Poulanass Waterfalls - Glendalough
With only an hour and a half left free to explore from Glendalough before I had to drive back to Dublin airport, there were a few hiking options, or the possibility of an illicit swim in the "no swimming" upper lake, but in the end Adam and I opted for the supposed 1 hour hike to Poulanass Falls. The only issue was that we were quite a way from the starting point! So, with Adam a seasoned nordic walker (a nordic walking trainer by trade) it was no surprise that we set off at a pretty intense walking pace. The forest around the lake side was beautiful and no doubt very serene if you go on the right day, but in the summer it attracts massive crowds. A lovely area, well worth a visit, so long as you don't mind sharing the trails with a few hundred others :)
The trail was signed and easy to follow from a map that I photographed near the visitor centre in Glendalough - an easy loop climbing switchbacks on the hillside on a fire road then a well used trail down by the ravine alongside the falls. We walked fast, talked fast, wrapped the whole hike up in an hour and managed a few photos on the way.
Shame there wasn't time to really get out into the remote corners of these forested hills, but the woods were lovely, dark and deep and we had promises to keep (apologies to Robert Frost.....).
