9/20/08

Today Jake, Adam, Derrick and I went to Howth along with Kayleen and her roommates. We woke up around 10 and got ready to take the DART (commuter train) twenty minutes north of Dublin to a seaside town on a peninsula. I was not sure what to expect when our journey began, but I am most definitely glad I went. It was one of, if not the most beautiful place I have ever been. Words cannot describe the beauty that I was immersed in today. But I will try anyway. We got to Howth and I was instantly happy to be there. It is a small, seaside fishing village. Not only that, but it was extremely sunny and didn't rain at all (that is extremely rare). We started by walking along the piers, where we saw a couple of sea lions and some fishing vessels. We walked from the first pier to a kind of sea wall where people could walk to the end and see the light house. it was an awesome walk because it brought me extremely close to an island that seemed like it was so close that you can swim to it. I really wanted to because I really enjoy uncivilized islands! After we had walked there we went for lunch and planned our next move. We saw mountains in the distance all day and we decided after lunch to head for them. It was a bold decision, it was a gutsy decision and it turned out to be a spectacular decision. We started by pretty much going straight up hill which led to the top of a hill that looked out onto the water. I thought that view was breathtaking, little did I know what was to come. We then turned and headed towards the mountains we passed this place where it looked like we could go down a steep hill and get close to the water. And in my quest to provide people with the best pictures possible I decided to do it! Jake, Derrick, Kayleen's roommate and I head down the side to drink in the majesty of where we were.
We climbed back up to the hill to the road where I leaped over an old stone wall. I came away with a small cut and a little rash on my wrist (don't worry it disappeared within the hour). We then continued down the road. Passed by a house where WB Yeats lived, and went down a couple more hills to get some great shots as we came closer and closer to the mountain. We finally reached a parking lot where we started ascending the mountain, we were greeted with signs warning us of the dangers of straying off the marked path (we didn't really pay attention to those) and the sight of breathless hikers coming back from their trek. We started up a steep incline with some rock hewn steps and ended up at the top of a part of the mountain and looking out at the sea...the view was amazing. I am still in awe of it right now, I can't believe I actually witnessed it. We continued walking along the beaten path, stopping to take cool, cliff related pictures along the way.
After walking along for a little bit we came to this cliff that wasn't that steep and looked like it was walkable, their was a small path that had been made by people going down before. Since it was sunny and the ground was somewhat dry I decided that we should go down the hill. What a great decision that turned out to be. We walked around a somewhat flat part of the cliff and I got some great pictures it was glorious. We continued our walk, stopping along the way at various points. We hit another area where there were a bunch of rocks that we were able to sit on, and I was lounging looking out at the sea totally content with myself. It was an amazing hike, we finished up by going up a really steep hill to get to the peak of the mountain where there was a parking lot. We walked down the hill to a pub where I won three Euro playing blackjack on a machine! After that we walked a long way back to the town, down a long and winding road. The entire day I felt like I was walking through a movie/postcard/desktop background. We made it back to where we started and hung out in the town a little bit longer until getting back on the DART for our trip home. The trip back was uneventful, Adam and I ended up making dinner together (it was cute) and then I just relaxed for the rest of the night. In summary, my day was amazing, the scenery was beautiful, I am happy, I walked a lot, I am going to be really sore tomorrow.