Day 1 of hiking on the Wicklow Way in Ireland:
http://www.wicklowway.com/trail-description/index.... I booked this trip to just after finishing the LaCloche loop in August and so I was researching hiking trails near Dublin and came across the Wicklow Way. Although December was not the ideal time of year to do this, the weather would probably be manageable and while my friends over there think most of what I do is crazy, they do enjoy walking so I suggested this idea and they were keen for it.
We thought three days was enough to see a good chunk of the 130km trail and still allow time to do other things while I was over there. Because of the trail's location, you are never particularly far from a road so we booked two nights of accommodation in villages that were only a few km off the main trail.
The day before we dropped some bags at both hotels so as to lessen our load a bit which turned out to be a great idea as all three days were really wet at some point.
Our plan was to be able to use most of the daylight without running the risk of being out in the dark, so on Day 1 we started just a bit past the official start in Marlay Park as the first few km were all paved and not particularly interesting. I think we had a few minutes of calm weather but once we got up a bit higher, the winds were roaring and strong enough that it was challenging to stay upright at times. Once we descended off of the first hill it was a bit calmer.
Like all sections, the trail was well-marked and the terrain varied. We left the trail just before Knockree to walk 4km in to Eniskerry village where we had a lovely B&B booked for the night. Although camping along the trail would be a ton of fun at another time of year, it was pretty nice to be able to shower and sit in a pub in the evening!
Since my description of the day is pretty lame here's a map!
http://visitwicklow.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/...