[ Edited: 10/9/2025 this is a repost of a series i wrote in 2022, migrating it to the new nostr website ]

most people start the wicklow way hike at it’s starting point in the scenic marlay park in dublin. but that would be very inland, wouldn’t it? and i’m doing a coast to coast hike. so i needed to get to the poolbeg lighthouse, on a sea wall that stretches out into the dublin bay. that ~9mile walk from the lighthouse to marley park through the edges of dublin with a 40 pound backpack garnered many looks. i don’t think many people do the entire “coast to coast” route!

me pipes and mick the night before, and why i slept in a little bit

at the bar the night before, pipes told me of the best app in ireland (and apparently worldwide) for hailing a cab, called Free Now. so after i showered, ate the breakfast ann marie left for me, loaded up my bag, left a few things behind to reduce weight (i’ll grab them on my way back), i ordered a taxi. in three minutes, brendan pulls up to the door.

obviously i’m carrying a huge back pack with a tent strapped to it, so he starts off the conversation… “where are ya hiking?” i explain i’m going to do the ireland coast to coast and wanted to go to the lighthouse. “sure t’ing!” and we were off. brendan must have been younger than he looked. i would have guessed he was in his mid fifties, but he told me that he had just retired. and got bored. so he bought a taxi cab to work part time (at his choosing) and get out of the house. he went on to ask all about the route that i was about to take.

“have you ever done a multi-day hike like this?”

“nope, this is my first. well actually my brother chris and i did a 2-day walk from philadelphia to atlantic city, which is about 70 miles. but i didn’t have a 40 pound backpack, didn’t camp, and didn’t have to worry about finding water along a very pedestrian flat or even downhill route.”

“have you gone camping solo before?”

“nope. first time for that too.”

i think brendan was getting a little nervous for me. he said that he has done dozens of multi-day walks / hikes all over europe with his brother. they don’t bring backpacks, and just arrange b&bs or hotels along the way. it sounds incredible. and maybe his thousands of miles hiked translate into a young-looking retiree? but with all his questions, i was getting a little nervous for myself — i wasn’t supposed to be dwelling on such thoughts!

brendan gave me some pointers. the one that made me smile most: “don’t be afraid to cheat. if it means you’ll get to drink another pint or t’ree with new friends you just met, take a lift a few miles. any bartender will drive you 5-10 miles down the road for 20 quid.” i laughed because this is the kind of advice my dad would have given me (and also the advice my uncle rick called with right before i left!). don’t be so focused on the goal (walking across the country) that you sacrifice the spontaneity and adventure of the journey.

as we are about half way to the lighthouse, he stops whatever he was saying and says , “well will you look at that! you’re starting off with a little irish luck. i forgot to put the meter on!” i laughed and said he could charge me what he thought the ride would have been. “ohhh nooo noo. it’was meant to be this way! consider it me buying you a pint.”

we continued on and brendan started talking about how the irish are always “quick to talk.” and he’s not wrong. he noted that many other cultures, americans included, don’t typically start conversing with strangers. but not the irish! they love it. (and i love it, and wish to be more like it back in the states!) we pulled up as far as he could get me on the sea wall. my first steps were going to be toward the starting point. i gave brendan this website’s address (hi if you’re reading this!) as i got out of the taxi to start my adventure.

walking along dublin bay, met some good boys (doggies)

the first 9 miles to marlay park, the “official” start of the wicklow way were pretty uneventful. i passed many smiling eyes that gave me a wink or a nod. or a “how are ya?”. marlay park itself was very nice, spacious and green and somewhere i would probably run a lot if i lived in dublin. i followed my hiiker app, which allowed me to download all the trail maps (with elevations, landmarks, camping locations, paid accommodations) directly to my phone. that, plus turning the phone on airplane mode, has allowed me to stay fairly connected with good battery life. as i was leaving marlay park, i stopped at the cafe and got a chicken club sandwich and a snickers to power up just in case i ran out of time or water to make/rehydrate a freeze-dried food pouch. and then i was off on the wicklow way!

i knew i had to get about 8 more miles, and i thought night was coming. the hiiker app marked a good “wild camping” location next to the ruins of an old building (possibly a church). the rubble shielded the wind, and it was flat and grassy. sounded good to me! as i was walking and it wasn’t getting too much darker, i remembered that, at this time of year, it’s pretty much light out in ireland until 10pm. so i was technically hustling at a pretty aggressive pace up the mountain when i probably didn’t have to. and that drained me quite a bit!

west philly represent! fresh prince of bel eire up in this jawn

while i was hiking vertically (it seemed!) i was so focused on moving forward that i forgot to look back. this may be a cliche hiking metaphor, possibly, but when i had that thought it kinda sunk in with me that this theory can apply to life. when your path is difficult, sure, put your head down and power through it. even if it seems like it’s never-ending, you can be assured there is progress if you stop, turn around and look into your past. you’ll see that that arduous path you just blazed (as you only stared down at obstacles on the way up) was actually incredibly beautiful when changing your perspective. and without that difficult path, you’d never get to see the view from the top.

https://blossom.primal.net/376dea6cdd0b05da529aa4edfbe7910bfa46a5726efc599741704c0f06289cd7.mp4

when i finally turned around and looked. and appreciated the distance already travelled

having said that, when i first turned around to look, i realized i could see poolbeg lighthouse, very tiny in the distance. i stood there for a few minutes and realized just how far i walked already. it was a nice feeling of reassurance that i can, in fact, do this. but also, a holy crap i have like 350 miles more to go.

i kept trailblazing to get to the ruins campground. when i arrived at 7pm, i walked off the trail through the woods to this little flat hideaway. it was pretty with a very irish view of sheep in a field. i surveyed the area and found a flat place to setup the tent. since this was the first time using toph’s borrowed tent, i timed myself to see how long it would take to get setup (and to breakdown the next morning). both took about a half hour for the tent, to inflate the air mat and pillow, layout the sleeping bag, unpack my stove and dehydrated food. fully setup for the night, i needed to find water: my first time drinking water from a stream!

all setup, time to find water!

i guess that’s not entirely true. i have definitely drank water off of a glacial stream in iceland, and while camping in the poconos, but both of those instances were just sips to say i did it. it wasn’t my only sustenance, and in quantities that could make me very sick if the water was no good. but luckily my friend bryan and his girlfriend danica, a doctor trained in wilderness emergency medicine, guided me to the best of breed water purifier (the steripen). this thing is a technological marvel. turn it on, stick it in a liter of water, stir for 90 seconds… you have safe drinking water. now, i’ve come to learn it doesn’t change the color of the water. if the creek runs slightly brown, it will still be brown. but it’s safe. a filter would remove that, i believe, and the small “floaties” that i just drink around.

i noticed a stream on the hiiker map next to this campground, but no one had marked it as drinking water. so i was curious if it wasn’t accessible — or maybe had sheep or agriculture nearby. you’re supposed to avoid those because there could be a dead sheep upstream or farming runoff, two things i wouldn’t want to drink. but no, it was a lovely little stream with at least 5 trickling waterfalls i could count about 100 feet away. remember, this walk feels uphill nonstop… great for waterfalls!

(mom don’t read this part) i carefully navigated through the woods to find a low enough spot to hop into the stream. it was like a 6 foot drop where i entered the woods but i saw downstream it was closer to 2 feet. so i went there. i tried to climb down the embankment but i forgot it had just rained for 3 days before i got here. the dirt was soft and collapsed on my foot’s pressure. i caught my balance and saw a big rock so i tried to step on it. and it was covered in algae, so my foot slipped right out from under it (thank god for waterproof shoes and pants). that leg slammed down on the rock, my hand caught the rest of the fall. luckily the knee that has been hurt 3 times in softball and had 2 syringes of blood drained from it 4 days before the 10 mile broad street run was unaffected. i didn’t realize until last night but i do have a bruise where i hit the rock hard with my shin. that could have been much worse. imagine spraining an ankle and the hike being over before it really started!

first stream drink

i loaded up on water in the 2 liter camelback and went back to the campsite. i boiled half the water and used the steripen on the other half. the boiled water was poured into a sweet and hot pork and rice dish, stirred, and left to sit for 15 minutes to rehydrate the meal. while i waited for that, what was left over of the boiled water, i drank like tea just to test the water. it tasted great! success! i gobbled down the pork and rice, which was also delightful. i’m sure the fact that i was so hungry enhanced my enjoyment. i picked the pork meal because it weighed over an ounce more than the other food packs — and the first leg of this journey made me realize how heavy 40 pounds is for a backpack!

drinking wild random water was one of my bigger fears about this trip. seeing for myself that, with planning, it was actually kind of ritualistic and made you appreciate the fact that in most developed nations, we don’t need to worry about clean water (well, for the most part). and it makes you consider developing nations and how billions (?) of people don’t have access to clean drinking water. reaffirms my donations to “the water project” for sure. i went to refill the camelback, and this time chugged the rest of the 1 liter hydro flask so i could refill it as well. that would be my plan when i found fresh water: drink whatever i had on me. then refill, purify, drink another liter, and refill / purify once more.

laying in my green glowing orb by 8:15

okay i was exhausted after 17 miles carrying my new best friend, mr. osprey the backpack. feeling stuffed, hydrated, and happy, i laid down by 8:15. and i think i was passed out by 8:16. now it was still light out, and my tent glowed like a green orb from the inside. but i didn’t care. i was out fast.

i woke up at 1 am, i think, to the howling wind. it sounded like cars speeding by but i knew that was impossible. i checked my phone and saw work was having those same recurrent issues that i won’t get into here. i talked to carl for a couple hours trying to diagnose what was going on. about an hour with my phone on and, coincidentally probably making that glowing orb effect from the outside, i think i pissed off some birds.

an absolutely wailing bird started screaming at me, making sounds that i previously thought only came out of a banshee. i totally get why the irish living in the middle of nowhere thought otherworldly creatures existed out here. this guy wouldn’t shut up, until i turned off my phone. i’m sorry buddy! thinking carl and i made some headway, i signed off at 3am to get some more sleep to let my little wailer man hunt. and, well, i knew i had an even longer hike tomorrow.

#travel #ireland2022