The track record wasn’t
altogether convincing, with one single lunch sometime 18 months ago in Utrecht
comprising the only time Marjolein and I had seen one another since I left our
shared apartment and we ceased to be house mates. That was in The Hague,
February 2013, two years ago by now. Haphazard Facebook messages once every so
often with response rates ranging from a few weeks to a few months weren’t too
encouraging either, and the oblivious outsider might have thought that a
friendship built up over the course of a year at the Westduinweg was not to
last. Well, such premature thinking was decisively proven wrong over the course
of the weekend that is just coming to an end. Marjolein’s stay in Dublin, from
Friday early afternoon until 48 hours later, was very much reflective of a
joyful reunion of former housemates, with plenty of stories to tell, questions
to ask, slagging to be exchanged and catching-up to do. And in the spirit of my
departure two years ago, when we voiced our ambitions to do some cool hikes together
somewhere in the British Isles, the weekend wasn’t only about eating and
drinking. Let’s recap.
Friday afternoon, after the girl
had finally reached our office walking from College Green to Christchurch all
the way to the canal and finally past the Barge to Charlemont Place, we set out
for some proper Dublin sightseeing. Or well… showing her the Church for a
Belgian beer and a diet coke (we’re in Ireland lassie), the Bank for a few
pints of Guiness (uglch – really??) / glasses of Carlsberg and Against the
Grain for a lovely burger and some more pints / diet coke mightn’t constitute
the typical sightseeing tour but definitely got her a flavour of the real
Dublin. The afternoon and evening flew by until we called it a day after our
last Belgian beer at Blackbird and tucked in for the night, knowing that
Saturday morning would be an early morning.
Driving through the Wicklow
Mountains down south early on Saturday wasn’t as enjoyable or exciting as I had
hoped. Thick clouds restricted our view beyond a hundred metres or so, and the
stunning vistas I knew were there remained hidden behind a curtain of fog.
Bummer. If conditions didn’t improve our hike in Glendalough could become as
ordinary as anywhere uninspiring with the best of the Wicklow Mountains obscured
by nature’s fickle temperament. No rain isn’t the only condition for an
enjoyable walk! Luckily the sun emerged as we approached our destination and
plenty of blue sky appeared through the slowly receding clouds. Ireland again
proved unpredictable but rewarding!
‘At first I thought, nice lake,
cute walk, but nothing spectacular. You know. But when we reached the top of the
cliffs, with views of the lake and the surrounding mountains…’ I knew that the
scenery that reveals itself after the brief but steep climb would impress me
again, almost two years after I completed the loop for the first time. And rightly
so I expected the girl to be excited as well, although I hadn’t foreseen her
zeal in tiptoeing as close to deer as possible so as to capture them, still
from afar, with her smartphone camera. Without zoom function. More stunning
vistas, lovely fresh mountain air, a few snowballs that missed their targets by
a league, and ever more pictures made up the remainder of our walk and it was
with much post-hike satisfaction that we checked into our lodge late in the afternoon.
Very conveniently located next to the awesome Heather restaurant Marjolein and
I were lucky enough to get a lovely little apartment which was cosy and warm
upon arrival. Three hours of reading, showering and napping constituted the perfect
reward of our efforts and fully refreshed we sat down for dinner at eight in
the evening. The great food and spotless service proved that my happy memories
of dining there two years ago with Koen and Luijkx were rightly so positive and
three and a half hours later just after we had finished our complementary
Baileys it was time to tuck in for the night. The ‘full Irish’ that Marjolein
had been talking about from Friday afternoon was finally served Sunday morning
and kept us going until well into the afternoon. Driving back the same route we
now did see all the cool mountain scenery around us and we couldn’t help but
stop a few times in order to appreciate the tranquillity that the landscape
around us inspired, only partially spoiled by empty beer cans that plebs must have left behind when roaming the area. One last cup of tea at home and
tjop tjop Marjolein on the bus and back on the plane to the Netherlands. Our
next reunion shall definitely be sooner than after 18 months and I must admit I
already look forward to it! Thanks for visiting kid!
