Hilltop Treks and Mountain Ventures Hostel Wicklow did it!

Despite the current miserable rain that falls outside my window as I type, this morning at 7.02am I was watching the sunrise over the famous Lugnaquillia mountain in Wicklow!

Guided walks group Hilltop Treks and the countrystyle Mountain Ventures Hostel organised a sunrise walk today sept 18th. And what a walk it was!

Firstly there was all the excitement and fun of preparing to go and arriving at Mountain Ventures Hostel which is located practically at the foot of Lugnaquillia, just 3.5km from Donard Village in West Wicklow. To be met by a charming whitewashed cottage building with chalet type ‘dorms’ of various numbers ( we had a 4 bed to ourselves with GREAT shower!!) and the smell of turf burning in the stove fire was great and we did not have long to wait before the rest of the group turned up from Dublin via Terry of Hilltop Treks minibus collection ( only 10 euro return!)

A few other Giggily girlies arrived by car and everyone settled into their rooms then met with Aaron and Terry in the gorgeous common room to have pep talk about what to expect the following morning. Things like, oh you now, the usual- getting up at 3.30am!!! arghhhhhhhhh. but then , we knew that was the plan, so in order to ensure we could all doze off we decided it made sense to go down to the local for a few pints- just 2 or three you understand….

So off to Fentons pub with us – a very popular pub that has oldstyle Traditional irish charm, historic notices and photos all over it and a very friendly and welcoming bar man and local!

Terry had brought his guitar so we all coerced him into bringing it into the pub and having a bit of an ol singsong ( as you do!) Well the craic was mighty as they say and everyone relaxed and got to know one another before the long hike in the morning. The pub owner very kindly turned down the tv and refulled the turf fire for us too which was a lovely gesture.

We were very good and literally had 2/3 pints ( for one member of the group this was a first taste of guinness moment- she likes it!) then headed back and all scooted off to bed to try to sleep for the 4 hours before wake call up.

Having dreamt that I had finished the walk , the alarm that went off at 3.30 am seemed a bit surreal, however excitement prevailed and we all got up and dressed whereupon we were dropped up to Fentons pub again – no, not for more pints ha ha, but to begin our walk.

The walk was moderate with some difficult patches but once we took our time and stopped for a few small breaks we all made it ( even one member who was gtting over a serious chest infection – Super Well Done to Her!!) to the top just in time to see the gorgeous sun rise up in front of us and bathe us in it’s orange glow.

Ahhhh. lovely, time for tea and a truly sumptuous slice of ‘Sunrise cake’ made by the lovely Sue ( mountain ventures hostel, thanks sue) and then it was time to head back down.

I won’t kid you, coming down was hard – those walking sticks really are a must for something like that – (thanks John for lending me yours ) and then everyone headed off for a lovely hot shower before trooping into the common room to be served up a really really great full Irish breakfast which got the thumbs up from everyone.

I must say that I really enjoyed this experience, the additional craic from terry of Hilltop Treks makes it such a fun experience and it was plain to see that Aaron and Sue have been working their hearts out on the lovely Mountain Ventures Hostel with plans to have a minibus soon and we here at The Wicklow Way wish all parties a seriously great 2011 – You deserve it!

Now, time for me to have a nap! but first check out our pics on flickr and we should have a video clip on our You Tube channel shortly – I will post it once its up.

Roz ( and skippy came in spirit)
Living Life The Wicklow Way