I finally got to do a tour in Ireland! Woohoo! I went up to the Wicklow Mountains, just outside of Dublin. All the mountains are quite majestic, and mostly made out of 'turf', known to me as peat. And I thought peat bogs were low and marshy... Coming from NZ, I am of course used to mountainous terrain, but it is strangely different being that the mountains are glacial (carved out by glaciers) as opposed to volcanic like what NZ is. Lough (pronounced 'loc') Tay was beautiful, lying next to the valley where they filmed the movie excalibur. The water is a deep brown, due to the water coming from the runoff of the peat. The lake and surrounding area is supposedly owned by the guiness family. I think it's a tall story, but the guide tells of how white sand was shipped in to make a beach on one side, so the lake takes the colours of guiness....brown with a white head.
Next was Glendalough. It is two lakes next to an old monastic settlement. It has some great ruins, a couple of churches mostly fallen down and a round tower. The cemetary there has grown throughout the place since the monastary was closed down, and so there are many celtic crosses scattered around. Then of course there are the lakes themselves, the Lower lake and the Upper lake. Beautiful views and scenery.
 
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