Sunday, August 7, 2011

Wicklow Way Day 5 Glenmalure to Moyle.

Day 5: Distance 21km ascent 550m. Trail at the start stoney paths & forestry tracks with quite a bit of road walking at the end of the day (bit hard on the feet)
Sunny panorama looking towards Mt Leinster- after hours of mud and rain slogging it out of Glenmalure, up Slieve Maan, Carrickashane and over to Sheilstown (note Grainne still in her rain gear as we'd been fooled before!)

This is the only photo we took as the weather was foul and we just couldn't face unwrapping the camera from its layers of plastic. I found this the most challenging day with long muddy slogs up through corridors of conifers in rain and fog. It seemed interminable and when the sun eventually came out we had a long road walk to Moyle (no shops) and then a stiff uphill road walk to our accommodation at Kyle farmhouse. The farm is located on the northern slope of Ballycumber and the owners  are farmers and keen walkers who've both done the WW in 3 days. So don't expect any sympathy if you complain! Hearty dinner and a glass of wine put us to rights in no time.
Personally this is a section I wouldn't walk again soon and would choose instead to explore Glenmalure further. Though if we'd had better weather my opinion would probably be completely different. We certainly saw lots of deer and hares today.
The landscape changes to green pastoral lushness in this section-a bit of a shock from the rugged terrain of the last few days. But despite the 'tameness' of the landscape there are no shops or pubs en route so if you're camping you'd need to pack food for your dinner. The range of accommodation is limited to one place really unless you want to stay off the WW in Aughrim, Tinehealy or Shillelagh but these are quite distant and you'd need to organise transport.

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