Ireland Day 1 & 2- Arklow, Glendalough, Glenmacnass Waterfall and Lough Tay

Final update for now from my very backdated travel log: During my in-laws visit this time around, we decided to go to Ireland for a few days. 

We flew via Aerlingus into Dublin and drove to Arklow where we stayed at Moneylands Farm for two days, which self-catering accomodation was built surrounding a square courtyard. When we arrived, the air was filled with the fresh stench of cow manure. :) 

That aside, we quite enjoyed our stay there as there was a leisure centre on the farm which had a swimming pool, ping pong tables and a gym. We enjoyed all facilities throughout our stay there although some of the gym equipment were rather creaky and out of date. We went to Tesco and got sustenance. We had lovely mushroom soup, sweet potatoes and Irish beef patties for dinner.

During the day, we drove up to Wicklow to visit Glendalough (the glen of two lakes). There was a bubbly and immensely hospitable lady at the reception of the visitor centre who kickstarted our exploration of the area with good cheer. She was very helpful and although she most definitely has had to repeat herself to everyone that walks through the door, she welcomed us so sincerely and explained the place to us with voluntary enthusiasm.

We walked through the Monastic City which had relics of monasteries built in the 6th century. After that, we continued the walk which led us to the Lower Lake- pictured on the left. 

After about 20 minutes we came to the Upper Lake- serene and beautiful.

Nearby, there was a path leading off to Poulanass Waterfall. The water had a beautiful emerald green colour. After exploring the waterfall, we chose a nearby lawn with picnic tables to have our lunch. It was quite a chilly day and my husband who was pretty tired out from the driving managed to catch some zzzs at the table. :)

Bluebells

We saw a group of children feeding the birds.

After a good two hours at Glendalough, the lady at the visitor centre marked out a few places around that we had to see. The Glenmacnass Waterfall  on Military Road was one of them. It was the second biggest waterfall I've seen yet (first being Gullfoss of course). The dark Guinness-coloured water flowed down into the valley. One side of the valley was covered in pine whilst the other was flat and had a house or two scattered around it. Here's a view from the top of the cliff. The roads were not fenced up and the strong wind billowed upwards.

We also managed to see Lough Tay which is said to look like a pint of Guiness with the white sand that the Guiness family imported.