Glendalough Guided Walks

14/04/2024

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Glendalough Calling.Poems and Thoughts inspired by Glendalough and The Wicklow Hills. Glendalough is Good for the Spirit

09/03/2024

This is Mary Byrne Walking Tours.
Please contact Mary, as I am no longer able to give my walk ‘n talks
due to family carer duties.

Thank you
Martin Swords

06/01/2024

Greetings friends of Glendalough and Glendalough Guided Walks.
I regret to have to say that my Glendalough Guided Walks service is suspended now going into 2024. This is due to a combination of age, health issues, and because I have taken on the duties of ‘Carer’ to a family member with Dementia. Which means I cannot be absent or take on self employed duties.
To all the hundreds, thousands, of clients I have had the pleasure of guiding in this magnificent and sacred place - Glendalough - I say ‘Thank You’. It has been a pleasure for me, and I hope for you too. Thank you for your support, I may be back at some time in the future, I’ll let you know.
Sláinte agus Beannacht.

Martin Swords
Glendalough Guided Walks

08/05/2022

Best way of getting in touch with me to find out about guided walks is send me a email to [email protected] or text my mobile 087 2600548

No walks on Sundays, too crowded.

Thank you
Martin Swords
Glendalough Guided Walks

19/02/2022

How it was Martin

Barren Age and withered World!
Oh! the dying leaves,
Like a drizzling rain,
Falling round the roof -
Pattering on the pane!
Frosty Age and cold, cold World!
Ghosts of other days,
Trooping past the faded fire,
Flit before the gaze.
Now the wind goes soughing wild
O'er the whistling Earth;
And we front a feeble flame,
Sitting round the hearth!
Sitting by the fire,
Watching in its glow,
Ghosts of other days
Trooping to and fro.

Oh, the nights - the nights we've spent,
Sitting by the fire,
Cheerful in its glow;
Twenty summers back -
Twenty years ago!
If the days were days of toil
Wherefore should we mourn;
There were shadows near the shine,
Flowers with the thorn?
And we still can recollect
Evenings spent in mirth -
Fragments of a broken life,
Sitting round the hearth:
Sitting by the fire,
Cheerful in its glow,
Twenty summers back -
Twenty years ago.

Beauty stooped to bless us once,
Sitting by the fire,
Happy in its glow;
Forty summers back -
Forty years ago.
Words of love were interchanged,
Maiden hearts we stole;
And the light affection throws
Slept on every soul.
Oh, the hours went flying past -
Hours of priceless worth;
But we took no note of Time,
Sitting round the hearth:
Sitting by the fire,
Happy in its glow,
Forty summers back -
Forty years ago.

Gleesome children were we not?
Sitting by the fire,
Ruddy in its glow,
Sixty summers back -
Sixty years ago.
Laughing voices filled the room;
Oh, the songs we sung,
When the evenings hurried by -
When our hearts were young!
Pleasant faces watched the flame -
Eyes illumed with mirth -
And we told some merry tales,
Sitting round the hearth:
Sitting by the fire,
Ruddy in its glow,
Sixty summers back -
Sixty years ago.

Barren Age and withered World!
Oh, the dying leaves,
Like a drizzling rain,
Falling round the roof -
Pattering on the pane!
Frosty Age and cold, cold World!
Ghosts of other days,
Trooping past the faded fire,
Flit before the gaze.
Now the wind goes soughing wild
O'er the whistling Earth;
And we front a feeble flame,
Sitting round the hearth:
Sitting by the fire,
Watching, in its glow,
Ghosts of other days
Trooping to and fro!

💓

Poem: Sitting By The Fire by Henry Kendall
Photo: Keeping safe and warm by the open fire, Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, Co. Galway, 1907.

29/11/2021

Irish Logic, you can’t beat it. Chilly November here now in Wicklow. The stone will soon be white. Keep well and safe all who are unfortunate to know me. Happy Christmas to one and all. Sláinte agus Beannacht
Martin

Who needs Met Éireann 🤣 Simple but oh so effective!....John's legendary weather forecast stone, John definitely enjoys Irish humour 😁

We 💚🤍🧡 Ireland

29/09/2021

8) Glendalough

If you are into nature, Glendalough is the absolute best. Located only an hour and a quarter from Dublin and therefore relatively easy to get to even if you do not have a car - you can book tours from Dublin. It is part of the Wicklow Mountains National Park and an absolutely wildly beautiful area. There are many different hikes you can go - both if you just want to fool around at your own pace around the lakes, and if you are up in some mountains.

This is also where you will find Glendalough Monastic City - the

remains of a convent home founded by St. Kevin in the sixth century. A popular place for pilgrims with an insanely interesting history. When I had been there, I enthusiastically sent some pictures and told a little about the place to my father, who is both a priest and a pilgrimage enthusiast, after which I found out that he and my mother have actually visited the place. The attentive daughter right here. However, I would say they visited it on their own while Rebecca and I were guided around by Martin from the Glendalough Guided Walks and the difference was palpable. Martin is an insanely skilled storyteller and managed to make the experience much more vivid for us. He intertwined geography, history, and legend in an incredibly fine and entertaining way, and it was an absolute pleasure to see Glendalough through his eyes instead of just following a route dictated by signs. There is not much information to come by on your own, so my very warmest recommendation is to choose a tour in his company.

04/05/2021

Glendalough, hauntingly beautiful. Martin

Glendalough