A Beach and a Glacial Valley

We woke up to gorgeous weather and Mom and I wrapped up in blankets and took our coffee out to enjoy the view. We let the kids sleep in a bit and when they finally got up, they enjoyed a visit from our hostess, Letitia's dog, Max.

After a breakfast of Aldi goodies and homemade scones by our hostess, we headed out to try to FINALLY get the new SIM cards for our phones. At the pass near our house we had to stop and meander a bit as the views were absolutely breathtaking!!

People keep saying "Carlow? Why are you staying near Carlow?" Well, our Airbnb is actually in Myshall which is about 15 km outside of Carlow. And it is on Mount Leinster which is absolutely gorgeous countryside. The rooms were perfect for what we need and the location is great. We're within about an hour of several places I really wanted to explore in different directions. So it just made sense! Plus the price was at least half as much as Airbnb's along the coast.

The views at the mountain pass just a few kilometers from our house were absolutely breathtaking. Just another Carlow perk!

After soaking in the view, we stopped in Bunclody, a town about 15 miles from our house and on our way to what I

had planned to do today. I had looked up phone stores near our house and the Eir store in Bunclody looked convenient. Until we got there...and it was Closed.

According to the St. Vincent dePaul Consignment Store volunteer ladies next door, they were open last week but not this week due to staffing issues. So we chatted with the ladies for a while and one of them lived in Gory. She said there is a Vodafone in Gory and highly recommended heading there to get our SIM cards. She also recommended a lovely beach where we could have a picnic and a beach walk. To thank the ladies for their help, Gwen sang a bit of one of her Fleadh songs for them and made their day.

So we headed to Gory and sure enough, 3rd try was a charm and we got SIM cards for $20 and they have unlimited data and work brilliantly. Amazing.

It was a big relief to get the SIM cards becsuse now we'd have GPS. How on earth did we used to do trips like this with just a map? I remember being in college and Jay and I would take off and head to Colorado for a couple of weeks and just take maps. Now that just seems so difficult!

We then made a couple of quick pit stops in a convenience store and a supermarket that looked from the outside very small but then opened up and it was huge once you got inside.

Back in the cars we headed about 10 km down the road and found the Courtown beach. It was absolutely lovely. We picnicked with Aldi lunch salamis and cheeses and then headed to the shore. We walked the trail down and came out at a small sandy area but big boulders were stacked where the shore meets the water. We climbed on the boulders and the girls looked for pretty rocks.

Ellie loves beaches and we saw another beach down the way. So we jumped in the car and headed down that way. It was such a pretty spot and a few locals even got in the frigid water for a swim.

We played for a little bit but I really wanted to get moving to Glendalough. My family had no idea what it was or how amazing so I had to convince them it was worth it and pry them away from the beach.

Glendalough is a glacial valley in County Wicklow. You can wander around the remains of a 6th century medieval monastic settlement that was founded by St. Kevin.

The two lakes are breathtaking. The midgies will bite your face off this time of year. The rock skipping was perfect. The weather couldn’t have been better.

We headed home via curvy little roads through the Wicklow Mountains stopping for a bite at a local place along the way. We stayed out too long and got back a bit after dark. . .so driving Irish mountain roads as the sun was setting was an. . .interesting. . .experience for Dad and Jay. But we made it back intact and collapsed into bed exhausted.