St Kevin's Way - Pilgrim Path
A full-length reflective Irish pilgrim-road song about St Kevin's Way, following the walking route from Hollywood and Valleymount through Wicklow Gap and down by the Glendasan River to Glendalough.
County Wicklow • Place song
Glendalough - The Valley of Two Lakes in Song
Glendalough is one of Ireland’s most treasured valleys, known for its two lakes, Wicklow mountain scenery and the ancient monastic settlement of St. Kevin. This song follows the quiet beauty of the valley, where water, stone, prayer and Irish memory still meet.
✦Two lakes.✦One valley.✦Ancient prayer.
Place Story
About Glendalough - The Valley of Two Lakes
Glendalough, meaning “the valley of two lakes”, lies in the Wicklow Mountains of County Wicklow. It is known for its Upper Lake and Lower Lake, its wooded valley, mountain trails and one of Ireland’s most important early Christian monastic sites.
The monastery at Glendalough is traditionally associated with St. Kevin, who founded a religious settlement here in the sixth century. Over time the valley became a famous centre of prayer, learning and pilgrimage. Today visitors still come to see the Round Tower, old stone churches, decorated crosses, graveyard, St. Kevin’s Church, the Cathedral ruins and the peaceful lakes beyond.
For Ireland in Song, Glendalough is not treated as a place of fantasy or “Celtic magic”, but as a real Irish valley where landscape and Christian memory belong together. The song draws on the lakes, mountains, pilgrim paths, monastic stones and the quiet sense that this place still carries an old prayer.
LOCAL MEMORY
The memory behind the Glendalough - The Valley of Two Lakes song
Glendalough is remembered by many people not only as a tourist destination, but as a place of silence, walking, reflection and return. Families, pilgrims, hikers and visitors come through the valley for different reasons: to see the Round Tower, walk to the Upper Lake, follow the trails, visit the ancient monastic site or simply stand by the water.
The local feeling of Glendalough is shaped by contrast: crowds may come and go, but the valley itself remains quiet. The lakes, the old tower, the graveyard, the church stones and the mountain paths all carry a sense of deep Irish memory. This song tries to hold that feeling gently — water, stone, prayer and peace under the Wicklow sky.
LYRICS
Lyrics from “St Kevin's Way - Pilgrim Path”
Road of stone, road of rain,
Over Wicklow hills again,
From Hollywood to Glendalough,
The old path carries the name.
From Hollywood the way begins,
Where black posts mark the line,
Yellow pilgrims on the road,
Through fields and forest shine.
Minor roads and pasture tracks,
Boardwalks over bogland grey,
Steps go softly through the hills,
Along St Kevin's Way.
At Ballinagee the paths are joined,
From Valleymount they meet,
And Wicklow Gap lifts up the sky
Beneath the walker's feet.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Over hill and stone,
Where pilgrims walked to Glendalough,
And prayer became a road.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Through Wicklow wind and rain,
Ireland keeps the pilgrim path,
And sings the road again.
Old flagstones still can be seen,
In places on the climb,
A broken line of ancient steps,
Still carrying medieval time.
Through open hill and forest shade,
By gate and field and stream,
The road remembers every foot
That walked toward Kevin's dream.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Over hill and stone,
Where pilgrims walked to Glendalough,
And prayer became a road.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Through Wicklow wind and rain,
Ireland keeps the pilgrim path,
And sings the road again.
Down beside the Glendasan River,
The valley opens wide,
The round tower waits in Glendalough,
With the lakes on either side.
Old churches stand in mountain air,
Old crosses face the sky,
And stones that heard the pilgrim psalms
Still let the years pass by.
From mountain pass to monastic stone,
The road begins to bend,
Through green and rain and quiet hills,
To Kevin's valley end.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Over hill and stone,
Where pilgrims walked to Glendalough,
And prayer became a road.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Through Wicklow wind and rain,
Ireland keeps the pilgrim path,
And sings the road again.
Some come as walkers, some as pilgrims,
Some for history, some for peace,
Some with passports, stamps and stories,
Some who simply need release.
Not every journey has to hurry,
Not every road is made for speed,
Some paths are slow enough for silence,
Some hills know what hearts may need.
So keep the markers, keep the gates,
The fields, the stones, the rain,
The quiet kindness of the land
That lets the path remain.
For every step toward Glendalough,
Through Wicklow's changing light,
Becomes a song of road and prayer,
A small and faithful light.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Over hill and stone,
Where pilgrims walked to Glendalough,
And prayer became a road.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Through Wicklow wind and rain,
Ireland keeps the pilgrim path,
And sings the road again.
From Hollywood to Glendalough,
From Valleymount through rain,
By Wicklow Gap and Glendasan,
The pilgrim road remains.
St Kevin's Way, St Kevin's Way,
Still calling hearts today,
Through field and stone, through hill and prayer,
The old path finds its way.
A road of rain, a road of prayer,
Across the Wicklow hills.
ADDITIONAL SONGS
More songs from Glendalough - The Valley of Two Lakes
Secondary songs linked to this place. The main song stays above; these tracks can have their own mini song pages when enabled.
Glendalough - The Valley of Two Lakes
A gentle Celtic heritage song inspired by Glendalough’s two lakes, St Kevin, the monastic ruins, the Round Tower and the…
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Lyrics
In Wicklow’s hills where the still waters lie,
Glendalough wakes under Ireland’s sky,
Two lakes are shining in the morning grey,
And the old paths lead where the pilgrims pray.
The lower water, the upper deep,
Hold the valley in a quiet sleep,
Through mist and heather, through rain and stone,
The mountains guard a world of their own.
And the valley remembers,
And the waters know,
The prayer in the silence
Where the old winds blow.
Glendalough, Glendalough, valley of two lakes,
Where the morning light through the water wakes,
From Kevin’s prayer to the open sky,
Your ancient song will never die.
Glendalough, Glendalough, under Irish rain,
Where Christ-light rises through stone again,
By lake and mountain, path and tree,
Your quiet heart still calls to me.
Kevin came where the wild birds flew,
Seeking the One whom the heart still knew,
No crown, no comfort, no earthly name,
Only prayer like a hidden flame.
The monks once walked where the grasses grow,
And Scripture lived where the waters flow,
Stone by stone, through the changing years,
The valley kept its holy tears.
Glendalough, Glendalough, valley of two lakes,
Where the morning light through the water wakes,
From Kevin’s prayer to the open sky,
Your ancient song will never die.
Glendalough, Glendalough, under Irish rain,
Where Christ-light rises through stone again,
By lake and mountain, path and tree,
Your quiet heart still calls to me.
The round tower stands where the old stones keep
The names of those who rest and sleep,
Church walls open to the sky,
And crosses weather as years go by.
By Kevin’s Bed above the lake,
The silent cliffs remember wake,
Not every prayer is spoken loud,
Some rise like mist through a mountain cloud.
This is no tale of magic ground,
No shadowed spell, no ancient sound,
But Ireland’s faith in water and stone,
A valley where the soul stands alone.
For every pilgrim, tired and worn,
There is a path through rain to morn,
And every heart that comes in pain
May hear the old prayer rise again.
Now walkers pass where the old paths bend,
Families come where the lake winds send,
Cameras catch the changing light,
But the deeper beauty stays from sight.
Through summer green and winter cold,
The valley speaks in ways untold,
From mountain trail to chapel stone,
Glendalough still leads the spirit home.
Glendalough, Glendalough, valley of two lakes,
Where the morning light through the water wakes,
From Kevin’s prayer to the open sky,
Your ancient song will never die.
Glendalough, Glendalough, under Irish rain,
Where Christ-light rises through stone again,
By lake and mountain, path and tree,
Your quiet heart still calls to me.
Glendalough, Glendalough, hearts awake,
Through every road and field and lake,
From Kevin’s silence to Ireland’s green,
Your hidden light is still unseen.
By the two still lakes, through prayer and flame,
Glendalough remembers its holy name.
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