Climbing with Billy Goats Gruff

We have booked our B&B for five nights and are slowing down before our final stop in Dublin. We've picked Laragh, a small town close to Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains in order to take advantage of the beautiful hiking trails in the area.
This morning, the forecast was for no rain and some sun so we set out for a trail along the Upper lake at Glendalough. When we got out of the car we realized there is more to Irish weather than rain! The wind was gusting and we were fighting an uphill battle getting ourselves on the trail. We were soon in  the trees and somewhat protected but our only consolation was the fact we'd have it at our backs on the way out.
The trail took us along the lake then followed a trail up to an abandoned 1850's copper mine. More stone ruins! We spotted a few birds on the way as well as feral goats - leftover from the goats kept by the miners. They are the image of Billy Goat's Gruff - with long horns and beards perched high on the hillsides and only clearly seen through binoculars.
We were almost alone heading out but coming back we ran into a Dublin high school group. Our hilarious encounter was with a group of eight or ten who liked our accent and ended up teaching us a few Irish phrases. The most fluent of them proudly told us about his brother who has left for a job in Canada and now lives in Waterton! They were heading to the top of the mountain (steep hill) and were going to swim in a lake on the other side!

Looks deceptively calm...

Wild goats

Ruins from 1850's copper mine