(#9/12) Whisky and gardens everywhere I look

25 Sept

 Lucky for me the Jameson Distillery is in between the two train stations in Dublin. No whisky flights were available so I tried 2 different, delicious varieties and then caught my next train a little more rosy in the cheeks.

 

 I biked just out of Bray to a campsite that is more of the lady's backyard than anything else. Although it's not the most exciting place to stay, in is more or less in the middle of where I need to be.

Fortunately, just a quick hike up the hill gives fantastic 360 views of the surrounding mountains and a view of my tiny green tent below.

I woke up early and cycled to Powerscourt Gardens, rated 3rd best garden in the world by national geographic. It did not disappoint. Even this late on the year there were hundreds of flowers in bloom and the trees were truly impressive. The actual house was a private residence until the 1970s when a fire destroyed the entire interior. It was a burned out shell until the current Powerscourt descendents revitalized the gardens, rebuilt the ballroom for events, and turned the rest of the house into retail space for artists, weaver's, irish foods, and other fun stuff.

Recently they added a distillery on site. Only 1 year old, they are a long way off from producing their whisky on site, but their master distiller brought his whisky to Powerscourt and I was able to try a delicious 14 year.
On the way back to my little campground, I got lost on the twisty, numerous side roads and found myself a quick hike away from views that stretched all the way from the ocean to 25 miles inland. It just so happened that my vantage point gave me a glimpse of the terrain I will be running on Saturday (painful details later) and I was actually excited about the run. With such beautiful scenery and light, I did the only natural thing and took selfies and read my book before zipping back down to familiar roads below.