In the Spinc: Ed Byrne pauses by the Poulanass Waterfall, above
Comedian, actor and panel show mainstay Ed Byrne will be a familiar face to anyone who’s so much as glanced at a TV in the past 20 years. A quick wit and raconteur, Byrne has the gift of the gab that keeps on giving. So on learning that one of his great loves was hillwalking, we reckoned he’d be the ideal person to follow around the Spinc, one of the most popular walks in County Wicklow. It starts and finishes in the monastic city site of Glendalough and, like Byrne, is full to the brim with stories.
Glendalough was founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, Ireland’s answer to St Francis of Assisi. Situated in the Wicklow Mountains National Park, the settlement – despite attacks from the Vikings, Normans and English – is a remarkably intact example of a form of Celtic Christianity that involved living a very simple life with scholarship at its core.
“It’s a marvellous place,” says Byrne. “I visited the village with my wife and sons about three years ago, after we’d walked up Scarr, a peak nearby. It’s a one-stop shop for anyone interested in Irish history.
“There’s a cathedral, several churches and a 100-foot bell tower that had to be repaired after it was struck by lightning in the 19th century. The local given the job was said to have danced a hornpipe around the top of the tower. It is not recorded whether he was wearing clogs.
“There’s also a huge graveyard, and my kids were interested to see a lot of Byrnes in there. We must have been big in Wicklow. I was the only Byrne in my primary school class [in Swords, a Dublin suburb].” Glendalough is inseparable from the many legends of the ascetic, animal-loving St Kevin. There’s a Bronze Age rock-cut tomb, now known as St Kevin’s Bed; and the foundations of a beehive hermit’s hut go by the name St Kevin’s Cell.
Kevin’s ghostly presence is a gentle one. The loveliest of his legends tells of a blackbird laying eggs in his hand while his arms were outstretched in prayer – and the saint not moving, for weeks, until the chicks had hatched.
“What I love about landscapes like this – which is why I love hillwalking – is that they inspire stories. It makes sense that giants did battle in that boulder-strewn valley, or that hill is actually a god taking a nap,” Byrne says.
“Don’t be surprised if you see St Kevin wandering about barefoot, wearing skins and eating nuts. Places like Glendalough are like theatres for the imagination.
On a trip to the old country, the comedian and keen hillwalker uncovers ancient fables by the lakes of Glendalough and finds history in every step of his Wicklow wander
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Two more walks on the wild side
“I’m very partial to a story. And I never let the truth get in the way of a good one. But hillwalking has introduced me to another kind of tale, one that is better for being true: the story of how the landscape was formed, of glaciation, of volcanic activity. You can time travel to before
time, to prehistory. It’s all there, imprinted, under our feet.
“When you walk you’re like a participant in the landscape. It’s like you’ve just stepped into a painting. For me, the sense of connection it brings – not just to Ireland but to the planet and everyone who’s ever walked on it – is very powerful.
“Some of the folklore makes me laugh. In Glendalough they have bullaun stones [rocks with bowl-like depressions in them] which were used as mortars for crushing grains and herbs. The story goes that if a woman washed her face in rainwater that had collected in a bullaun, she’d never lose her good looks. Men didn’t have to worry about that, of course. That’s sexism, right there, written in stone!”
The six-mile Spinc ridge circular path leads you through some of the most captivating scenery in eastern Ireland, taking in two lakes, a waterfall, the Wicklow Uplands and a variety of terrain, from rocky outcrops to heath and peatland. It takes about three and a half hours, and it’s hard to imagine that time being put to better use.
“Climbing through the woodland past Poulanass Waterfall, at the beginning of the walk, the steepest part,” Byrne recalls, “I was reminded of the John Boorman movie Excalibur, about King Arthur, which was partly filmed in Wicklow. And you can see why it was. It is incredibly atmospheric. But where there’s Arthurian legend, there’s always Monty Python and the Holy Grail – the sublime and the ridiculous so often go hand in hand.
“The Vikings loved it round here. Always coming on raids. The woods around Glendalough supplied them with the timber to build a longship, and Dublin was a Viking settlement.
“The great thing about doing a walk like the Spinc is that you get to see where you’ve been and where you’re heading from all angles. The route is waymarked clearly, so you needn’t fret that you’re about to take a wrong turn. They’ve put up fences so that no one needs to tumble off a cliff while taking a selfie. You can just breathe it all in. Every few feet there’s a fabulous view. Glorious.”
Byrne, 49, lives in Essex with his family, but returns to Ireland at least twice a year. He’s been hillwalking since senior school, where he had a teacher who was also a mountain guide and took him on expeditions during the summer holidays. But he says he only really got into it in his thirties.
“I wasn’t a big fleece-wearer in my twenties. Really, hillwalking started to make sense to me quite late on.
“I walk to completely clear my head. I don’t think about schedules, I don’t go over lines or come up with jokes. It means that when I return to work I find it much easier to turn on the creative tap. It’s as
if the walk dams the river, and when it’s over, the floodgates open.”
Ed Byrne is currently touring the UK with his show
If I’m Honest… Visit edbyrne.com for dates and details.
Howth Cliff Path Loop
Enclosing the northern side of Dublin Bay, Howth peninsula holds some wild coastal scenery. With high cliffs colonised by breeding seabirds, and a jutting headland crowned by a lighthouse, you’d be forgiven for imagining yourself in a remote Atlantic outpost rather than on the doorstep of Ireland’s capital city. Several signed walks explore the headland, all starting and finishing at Howth harbour. The cliff path loop is signed by green arrows, and takes you around the Nose of Howth, past fine views of Ireland’s Eye and Lambay Island. Climb away from the sea, past another great vantage point at the summit, before traversing the heather and gorse-clad hillside back to the village. Allow extra time to rest up in one of the harbourside eateries.
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take in the glorious glens of Ireland’s Ancient East and hike through history in the delightful company of Ed Byrne
Monkish business: Ed Byrne explores the monastic city founded by St Kevin in Glendalough, left; a local you might spot on the trail, right
3.8 miles (2 hours)
Moderate: laneway and coastal path, with 130-metre ascent
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Rock an Thorabh Loop
With its patchwork of green fields backed by Ireland’s highest inland mountain range, the Glen of Aherlow is a breathtakingly beautiful valley. To the north, the glen is framed by the wooded ridge of Slievenamuck, where elevated woodland paths provide a perfect way to appreciate the splendour of the scenery below. Starting from the Christ the King statue, this route is signed by red arrows. It begins with a gradual climb through the trees, to crest the ridge. That’s where you encounter the walk’s namesake, Rock an Thorabh (Bull Rock). With its deep cleft, this massive boulder is said to have been split in anger by the giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill as he pursued the fugitive lovers Diarmuid and Gráinne.
3.7 miles (2.5 hours)
Moderate: forestry track and woodland path, with 200-metre ascent
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Photography: Mark Nixon for Bridge Studio
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Howth Head, Dublin
Glen of Aherlow, Tipperary
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Howth Head, Dublin
Glen of Aherlow, Tipperary