Water play in Knocksink Wood / Jeux d’eau au bois de Knocksink

Step with care and great tact, and remember that life’s a balancing act.

Dr. Seuss

With temperatures in the early twenties, and the sun shining for the fourth successive day, three of the four acorns (Jedi was away on a sleepover) had a choice to spend their Friday afternoon – beach or river? We opted to go and play in the river.

Knocksink is one of Wicklow’s hidden gems, and one of our ten favourite outdoor places in the county. This small nature reserve, which spreads along the banks of the Glencullen River, has it all – meandering trails, tall trees with low branches, and a beautiful river.

Following an unusually dry spring, the river was calm and shallow.
Perfect for wading in.
The weather was warm  and sunny.
Perfect for playing in the water.

And play they did.


Avance avec diligence et grande prudence, et souviens-toi que la vie est un numéro d’équilibriste.

Dr Seuss

Avec des températures estivales (pour l’Irlande) et du soleil pour le quatrième jour d’affilée, trois des quatre graines de chêne (Jedi était allé dormir chez un copain) avaient le choix pour passer le vendredi après-midi : plage ou rivière ? Nous avons opté pour la rivière.

Knocksink est un des trésors cachés de Wicklow, et un des nos dix lieux préférés du comté. Cette petite réserve naturelle, qui s’étend au long des rives de la rivière Glencullen, a tout pour plaire : des sentiers ombragés, de grands arbres noueux, et une belle rivière.

A la suite d’un printemps particulièrement sec, l’eau y était calme et basse.
Parfaite pour patauger.
La météo était chaude et ensoleillée.
Parfaite pour jouer dans l’eau.

Then Mermaid found a half-built raft on the bank. She pushed and tugged it downstream, before attempting to climb onto it. On realising that it was too small to carry her weight, making it bigger and stronger became a team effort. Squirrel gathered more drift wood to add to it, while Pebbles was “volunteered” to test the raft, on account of his smaller size and weight.

They eventually ran out of time. But we will go back and give raft-building another go.


Puis Sirène a trouvé sur la berge un radeau à demi-construit. Elle l’a poussé et tiré dans le courant, avant d’essayer d’y grimper dessus. A la réalisation qu’il était trop petit pour la porter, le projet se transforma en travail d’équipe. Ecureuil ramassa des branches mortes pour renforcer le radeau, tandis que Caillou était “porté volontaire” pour le tester, à cause bien sûr de son gabarit plus petit.

Il fallut partir avant l’achèvement du projet. Mais nous y retournerons pour construire un radeau digne de ce nom.

Getting there

From the village of Enniskerry, follow the R117 towards Kilternan. The nature reserve is accessed via a sharp turn to the left (very easy to miss!), about 200 metres outside the village.


S’y rendre

Dans le village de Enniskerry, empruntez la route R117 en direction de Kilternan. La réserve naturelle de Knocksink est accessible par une petite route sur la gauche, en plein virage, à 200 mètres environ après la sortie du village.

 

 

Country KidsTwo Tiny Hands   diaryofanimperfectmum

  

10 Responses to “Water play in Knocksink Wood / Jeux d’eau au bois de Knocksink

  • Looks wonderful fun! Lily loves rivers and water to play in. Always such an adventure. #CountryKids

  • This looks just like our river and with similar temperatures this week mine have been doing much the same thing, despite being several years older! When it is hot the river is the perfect place to cool off and always so much less crowded than the beaches. We have sailed mini rafts downstream so many times but have never attempted real rafts. If I get an older group of children over the summer holidays I might just try this, it looks such good fun and a great challenge too.

    I hope you get back to finish your raft.

    Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids

  • What lovely photos! I am in awe of the beauty of that river. What a lovely day out and I wish we have a place like that near us. Just so lovely to have a play and enjoy the water especially with the warmer days that we are having now. #countrykids

  • What a wonderful place to spend time playing in. Those rope swings over water make me remember the time when I fell in after the rope snapped when we were kids #countrykids

  • Ah you make me want to return to Ireland and play in the water too. #CountryKids

  • Aww this looks lovely!! We love a good walk in the woods to blow the cobwebs away!!

    #familyfunlinky

  • This looks like such a magical place and I think you had a fabulous time there by the looks of your amazing shots they Reminded me of my own childhood we used to visit places just like this in the summer and spend the day in and out of the water. Beautiful post! Thank you for linking up to #PointShoot

  • This looks like loads of fun! It’s always nice to have gems like this on your doorstep!! It must be fun watching them experiment with raft building, maybe you could challenge them to make individual rafts to race teddies on?

    ‪Thank you for linking up to the #familyfunlinky‬

  • Oh my what fantastic outdoor play. I bet it was just so much fun for the kids I would have loved to do something like this when I was younger. Once again, I take my hat off to you, I am not sure I would have come up with something so fun and creative in the stream! Thanks for sharing at #familyfun

  • Oh wow it’s really beautiful #familyfun

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