An Iowan in Ireland: Hiking and other stuff

The wonderful weather continues here in Ireland. It has been unseasonably warm: nearly 70 degrees, which is warm at any time of year for Dublin. In order to take advantage of such amazing weather, we planned a hike to the hills nearby (in County Wicklow).

Mountain man in his element?

However, I had a few challenges today. As we're driving down the N11 out of town (a main road south out of Dublin), I notice a lot of gas stations. Finally, after the third one, I think that I should stop at the next one since we have about 1/8 of a tank, it's a Sunday, and we're headed to "the country". Alas, we do not see another station. The fuel light goes on. We're getting fairly close to the desired hike, but I'm so concerned with the fuel that I cannot remember exactly where the trailhead is. Fortunately, the reservoir is next to a small town, so LBJ smartly suggests going into town for gas. She can tell I'm frustrated by the gas situation, but she is kind enough not to point out all the stations we passed 30 minutes ago.

Alas, there is no station in town, so LBJ smartly suggests that we pull over and make a plan. She suggests going back into town, stopping at a newsagents (i.e. convenience store), where there is a touristy map in the square across the street (so we can also find the trailhead).

The lady in the shop is very nice and points out that the nearest gas station is only 10 km away in a touristy town right by Glendalough, a beautiful hiking spot (we took my sister there when she visited). So LBJ suggests that we just do a hike around there - plenty of options. So we get gas and go for an amazing hike along the "upper lake". The girls have a great time and are perfect angels. We have an enjoyable and leisurely lunch afterwards in the town where we stopped earlier for directions. It turned into a great Sunday afternoon.