St Kevin’s Cell is situated amid trees on a spur of rock overlooking the upper lake at Glendalough near a small stream winding through the trees. The walk to the upper lake from Glendalough pretty much ends at this point. It is over a 20 minute walk at a reasonable pace. Most of the walk is over fairly level ground with the abrupt climb to reach the cell being more difficult. The cell appears to be the remains of a circular hut made of stones and measuring about 12 feet across. The wall is about 3 feet thick, and was probably a beehive hut.

St. Kevin allegedly lived here for about four years in almost total isolation. He did have a good view of the lake below through the trees. This is a good spot for a panoramic picture if you have that function on your camera. It is especially nice on a sunny day or early in the morning if the mist is still on the hill on the other side of the lake. It is a healthy climb up to the cell, but the path is in good shape and there are stairs for part of the way. There were no gravestones along the trail, so we assume that most people make it to the top. It would probably be quite slippery in the rain and parts of the path could turn to mud.

St. Kevin's Church better known as St. Kevin's Kitchen is a nave-and-chancel church from the 12th century. It has traditionally been associated with having been built by St. Kevin as an oratory. It has a small round tower over the west doorway. The roof is a remarkable corbelled stone, and is supported by the wall of a small chamber above the nave of the church. The round tower, and belfry, was added to the church after the original construction. Only the foundations still remains of the chancel, and beside it is the stone-roofed sacristy. The church is located just below the graveyard area at Glendalough. It can be seen from a good distance from the bridge near the visitor center and along the lake walk path.

The church is approachable from all side from the lake walk path and the graveyard area. On occasion the gated door is opened and you can go inside to see the stone roof and walls. It is fairly weather tight inside and stone details fallen from around the monastic complex are stored there. Good photo opportunities from the hill above capture the mountains in the background and surrounding trees. On a foggy morning the mist hangs on the hillside making for a nice image. Photos from below can capture the round tower and other ruins.

The remains of the 11th century Reefert Church are situated in a wooded area of the south-eastern shore of the upper lake near to the Information Center. The nave and chancel with projecting stones at the corners supported the rafters still remain.

Reefert derives its name from the Irish ‘Righ Fearta’ meaning burial place of the kings or royal graveyard. Pilgrims who made the long and arduous journey to Rome, brought back earth from the tombs of the martyrs and use it to bless the ground of the church. Seven pilgrimages to Glendalough equals one to Rome, and so it becomes a more local alternative for those unable to make the longer trip. It dates from the eleventh century and is said to have been built on the site of an earlier church. The church and graveyard were originally surrounded by a stone enclosure known in Gaelic as a caiseal or cashel. Most of the existing walls are more recent. The upper parts of the church walls were re-built over 100 years ago using the original stones. The original monastic settlement of St. Kevin may have been located near here and St. Kevin is said to have been buried here.

The church lies along the easier part of the walk as you near the upper lake area. It is quiet and nestled back among the trees. There are a few gravestones, but all are very worn and unreadable. Of interest is a stone wall along the North side with very worn protruding stone steps. You can see water pooled in them after a rain shower and can imagine the scores of bare feet and perhaps not so bare that wore the depressions into the stone. They are still quite functional and we used them to climb over the wall on our way to St. Kevin’s cell.

The Upper Lake of Glendalough lies about 1.5 km west of the village of Glendalough. From the Glendalough Visitor Center, a nice twenty-minute walk along a woodland path, signposted as the Green Road, will bring you into the National Park. First you pass the Lower Lake and then the magnificent view of the Upper Lake awaits you. This is a very popular recreational area, both for picnicking and as a starting point for a number of walks. Advice about both walks and wildlife are to be found at the Information Office near the parking lot.

Alternatively you can drive directly to the lake where parking is provided. The Upper Lake parking lot doesn't open until 9am but the lot at the Glendalough Visitor Center will be open early in the morning. We started from the Glendalough Visitor Center and after wandering around the graveyard and visiting St. Kevin’s Church, we got on the path to the lower lake from the gate below the church. It is a pleasant walk along a wide wooded path. At one point you cross over a small stream on a footbridge. Past the bridge is a good view back towards the graveyard with the Round Tower featuring prominently. The walk continues on with nothing exciting except some wildlife and a small waterfall. When you reach the Lower Lake there is a lot of tourist activity. Nothing very spectacular so continue on to the Upper Lake. Along this path lies several site including Reefert Church and St. Kevin’s cell. We climbed to St. Kevin’s cell and then walked back to the visitor center. It took a little over an hour and a half at a leisurely pace. There isn’t any food or water along the way, so pack your own. The walk is suitable for all ages until you reach the climb to St. Kevin’s cell, this is more suited to the young and energetic which we barely qualified for.

One sleepless night, as we lay upon the torture rack passing for a bed of "Hyacinth" (the owner of the B&B was a dead ringer in looks and personality of the main character in the British TV show Keeping Up Appearances), we started rummaging through the collection of printed material we had picked up so far on our driving trip through Ireland.

My wife happened upon a small entry in one publication listing "Music Under the Mountain," a festival of Irish music in the unlikely town of Hollywood. We called the listed number the next day from a gas station, and were assured that not only was the festival taking place that night, but the infamous Shane MacGowen was to perform. For those you who don’t know, Shane MacGowen is the semi-coherent, dentally challenged, exceptionally talented, former lead singer of The Pogues. He’s notorious for late arrivals or no shows due to intoxication. The Pogues are know for the volume, speed and general mayhem of both the music and their fans. The music is sort of traditional Irish punk. Not wanting to miss this experience, I highly endorsed the potential experience to my wife, and we backtracked to Co. Wicklow. We secured a B&B nearby and headed over to Hollywood for a recon of the "festival".

At the end of a long windy road, we dead-ended in the town of Hollywood. Basically, there were two pubs and a store at the end of the road, as I remember. There was a large banner up the read "Music Under the Mountain" so I assumed we were in the right place. One of the pubs was closed, so we wandered into the other. It was apparent that something was in progress as people were scurrying around looking busy. We inquired as to the festival location and status and were shown to a door through which we could see a tent set up with a large amount of folding chairs and a stage. Plastered around the pub were several flyers listing Shane MacGowen and the Kane Sisters as well as a couple of other musicians. We had a pint and looked around the place. The interior was done in light wood, and was very large and nicely laid out. The place was clean and not too smoky. There was a limited menu and nothing sounded interesting at the moment. We wandered back out and headed back to the B&B to get ready for the evening. We had average dinner in another pub/restaurant recommended by the owner of the B&B, and then headed back to Hollywood.

Some important notes are in order about Irish music events of any kind. They rarely start when scheduled and that’s usually well after 9pm. This is hard for American’s to deal with as we are used to getting things going much earlier and on time. We arrived on schedule (according to the flyers), the pub was crowded and loud. We found some seats and asked the waiter for two pints and when the festival would get underway. He shrugged and said they would announce the start and people could then pay and go into the tented area. I believe they wanted between 12 and 15 Euro a person. We pulled out our travel cribbage board and played a few games while we waited. (Note: this is an excellent pastime while waiting for airplanes, musicians, or food). After an hour, I got up and went to the door and asked the people sitting at the money table when things were going to start. They assured me it would be soon and would I like to pay now? Wisely, I declined and went back to the table. Several more games and another round of Guinness ensued. After another hour passed, we were understandably concerned. Further inquiries of the waiter and the doorkeepers resulted in further reassurances that the music would start at any time and announcements would be made.

A few minutes’ later two women walked through the pub with instrument cases and several people in tow. Obviously, these were the Kane sisters; this looked promising! We subsequently heard some warm up sounds, mics being tested and instruments being tuned. Forty-five minutes later the Kane sisters came by again with the same instrument cases and the people in tow; however, they were heading for the door and looking mighty pissed. This didn’t bode well! Further inquiries revealed that Shane MacGowen probably wouldn’t show or was too pissed to perform (we never found out which). Evidently the Kane sisters were disturbed by something and had either walked out or temporarily departed. At this time it was about 11pm and according to what we heard the festival had to be over by 11:45pm due to noise ordinances. The people at the door again cheerfully offered to take our money. We declined again even though some music was starting inside and a crowd had somehow managed to assemble in the tent, even though we had seen no more than five people go through the door. We headed out into the night grumbling about a wasted evening and an interesting story to tell. We stopped off on the way back in the Hollywood graveyard. It was partially lit by some exterior lights and a full moon. We took a few pictures and headed back to the B&B.
In the morning we asked our hostess if this was typical of the festival or just Irish music events in general. She shrugged and said that she didn’t go to any of them, but yes, it was, as she understood it. We chalked it up to experience, and if nothing else, we had the quintessential Shane MacGowan concert experience!