Members Monthly Walk – Ticknock Woods (Tree Rock) – 18th August 2018
August’s walk took us to Ticknock Woods in South Dublin. We took in part of the Wicklow Way and the Dublin Mountain Way. It was a great day for it, the rain held out, with the sun making an appearance. We weren’t disappointed as this turned out to be a very enjoyable day.
Ticknock Forest is located to the very south of Dublin and in the Dublin Mountains. The trailhead is the home for Biking.ie, a Mountain Biking Company, so we would be sharing the trails with bikers. We got on well.
After the usual safety announcements, we started off and it was uphill from the off. We varied our walk between sections of the Dublin Mountain Way, the Wicklow Way; all the while taking in the best views of Dublin. Naturally, the higher we climbed, the colder it got. We reached the top of our climb just after the hour mark and decided to stop for some lunch. Una sabia decisión!
The terrain varied from clear rocky trails, boardwalk, to some steep descent. A highlight of the day was descending through a pine tree forest and spotting a yellow arrow. All in all, we walked close to 10 km. There was plenty of conversation about Caminos past and future and plenty of tips were given. We also noticed quite a few walkers out on the hills this morning. There is potential to walk for longer and on other trails if you see fit. All in all, this is ideal preparation if you have a Camino on the horizon.
Thank you to David for leading the walk today.
Members and Friends Monthly Walk – Lough Boora Discovery Park – 22nd September 2018
On Saturday, September the 22nd, we made our way to County Offaly and Lough Boora Discovery Park (www.loughboora.com) for our members’ walk. There we were warmly welcomed with tea and fresh country scones, compliments of our hosts, Bord na Mona. Paul Riordan, a society member and veteran of the Camino, welcomed us to the park. Paul introduced Tom and Sean who explained the origins of the park and the co-operative efforts of Bord na Mona and the local community in developing the bog as a sculpture park and wildlife sanctuary along with numerous walking and cycling trails.
We began with Helen guiding the 30 walkers through the Bog’s wonderful Sculpture Park. Then Sean guided us through the fairy forest and around the numerous meadows and tracks. We were all prepared for the rain but it did stay dry as Sean had predicted…the benefits of local knowledge! The walk itself was about 15kms with the whole event taking us around 3 hours to complete.
It was a wonderful walk with lots of new and old friends. Thanks to David and Eoin for assisting with the transport. Thanks to everyone who travelled from Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Offaly, Westmeath, Toronto, Córdoba, Roscommon, and more locations to join us on the day. Of course, Charlie didn’t travel from Canada nor Victor from Spain just for the walk, but we are delighted they joined us to share the experience and make new friends.
A special thanks to Paul, Mary, Helen, Tom, Sean and all the staff at Lough Boora. All passionately proud of their creation, and so they should be.
It’s our intention to have more Members & Friends walks beyond the pale. If you have a suggestion and are willing to assist in organising such an event, please contact us via email at caminosociety@gmail.com. We are hoping to have another walk in Leinster before the end of this year and in the Nenagh area in the first quarter of 2019. So now we need to find wonderful walks in Connacht and Ulster for 2019.
Shamrocks & Shells 