Dublin to Tinahely - Powerscourt House and Garden, Mount Usher Garden and Glendalough

---

We were not quite ready to leave the building this morning when the fire alarm went off. Oh, no! Is it a test, is it for real? It’s only the alert alarm isn’t it and not the whoop, whoop for evacuate?? Cathy went to check the lift which had put itself into Fire Only mode. OMG, should we walk down six flights of stairs to check with reception? Before we could make a decision, the alarm went silent, Bernie checked the lift again and it had re-set itself to normal operation. Phew! Let’s just carry on with our packing and keep our fingers crossed that the lift is still available when we need to take all our luggage downstairs!

After three glorious days in Dublin with the weather much warmer AND drier than we had anticipated it might be, it was time to head back to the airport but not to fly anywhere, to collect our hire cars. At about ten past eight we took all of our luggage down to the foyer and Bernie ordered a maxi-taxi via the Uber app on his phone. Within a couple of minutes, the taxi arrived and easily accommodated the four of us, four suitcases and four backpacks. We enjoyed a smooth run to the airport. Our driver dropped us off and directed us into the adjacent terminal and up the elevator to take the overhead walkway to the arrivals terminal where we would find the car hire desks.

We made our way to the Thrifty/Hertz desk where we were told that we would have to go back down to ground level to take the shuttle bus to the car hire depot. Bugger, would we have been better off having the taxi drop us at the depot rather than at the airport? That would probably be ‘Yes’ because we had to wait a while for the shuttle and didn’t arrive at the place where we would actually collect the cars until about 9.10am. Then we were last off the shuttle so last into the queue inside the Thrifty/Hertz office. The cars were being allocated fairly efficiently though so the paperwork was completed, and we had the keys before 10.00am.

Out into the lot to find our compact SUVs. When we booked the cars months ago, we both booked a Nissan Juke … or similar. Today we were allocated a Škoda Kamiq and Cathy and Steve scored a Volkswagen Taigo. Ours is blue, theirs is grey. Inspecting our car, we found three minor scratches that we needed to photograph and log so that we can’t be blamed for them when we return the car. We loaded our suitcases into the boot, delighted that both cases fit in the boot - we don’t have to have one of the cases on the back seat. Yay.

Then the fun started with Bernie determined to pair his phone with the car so that he could use Apple Maps for navigation. The lead he had readily to hand wasn’t the right lead (of course!) so he had to take the suitcases back out of the boot to dive into the stash of leads and cables in his case to find one that would be compatible with the iPhone and the car. After only a little bit of swearing Bernie had the SatNav sorted. Cathy and Steve had already set out so now Bernie was able to programme in Powerscourt House and Garden where we had agreed to meet in the car park.

We found our way onto the M50 Ring Road and rocketed around the western outskirts of Dublin before continuing south to Bray and then beyond on the M11/N11. When we exited the motorway, we had to execute a crazy loop to go back over the motorway and make our way to Powerscourt. Although we left the car hire depot after Cathy and Steve, we arrived in the car park at Powerscourt before them. In fact, so much before them that we were starting to get a little concerned about where they had gotten to. Fortunately, after making a wrong turn, their SatNav recalculated their route and delivered them to Powerscourt a little after 11.00am. We had been there since about 20 minutes to. The main thing was we were now all in the same place and ready to see a fabulous garden.

Powerscourt House and Garden is set in the Wild Wicklow countryside near Great Sugarloaf Mountain. The 47-acre estate was established by the Wingfield Family in 1603 and remained in the Wingfield Family until 1961 when the Slazenger Family took over. We entered the house and purchased our tickets at ‘Seniors’ price. It’s very inconsistent here with some places offering ‘Seniors’ price at 60+ and others at 65+. Today it was 65+ but Cathy asked for four ‘Seniors’ and wasn’t challenged or asked for proof of age! We’re not sure if we should be offended that we are passing for 65+?

We started at the Italian Garden, making our way down the formal steps and terraces towards the lake. After taking photos of the lake and back towards the mansion we set out on the One Hour Route around the estate. This took us into the Walled Garden and then out to the Dolphin Pond. We found the Pet Cemetery adjacent to the Rhododendron Walk before continuing to the Triton Lake to take amazing photos across the lake back towards the mansion. From the lake we made our way through the Japanese Garden and then around to the Pepperpot Tower before returning to the mansion.

I think the one-hour circuit took us about an hour and a half, so it was definitely time for some lunch before heading to the next place on our itinerary. Fortunately, the Avoca Terrace Café had some delicious offerings on its menu. The sandwiches were pricey, but they were generously filled and good quality. The café was as much of the interior of the mansion that we could explore without checking into the Powerscourt Hotel & Spa.

We headed back out to the cars and set the SatNav for Mount Usher Gardens. We returned to the N11 and continued south to Ashford where the gardens Monty Don rates among his favourites are located. These gardens were created by the Walpole Family in 1865 and cared for by four generation of Walpoles over 115 years before they were purchased by Mrs Madeline Jay in 1980. The style of the garden was influenced by Ireland’s most famous gardener, William Robinson who eschewed formal layouts. Set on the River Vartry the 22-acre garden laid out in harmony with its setting is home to 32 of the Champion Trees of Ireland and approximately4,500 different varieties of trees, shrubs and plants from all over the world. A virtual Botanic Garden.

After completing the Tree Trail around the garden, we headed for the ice-cream kiosk. Hmmn, only soft serve on offer. We couldn’t remember the last time we had a soft serve ice-cream but, hey, it was hot, and it was ice-cream o’clock! Steve ordered a coffee, but it was ice-cream cones for the rest of us … with sprinkles, ha, ha.

Our next stop was at Glendalough near Laragh. Glendalough is one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland. This early Christian monastic settlement was founded by St Kevin in the 6th century and developed into a Monastic City consisting of three churches, a cathedral, a Priest’s House and a 30-metre high ‘Round Tower’ which was the bell tower used to call the monks to prayer. The building ruins are surrounded by gravestones making for a very atmospheric site … or it would have been if it wasn’t overrun with people! So many people! It was another glorious late spring day today AND Saturday, so everyone was out enjoying the beautiful weather.

When we returned to the car Bernie’s phone would not pair with the car. Bernie was just a little bit frustrated with this glitch with the technology. My only suggestion was to turn the car and the phone off to see if a good old cold boot would do the trick. Yes! Next problem, not enough signal to programme in our next destination. Thank goodness that I insist on travelling with a road atlas. With the trusty Collins Comprehensive Ireland Road Atlas on my lap, I was able to say that we should turn right out of the car park and then right at the B755 towards Rathdrum. Phew, crisis averted but Bernie was still pretty pissed off.

And I am reasonably confident that I could have navigated us all the way to Tinahely the old-fashioned way. However, Bernie favours Siri’s voice over mine and had me have another go at programming our destination just short of Rathdrum and … success! And Siri took us on exactly the same route that I had worked out! Just saying!

We arrived in Tinahely around 6.00pm and found Murphy’s Hotel easily. Tinahely is not very big. We checked in and then returned to the car to collect the luggage. This is going to be one of only a few one night only stops. It was never our intention to stay out here in the Wicklow Wilderness. The plan was for two nights in Kilkenny BUT bloody Bruce Springsteen is playing in Kilkenny tonight so all the accommodation in Kilkenny was booked out months ago!! At least we didn’t have to go far for dinner tonight choosing to eat in the dining room downstairs.



Steps: 15,933 (10.17kms)

---