After our success in climbing The Great Sugar Loaf, I suggested to the kids that we now tackle a higher climb. The Spinc is one of the hiking trails that goes around Glendalough. I have visited Glendalough a few times, where we walked through the monastery and visited the upper lake for a scenic picture. We have seen the hiking trails and path but always thought that it is a challenging hike.

It takes about an hour to drive from Dublin to Glendalough, arrived around 11am on a Saturday and the lower car park is already full. We got the last few spots in the upper lake car park and started our hike. We followed the Red path and our plan was to stop and come down the same way we went up. Had we followed the path, it would have taken us on a loop around the hill.

Just as we started up the hill, we came across the Poulanass Waterfall. We took a few pictures and then continued to hike up. When we visited, the route after the waterfall was closed so we had to go back down and follow the longer trail around the closure. After a bit of hill climb, we entered a gated area. Continuing up, we reached a viewpoint on the Spinc.

It was a harder hike, but definitely easier than Penang Hill. It helped that the weather was cool and cloudy. We were surprised there are so many people on the trail. A lot of teenagers, what we believed were kids from the language centre escorted by their teachers. Definitely could not get lost but it was also not a peaceful hike. We brought sandwiches for lunch at the top. Lunch with a great view. We could see the lower lake and the monastery from the top. We could imagine how grand this place was when the monastery was at its greatest.

The kids did feel tired from the hike. Though tougher was the drive back, as I was feeling sleepy.