Hi guys! Thanks for catching up on what I’ve been doing lately, it’s been an adventurous week. I’ll tell you all about my favourite stop we made during our trip.
The most spectacular part of the trip for me, was definitely Beyond The Trees, which is located in the Forest Park, Avondale, Rathdrum in Wicklow. We went there on the second day of our trip, and we luckily caught a day with awesome weather.
As you pass the entry, you walk into a small park with many flowers. It was incredibly beautiful and colourful. Right there we saw a butterfly sitting on a sunflower, which made me pull out my phone immediately to take a picture.
I included the prices for you just above, in case you ever have the opportunity to visit at some point.
After, we continued strolling the path, which led us to a wooden walkway above the ground. This was the start of the tree top walk. It makes its way right over the Avonmore River valley. The first thing we went to was the Lover’s Lookout, which has a great view over the valley. I highly recommend it to the lovers of views out there.
On the path we encountered small parkour steps, information about wood, animals/birds and even some games.
The parkour steps along the way
The wooden walkway
From that point on we could already see the Viewing tower, popping out over the trees. When we arrived there, we immediately saw the gift shop and walked right in. But after a couple of minutes, we found ourselves outside again following the trail up to the top.
A couple of meters further we came to a platform where we were allowed to leave our backpacks, which we were really grateful for. Standing there and looking up, seemed like an optical illusion or a piece of art. There we noticed a big silver slide attached to the second last level of the tower. We were so excited about it and couldn’t wait to walk up to be able to slide down.
On the same platform, we were given a blanket made of felt, which you need to carry up to use the slide. That’s exactly what we did. On the top floor we were 38 meters above the ground with a beautiful view of the Avondale Forest Park, the Vale of Avoca, the Wicklow Mountains and if you’re lucky you’ll even see some wildlife.
The 360 view
Next, we walked down by one circuit, where the entrance of the slide was. There we had to pay the extra 2 euros for the slide. When it was my turn to slide, the worker explained to me to lie on my back while lying on the blanket, which I did. The slide was way slower than I was expecting it to be, but it was still worth the experience.
The Slide
After the slide we found ourselves back on the platform where we left our backpacks. There we were happy to eat our packed lunches, which was ham and cheese sandwiches and pesto pasta.
Sophia Franzinelli (2022-24)