Tempting fate: Wicklow Mountains, Ireland

^{Was it a warning?}

I could have known that the day that we visited Wicklow was going to be a day to remember. But little did I know it was because of the risky things that happened...

I was back in Dublin for a bit to visit my friends. But I got my new camera, so I would be a fool just hanging around pubs to get the latest gossip. So I hoped that at least 1 day, I was able to go to Wicklow. The "how" was something to be figured out. Depending on the company (yes/no/who), the weather conditions and the availability of public transport.

This morning, after long deliberation and not finding fitting public transportation, we decided to rent a car. My friend didn't have her full driver's license yet, so it was up to me driving it. And I was nervous thinking about driving on the other side of the road for the first time. In chaotic Dublin of all places. But I had to get over that fear at some point. So "let's do it!"

The troubles started early. Just when I wanted to take a shower, the power went out. Did I not see the writing on the wall? Let's let the Uber driver struggle with Gaelic settings in his app (They have Gaelic language settings? Wow!). He made a huge detour before picking us up to bring us to the car rental company, we had so much time to reconsider our plan!!

But we were excited and didn't see how this could go wrong. We got our car, I discovered my passenger didn't know how to read navigation and I was confusing left with right.

Awesome!

Powerscourt Waterfall

Screw all that! We were headed to Powerscourt Waterfall. I brought a tripod so that I could practise some long exposure waterfall shots. As soon as we managed to get out of Dublin, the rest was a piece of cake.

Just don't hit the sheep crossing the street at random!

Powerscourt is the highest waterfall in Ireland and it is pretty impressive when you see it for real. It wasn't very busy so we were able to get the picknick table closest to the waterfall to eat our lunch and enjoy the view (and sound) of the waterfall. I got the drone out my bag and started flying.

Everything is still okay here: we are having lunch

If you noticed some weird spelling mistakes so far, I can explain that... A drone that goes up, must come down at some point. And I developed the habit of capturing it while it is flying to quickly tilt it to stop it. I assumed that I had perfected this movement and I thought wrong. And so it happened that the drone headed in the wrong direction and I tried grabbing it in mid-air while half slipping in the muddy and snowy field surrounding our seat... And the catch went wrong, the drone fell in the mud after it bounced off my finger. That bloody hurts, I can tell you! It felt like I lost my fingertip but my fingernail just saved my finger. A plaster is now able to hold the pieces of my finger together 😉

After I recovered a little from my injury, it was time to set up the tripod and go play with my camera. It is funny how people immediately assume that you are a professional photographer as soon as you bring a tripod.

I hope they are not disappointed by the picture that I took of them with their phone...

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Okay, now that I played around with the tripod, camera, polarization filter, remote control and settings a little, I wanted to check out more of Wicklow. I knew there was another waterfall, so why not check that one out as well! My partner in crime seemed to like this one and was getting better at navigating. Practice makes perfect! Let's go!

Glenmacnass Waterfall?

The next waterfall (and only other waterfall) in Wicklow is Glenmacnass. The guy at the gate at Powerscourt told us that he thought the pass was going to be closed and that we weren't able to get there due to the snow. But we had time. We would just try it and else turn around, right?

And so we started driving. The roads were pretty clean, but there were some warning signs here and there of roads being closed. But the tracks were clean and recently used. And some road workers just told us to continue.

So how closed is closed really, in Ireland?

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But yeah, it was snowy. But we managed to get to Glenmacnass. I heard that there was supposed to be a car park near the top of the waterfall, but we didn't see any. The only car park we saw seemed closed. So we just dropped our car on a shoulder of the road and checked out the waterfall. And the lesson was quick:

A waterfall is more pretty from the bottom

The view of the valley was gorgeous though. So we didn't mind that much. Soon we discovered that the car park was just around the corner of the hill that we were standing at. But we clearly picked the best spot on the shoulder.

^{Glenmacnass Valley}

Sally Gap

But we had to get back to Dublin at some point. And why not go find Sally Gap on our way back? I knew it was close to Guinness Lake, with an amazing view from the mountains. So maybe we could get lucky!

But a car in front of us on the road we were taking decided to turn around because of the amount of snow it was driving into. And we all turned around to find a different route. We drove back to Roundwood to take a left turn and try again. Fully ignoring all the "Road closed"-signs we saw. The road was clean enough. We stopped the car a few times for some pictures.

And then, Lake Guinness appeared! It isn't officially called that way though (Official name is Lough Tay). But the area is partly owned by the Guinness family. And somehow they got the idea to import white sand to create a beach on one side of the lake... Making it look like a pint of Guinness. Unfortunately, it wasn't really visible because of the high water. But the view was still gorgeous as always, especially with the snow on the hills!

^{Guinness Lake}

I think we became a little cocky after that. We continued our way to Sally Gap and saw a couple sit on the P.S. I Love you- Bridge. My passenger (and friend!!) asked them if it was the bridge. They confirmed. And then it happened and she said...

"Hmmmmz, I think this bridge is a bit disappointing"

Was it instant Karma that happened after that? Did we ruin a proposal with that remark? Did we hurt the bridge's feelings? We don't know. But moments later, we reached the also disappointing Sally Gap. With a car-wreck on the crossing. It was so out of place! What happened here? Did they get stranded? Was there an accident? Was there a fire? Or maybe it was a (warning) monument for all the terrible accidents that have happened at this spot!

^{Car wreck at Sally Gap}

While I took a picture, another car passed and went into the road left of this car. We decided to follow Dublin and go right. Seconds later we were stuck in the snow... And discovered that the other car was also stuck.

Well, that was a first! We weren't able to get our car out, but they didn't seem lucky either. Thankfully, after some time, 2 other cars showed up that decided to help. It was still a huge struggle to get them out. Over an hour later, we were all out again. And after a quick group picture, it was finally time to really head back to Dublin... Taking the "not closed" roads.