Lugnaquilla & Marley Park to Knockree - 6th, 7th August 2011

8 weeks to go. We need to get some serious training in. So this weekend we decided to do one tough and one long hike. Lugnaquilla on Saturday (14km, 925m) and Marley Park to Knockree on Sunday (19km, 500m). I love Lugnaquilla so was really looking forward to getting on it again. It was only our third time to climb Lug but it already felt like an old friend.  No longer do I dread the steep climbs and for the first time ever, I got up Camara Hill without stopping. I think Johnny had the same idea in his head as he didn't ask me once did I want to stop for a breather. He just kept going and didn't even look back at me. Without the temptation of stopping I was able to keep going until I got to the top. For those of you who have climbed Camara Hill you will know why I felt a sense of achievement from doing this. It was a real sign that our fitness has improved dramatically. Other than that, the only thing worth mentioning from the hike is the fact that I fell in the bog and was covered in wet, muddy bog. As usual for me, it was a slow motion fall on my back resulting from a slip and as usual for Johnny, he found it hilarious. I am not going to go into the details of the hike as I have already two posts covering two previous trips up Lug on the blog.

Sunday then brought us back to stage one of the Wicklow Way again. Spirits high, weather good, we set off, doing the two car thing as before. Again, I'm not going to go into the details as they are already documented in a previous post. The only difference this time was that we had company from the half way mark. While having lunch, we met a lovely couple from Switzerland; Rosemary and Silvio. They were staying that night in Enniskerry and after finding out how far Enniskerry was from the end of the hike, were happy to accept a lift from us once we reached the car. This meant that we walked together for the last 10km of the hike and shared many stories of our travels and lives. What was strange was how much we had in common. Both Rosemary and Silvio had the same hats and camera as Johnny. Rosemary was involved in musicals and their daughter, Alice was travelling to Nepal the same day that we were; albeit from Switzerland. Wouldn't it be crazy if we bumped into Alice in Kathmandu. Once we reached the car, we drove to Enniskerry and Rosemary and Silvio treated us to a lovely raspberry scone and coffee for our hospitality. We exchanged e-mail addresses and promised to contact them should we ever go hiking in Switzerland.