The Valley of Certain and Awful Fatigue
Posted on | April 20, 2011 | Comments Off on The Valley of Certain and Awful Fatigue
Hurrah and huzzah, for I have been in the mountains again.
Ah-boo, for the journey included the terrible Valley of Certain and Awful Fatigue. That’s it pictured. Harmless looking, isn’t it? Pleasant, even. That’s how it fools you. Then, it attacks your legs as you try, try, try to escape its clutches; fighting the valley and its bully-boy sidekick, Gravity.
Well, a bit anyway.
In fact, this is the Dargle Valley (a little further downstream, at Powerscourt, this itty-bitty brook becomes the highest waterfall in Ireland). To get here, we’d climbed the north side of Maulin and skirted along the ridge between that and Tonduff before dropping down into the valley. From here, it was a pretty steep climb—over thick heather and broken ground—to get back out and up to the summit of War Hill. Then, a relatively easy walk to the top of Djouce with its jagged outcrops before heading back along the Wicklow Way route, past the aforementioned waterfall and home again, home again, jiggity-jig.
Djouce is a bit of a tourist mountain in Wicklow. Its proximity to Dublin and the fact that there’s a very, very easy trail up it makes for a busy hill. I was well aware of its popularity and the fact that it’s a beautiful place which is why I chose this, slightly roundabout method of including it in a hike. The Valley of Certain and Awful Fatigue is reasonably tough terrain with no paths to speak of and I felt pretty sure that this would avoid the requirement to smile politely at people along the way. This was the case. The price was a heavy slog for an hour or so.
I did need to feign consideration towards a number of walkers during the descent, however. No day is perfect.
Comments
Gerry Hayes
I mostly sit around all day and drink tea. Occasionally, I write stuff and send it to strangers so they can humiliate me and deride my efforts. Other than the self-harm to dull the shame of failure, it's not a bad life. Like I say, there's tea.
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