We woke up at Coolakay House B&B, had breakfast (which was included), and then called the number listed in the book (and at the B&B) for Kevin to take us back the 1.5 miles to the trail. Only, Kevin told us he was down in Cork at that time and unable to fetch us. He suggested we ask Yvonne, the B&B owner, ring John for a ride. As we settled up with Yvonne, we asked her to ring John for a ride. She told us we had just missed her niece, who had taken another hiker to the trail at that moment. When the niece returned, she took us to the trailhead, and told us that Kevin is her father, whom she said last night when she took us into Enniskery had retired from the business and she had taken over. We told her we found the number in the Wicklow Way book as well as the binder at the B&B. She said she would work with Yvonne to change the number.
Back on the trail at the end of the Crone Woods/near the Crone House, we headed out along a very muddy trail through Lackan Wood, Knockree Hill. In the book, the segment is labelled as Dublin to Knockree Hostel. Unfortunate for us, at this time, the Knockree Hostel is closed to tourists as it is housing refugees from Ukraine. Anyway, we made our way through the mud along a beautiful river/creek. After about a mile, we climbed away from the river and started up our first ascent of the day. At the top of the climb was an ominous looking forested area. I suppose the mist didn't help the mystery of it all.
We got to the point where the Wicklow Way evens out along a ridge and you have the choice to take a detour to Prince William's Seat or continue straight (and flat). Of course, we chose up...we didn't know it would basically be a climb up through a boggy stream. At first, we walked right past the turn off. I guess not too many people take that turn off!? The higher we climbed/slogged, the more the mist moved in and the wind picked up. It did not deter us from continuing up hill. Eventually, we made it to Prince William's Seat...along with the mist. With nothing to look at, we sat on Prince William's seat and ate lunch. As we finished lunch and started preparing to depart, the clouds parted/the mist started to dissipate, and we had some pretty nice views all the way to the ocean! 
A few quick photos of the views that this tricky little country decided to give us before our descent, and we started our boggy downhill adventure. the stream we followed down was different than the stream we followed up, and it grew a little wider as we approached the Wicklow Way trail it intersected. Once back on the Wicklow way, we crossed out of Co. Wicklow and into Co. Dublin. I wasn't real sure I wanted to enter Co. Dublin as there was an erie mist on the path ahead of us, but it cleared as we wandered along the way, eventually making our way to a road that would take us to the Dublin Mountain Way, which combines with the Wicklow Way outside of Dublin. 
As we walked along roads to the uphill traverse of the Dublin Mountain Way, we enjoyed little spots of green speckled with sheep and their lambs. April is lambing season in Ireland. We were tired after 3 days of backpacking and drained from the winds of the day before, so lots of stops for resting. Heading up the Dublin Mountain Way, we eventually made it to the Fairy Castle, which like Prince William's Seat was another requirement of the hike. Again, the winds were crazy above treeline, but we stopped and took photos at the Fairy Castle before descending down towards Marlay Park outside of Dublin. As we got closer to the park, the trails became busier, and we found ourselves in a mountain biking area where the bike trails were better maintained than the hiking trails. After slogging through a hiker only trail covered in water and finding a cool "fort" or nature lodging, we made our way into Marlay Park. Exhausted, we decided not to hike through the park to the other side and instead called during rush hour for a ride to the Generator Hostel and our lodging for the night, thus ending our hiking adventure along half of the Wicklow Way. Some day, we may return and do the entire trail end to end.
From here, I will return to my travel blog: Travels with Jasp and Kase to continue sharing the adventures in Ireland. The next post here will be when my husband and I head out on The Kerry Camino pilgrimage portion of the Dingle Way.
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