Statistics: 9 miles, ascent 1103′, descent 1499′, 3 3/4 hours
Leaving the B&B we walked into the village of Roundwood passing The Coach House, the pub in which we had dinner the previous evening.
Most of the early morning walk kept us on a paved road until we reached the village of Oldbridge. While walking we saw an “honesty box,” a practice often seen alongside the trail and maintained by local farmers or housekeepers. The hikers are expected to pay for the items they remove from the unattended box. On this day the contents were eggs, but sometimes it was cold drinks, snacks or fruit.
Leaving the road behind, returning to an unpaved walking path and crossing over a stile, we were now on a trail through the woods. We would climb more than 200 wooden or metal stiles while crossing working farms and public lands throughout our trek in Ireland.
Soon, on Paddock Hill, far reaching views were enjoyed as we wound our way toward the Vale of Glendalough.
Several hikers stopped to chat while we were taking the view. The comradery experienced with fellow hikers on these adventures really added to each day’s enjoyment.
As it neared Laragh, the path took us over the picturesque, peat-tinted Glenmacnass River.
On this day, the trail was quite short. We arrived in Laragh in time to have a leisurely lunch at the inviting Heather House – our scheduled B&B for the night. We rested, studied our guide book and enjoyed the afternoon. The comfortable and well-appointed rooms for the night were newly remodeled, former stables.
As we arrived at the Heather House restaurant for dinner, to our delight a group we had met two nights earlier at the Coolakay B&B (Phil, Naomi and Jeff the dog) showed up! As we caught up on each others’ adventures of the past two days, we experienced the most delicious meal of our entire Wicklow Way walk.
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