Just south of Dublin, County Wicklow – known as The Garden of Ireland – is a wild expanse of coastline, woodland and imposing mountains through which runs the country’s most popular walking trail. The Wicklow Way is Ireland’s oldest marked trail, the brain-child of famous hill-walker J B Malone, which opened in 1980. The Wicklow Way begins in Dublin’s southern suburb of Rathfarnham and travels across the Dublin and Wicklow uplands, then through the rolling hills of southwest County Wicklow, to finish in the small Wicklow-Carlow border village of Clonegal, 127km later. A combination of suburban parkland, forest trails, mountain paths and finally rolling countryside offers a varied and, at times, demanding 7-10 day experience for walkers. En route you’ll pass scenic lakes, spectacular gardens, elegant 18th-century mansions and the ruins of an early Christian monastic settlement.