Wicklow Weekend, Saturday

We met for breakfast on Saturday morning – a feast of home made delights and mostly local produce. After Ballyknocken cereals we had French toast or drop scones with nuts and syrup or a full Irish breakfast for one brave lad.
Our first day was spent around the Military Road, starting with Glendalough. On the way there we passed through the highest village in Ireland, Roundwood (238m), which seemed quite popular with the tourists. We found a space in the busy car park at the Glendalough information centre and then followed the path to the old monastic settlement. Founded by St Kevin in 6th century, this is an important site set at the head of a valley containing two lakes. It was sacked by Vikings many times, and then partially razed by the English in the late fourteenth century before falling victim to the Dissolution, 1539. Even so, pilgrims still visit the site especially on 3rd June which is St. Kevin’s Day. Some restoration took place in the mid eighteenth century, but most of the buildings date from between the eighth and twelfth centuries. We walked around the area and then followed the river down to the first or lower lake and back as we had to be on the move again.

 Now we followed the road back and on towards Powerscourt House with its magnificent gardens. The house was a Palladian mansion of considerable size dating from the early eighteenth century and built on the site of a Norman castle. Sadly it was gutted by fire in 1974 but has been partially restored to provide cafes and shops for visitors as well as an exhibition about the history of Powerscourt estate. Luckily the gardens remained intact and are beautifully kept.

We wandered through all the areas, including the Japanese Garden, around the Triton Lake, Dolphin Pond and the wonderful walled garden. There are lots of statues in the Italian style (e.g. after Bernini) which reminded some of Angels and Demons! From the terrace there is a good view of Great Sugar Loaf (501m), made from Cambrian quartzite, it forms a volcanic like cone above the surrounding hills, which are Devonian granite. We decided to have a little late lunch in the café before moving on to the highest waterfall in Ireland. Powerscourt Waterfall falls 130m, and we think that is the height referred to, but it could be the highest in elevation, too.

Reading the guide book, we understood that this was an idyllic area to visit where Sika deer may be glimpsed among the trees and bird spotting was a delight. We were not prepared for the sight that met us – a valley full of cars, picnickers and barbecue aromas wafting across to us. It was awash with people, all enjoying the lovely weather and the beautiful area. The waterfall is lovely as it cascades over the rocks, and many people were enjoying a dip in the pool at its base – albeit a bit cool as it was in the shadow of the rocks. Needless to say, the Sika deer were long gone and only a few sparrows and starlings were to be seen.
We had also read that there were sundews to be found around a place called Sally Gap, so this was our next stop on our circuit of the Military Road. The roads are fairly narrow and winding, so we had to find a pull in so we could search for them. We stopped to look at some deer some way from the road and M went off on a reccy. And there in a boggy area she found loads of sundews, which we all saw and photographed. And even though we stopped another couple of times, we just didn’t find that many again. That was a good and lucky find. So we had to get back and change for dinner at seven. This was at Ballyknocken House – from the kitchen of Catherine Fulvia, so we needed to be ready to do that justice.

At seven we were served dry sherry in the sitting room. There were several other people staying at the house including a Belgian family, some Americans and a couple who were attending the cookery course on Sunday. The wife came from Milan, so was very interested in Catherine’s style of Italian cookery. We went through for dinner after Catherine came and described the meal. We started with antipasto, followed by a potato and lemongrass soup with parsley oil, which was served with Mary’s Brown Bread. Then came sage stuffed pork with carrot and cumin puree and apple slices and a dessert of pear and polenta cake with a strawberry stack. With the meal we drank a wine from the Ardeche estate Mas de Libian, Bout d’Zan. Coffee and tea were then served in one of the other rooms, and we gathered round a table with a hilarious game of naming things beginning with a letter chosen with the roll of a die, which ended in hysterical laughter! It was time for bed.