The "Great" Sugar Loaf Mountain

After arriving in Ireland, one of the goals I created for myself is to live a healthier lifestyle. My hope is that by living in a new place and being forced to cook for myself, I will create better habits. I have discovered that Ireland makes eating healthier a lot easier than the States. First off, their portion size is much smaller, even when buying items in the groceries. I do have to go shopping more often, but I don't feel like i'm wasting food. Being a cheap person, I also am more determined to eat the food I have purchased rather than grab take out. Second, they don't seem to put as much processed crap into their foods. Seriously, I bought soup at the shop and felt guilty for eating it all until I read the ingredients and discovered that I knew what every ingredient was! Meaning, it was simply vegetables, broth and seasoning, etc. However, this does mean the food will go bad faster than what I am used to. So I am still learning not to buy too much and to make sure I eat it before its expiration date.

Living in Ireland also means I am much more active in my day to day life. It's quite common to walk rather than drive places and I find myself walking a few miles almost every day. I know that currently we are lucky to have nice weather in Ireland so the walking might decrease once the rain hits again. Hopefully, by then, I will have my student card and be able to use the school's gym. I am also determined to try and do more outdoor activities while living in such a beautiful country.

My first adventure was a hike to the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Although, some websites called it the "Great" Sugar Loaf Mountain. However, my Irish friend and hiking partner, David, informed me that adding the word "great" gave the small mountain too much prestige. While searching for a place to go hiking, David was adamant in wanting to scale a mountain. I informed him he was living in the wrong country for scaling mountains, but he was welcome to visit Washington anytime to check out Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker or our other various volcanoes and mountains. We had a few on our list but agreed upon the Sugar Loaf for our first hike.

On a side note, it has been a bit of a challenge travelling to places from Enfield. The buses are few and expensive. For example,  it takes about an hour to get into Dublin. To get to David's house from Enfield, I have to go into Dublin and then take another bus back out to Naas, where he so kindly picks me up. I am still figuring out the bus system and had a misfortune bus error on the morning of our hike. I ended up taking a bus to the airport and then into Dublin and missed the connecting bus into Naas. Luckily, David was able to recommend a new place where we were able to meet and head on our way to the Wicklow Mountains where Sugar Loaf awaited us.  Needless to say, I am getting much better at this bus system, or at the very least, knowing which bus NOT to take.

When we arrived at the base of the mountain, I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by the climb. While it looked short, it was steep. David and I set off at a fast pace and I quickly realized that I wasn't not going to able to keep up with David, who is in far better shape than I am. I also had the bright idea to bring my camera backpack because I knew my dear friends and family would want photos of the hike! Well, dear family and friends, enjoy these photos because I will not be making that mistake again. Next time, you will have to suffer with photos from my iphone, which really aren't too bad. But, back to the climb. I really struggled with the first half and looking back I realize that it was due to pushing my pace beyond what I was ready for. David was kind enough to stop to take photos a few times so I could try and catch up. By the time I got three quarters of the way up, I was quite ready to be done. I believed I had bitten off more than I could chew and was ready to admit defeat. Luckily, David was too far ahead for me to tell him I was done and the only thing I could do was continue after him.

The last part of the hike is climbing up rocks to get to the top. I watched as kids and adults made their way up and I grew determined to finish the climb. I found a nice pace behind an older couple and slowly made my way to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain. It was absolutely worth the effort. The view was incredible. You could see Dublin off in the fog, the water on one side and mountains on the other. The sun was breaking through the clouds and slowly clearing the fog that had been lingering all morning. Fields in various colors of green reached as far as I could see. We rested a bit at the top, enjoyed the view and, of course, took photos.

As we looked around, David declared he was ready to do another one. No, I didn't push him off, although the thought did occur. He asked if I was up to do another one and by that point I was deliriously happy about getting to the top and thought I could do anything. Although I did have to admit to him that I had gotten a bit light headed on the way up and might have to go at a slower pace for the next one. As we looked around the mountain, David saw a smaller hill that he wanted to try and get to. We found a trail leading toward it and decided to head down the other side of the mountain. There was no trail on the side we went down and had to make our way carefully down the  mountain which was covered in purple heather and rocks. I do need to apologize to my father, who  taught us to never go off the trail and meadow stomp, when in Rome dad...

Here are a few things I found on the way down the trail...

I do have to admit, making our way down the mountain was quite enjoyable and I even found myself in front of David for the first time! I took a picture to commemorate the moment but have promised David not to put any pictures with him in it. We then made our way across the heather field to the smaller hill which had an equally gorgeous view and was quite peaceful as no one else was around. We rested there for a bit, enjoying the soft breeze, the view and the silence.

On the way back, David doubted my directional sense of where the car park was. I assured him I was quite confident and was not about to climb back up Sugar Loaf just to go down the main trail. As we made our way around Sugar Loaf, I went at a much slower pace but found it to be a steady pace and I stopped less times. I could tell David was still unsure about the path I had chosen until we rounded the last bend and found ourselves joining with the main trail back to the car. I'd like to say I didn't gloat. But we all know that wouldn't be true.

We could even see Powerscourt! 

I was interested in the large building to the right of Powerscourt. If anyone happens to know what that is, please leave a comment because I would love to find out! 

At the bottom of the trail I took once last picture of the mountain. I know it was just a hill to some, a bump to David, or "just a quick jog," as one young boy put it; but to me it was a mountain that I conquered both physically and mentally. 

We have already planned our next hike, a BIGGER mountain, per David's request. But I am definitely up for the challenge and ready to take on any mountain he throws at me.