Howth you doin'?

Having tasted the sense of adventure of traveling on our own, Kathleen and I could not wait until the next weekend to partake in another escapade. So after another grueling week of classes, we decided to go on a day tour a little closer to home in Howth, a peninsula off of Dublin. Kathleen, Lauren, Hannah and I made the trip to Howth on Saturday morning by first taking the train to Dublin, meeting up with the tour group and then back to the same train station that we just arrived from. We boarded the train and within twenty minutes we reached Howth. Howth is a quaint fishing town outside of the hustle and bustle of Dublin, abundant with golf courses and a small mountain overlooking Dublin bay. Our tour guide, Alita, the same Argentinian woman who showed us around Dublin city a few weekends ago began to haul our group of visitors up the hill that led across a private castle and golf course. As we marched up the side of the hill, my thighs were on fire and I couldn’t imagine going up anything more difficult. I was wrong.

Wish this was my backyard

These pictures do not capture the true beauty of Howth

Standing on the top of the hill, I could trace the entirety of the Dublin bay and city with my eyes. As I was soaking in the beauty of the city before me, Alita turned us around to see the mountain towering over us and pointed to the summit where a group of people were standing, and announced that is where we were heading. First, we had to explore the jungle at the foot of the mountain, and of course we chose the adventure path. Little did we know that the path was almost nonexistent underneath the layers of gooey mud. Jumping from rock to rock, avoiding the soggiest patches of mud in boots that were not conducive to outdoor jungle mountain trekking, I managed to make it through to the clearing with a massive tree without falling in the mud. However, upon gazing at the tree my instincts were to climb it. Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me knows that I am a klutz with no balance or coordination, so tree climbing is not my forte. I refused to let that stop me as I placed my foot on the wide trunk of the tree. Somehow while clambering up the twisty branches of the tree I managed to climb the furthest and the highest of all the climbers in the group.  Sitting, cradled in the net of branches, I listened to Alita spin a tale of Irish mythology, and as it neared its end I found my way back down roughly without a scratch (just a bruise that would surface later that night as a result of a graze on a branch.) We then trampled our way onto a gravel path, free of mud and adventure, until we reached the foot of the mountain.

These boots were not made for walking up a mountain or in the mud

My view from the base of the tree

My view from the top of the tree 

"Every rock in Ireland has a legend" 

The base of the mountain began with easy looking stairs, so I thought that this would be a relatively relaxed climb. Wrong. The stairs ended as soon as we turned the corner and the trees became dense, so we were forced to hike up the rocky path, dodging mud patches and low hanging branches. To make matters more difficult, Alita, used to the unruly trail, quickly made her way up and we soon lost sight of her and the group. However, we made it to the summit and the group. The view upon the top of the mountain was breathtaking. Literally, I was out of breath thanks to my asthma. As I used my inhaler and took photos of the scenery I let the harsh wind bring life back to my lungs and try not to keep my balance. Photos taken we then made our way back down the mountain around the other side, which was much rockier, hillier, and longer than the way up. Exhausted from our hike thus far, I quickly fell behind the group and my friends because I had to concentrate all of my strength on breathing and putting one foot in front of the other, but I carried on. Towards the end of the hike around, we had to march up a rather difficult hill and I was done. My chest tightened, wheezing sounds escaped from my mouth, my eyesight blurred, and my feet swayed, unable to keep me upright and walking. Thankfully, Kathleen glanced back, noticed the difficulties I was having and came to my aid. I managed to squeak out that I couldn’t see well, and she took my arm, making sure I made it down the mountainside without tumbling down or losing my lungs. Soon we made it to the pub for lunch, and with an empty stomach and a fatigued body I was so relieved to have a not very Mexican quesadilla and a Bulmers.

I told you it was windy

"And I like it so well that for all I can tell I may never come down to Earth again!"

The hills that would take us back down

Working the wind

Not working with the wind

"When the yellow grose flowers bloom the kissin' is good"

With hot food and a beer in my system (hey it’s Ireland what did you expect) I had regained much of my strength and was ready to take on the cliffs of Howth. We walked along a very narrow path against the very edge of the cliffs with the Irish Sea right below us. The view was beautiful, and all of our photo stops caused us to lag behind our tour guide once again. Only occasionally would I trip over my own feet or the rocks laying in the path, but no major fall until the very end of the walk around the cliffs. At the conclusion of the path there were these large stones that doubled as stairs to walk down, me thinking I was cool and coordinated enough decided to jump off the last stair onto the ground. No I wasn’t cool or coordinated enough. I landed on my two feet but then rolled and fell down off the path.  Laughing and pulling myself up, we made our way down to Howth.

I should have paid more attention to this sign...

Making the descent 

Kathleen being cute

Don't fall off!

Breathtaking 

This is the day Kathleen photobombed

On the shorre 

On our way back towards the train station, we saw one of the places W.B Yeats lived in, lots of beautiful houses that sat along the edge of the sea, and lastly some seals popping their heads up out of the water in the harbor. By mid-afternoon we were exhausted and ready to head back into Dublin. As soon as we made it back into the city center, we boarded a bus that would take us home.