving Greystones!
When I was leaving the centre I asked the young woman I had been talking to which was the quickest way back to Aughrim and she shrugged her shoulders. She was from Carlow herself so never went the Aughrim route.
So off I set again, heading, hopefully, for Aughrim. But I didn’t make it there. Instead, at a junction where I probably should have turned right, I decided to head on, following the sign to Glenmalure. How glad I was that I made that choice.
Now, I know Glenmalure, having stopped off at the Glenmalure Lodge many times over the years for a coffee or for lunch, sitting outside at one of the picnic-type tables in front of the old-fashioned inn (it has a few rooms, often booked out by Wicklow Way walkers), eating its wholesome food and just drinking in the lovely views. But I’d always approached Glenmalure from another direction in the past. This time, the road from Rathdangan brought me up and over the top, through a landscape of desolate beauty, before suddenly starting to descend quite sharply into the valley. ‘Caution’ and ‘Slow’ were scrawled in yellow on the actual road tarmac here as the road folded itself, time and again, into a bend.
Once I spotted the Glenmalure Lodge, across the valley and through the trees, I knew that I was back in so-called civilised territory. Before I knew it I was driving through Greenane, into Rathdrum, on through Glenealy, and then, at Rathnew, on to the M11 and back to Greystones.
What an afternoon, and what a totally unexpected pleasure. Yes, it’s wonderful to travel the world, to see new sights and appreciate new cultures. But every now and then it makes sense to just take a closer look at what’s on your own doorstep. Be that in Wicklow or Kerry, Antrim or Donegal. Or any of the other glorious counties of Ireland.