Greetings everyone! As the title of this blog alludes to, I wanted to write about my glorious time hiking in Dungarvan this past week.
Since I was young, being outside in any capacity has always been a love of mine – whether it was to go play basketball at my neighbor’s or explore new beautiful places near my grandparent’s house in Wisconsin. In turn every time finals roll around I am beyond eager to get out of the classroom, away from my laptop and endless amount of study snacks (okay maybe not the snacks), and venture outdoors. With the near insanity that was the month of December in terms of project deadlines, basketball, exams and heading home for the holidays, I never had a solid chance to explore Ireland, let alone the outside of the library. So on my way back from home, I knew one of my goals for the January break would be to go on some adventures involving lots of fresh air and gorgeous scenery.
Last week, Ian and I were lucky enough to go to our friends from CIT’s home town of Dungarvan in County Waterford to get the grand ol’ tour involving the village itself and the surrounding mountains. After leaving Cork early in the morning, my ideal day commenced. We got coffee at a local cafe that had an adorable dog that looked almost too much like Bear, ate the most deliciously fresh fish and chips at one of Dungarvan’s many seaside restaurants, then drove to the “trailhead” of our hike – which ended up being the beginning of the farmer’s fence that owned the property, classic – to Lake Coumshingaun, a large body of water pretty high up a mountain.
Since we had left around 3 hours of daylight to do the walk round trip, I figured the “hike” was going to be a leisurely stroll up with some views of sheep and rolling green hills. However, I was wrong on several accounts. 15 minutes in I was profusely sweating (no surprise there) and regretting my choice to not wear my hiking boots. Despite my trainers being full of mud, my hat nearly falling off the face of the mountain multiple times, and learning how quick karma works (I laughed at Ian for falling then immediately face-planted), this walk that turned into a full-on trek was beyond worth it. Maybe 3/4 up the mountain, the rocks clear into multiple small creeks until ultimately gathering into the massive body of water that is Lake Coumshingaun, backed by a huge, gorgeous rock face.
Infatuated with the multiple sheep hanging around the water, the panoramic views, and the idyllic comfort that was being outside, I 100% found a happy place to add to my list.
Shoutout to Ronan and Owen for showing us around!
