Great Irish Roads: As a boy I can recall staying with friends in a house perched high on the slopes of the Vale of Avoca and watching with wonderment the sparks flying at night from the funnels of steam trains as they passed through the Vale below.
The steam trains are long gone, but the wonderful road which winds its way through this beautiful wooded valley remains, and is the subject of this journey.
We left our starting point, Arklow, where its main street meets the R747 signposted for Aughrim and Rathdrum.
This is a fine road, passing under the recent dual carriageway built to bypass Arklow and which like so many bypasses has returned to the town the life it had lost to traffic congestion for many years.
The road's surface is excellent and the landscape quickly forms the densely wooded valley slopes which are so characteristic of the Vale of Avoca. Although the road is twisty, the railway which runs almost beside it for our entire journey is relatively straight.
If there is a failing to this section of the journey, it is that the trees are so dense beside the road it is almost impossible to view the landscape of the vale, which is a great pity, as it is very beautiful. Soon we arrive at Woodenbridge, a spot which has historic associations with motorsport events in Wicklow right back to the earliest years, when the hotel - still there - was a natural watering-hole for competitors.
Here we turn on to the R752 signposted for Avoca and Rathdrum. This is the heart of the vale, and a view now opens up across its slopes as it turns north away from the Aughrim Valley.
The approach to the village of Avoca is signalled by the ruined bell tower of a church which occupies a commanding position to the west of the road.
Avoca is a pretty village across a bridge spanning the Avoca River and its easy to understand why it was chosen as the location for the popular Television series Ballykissangel, the various locations used being well marked.
Forsaking the bridge to Avoca the R752 continues along the vale to the end of our short journey, the famous Meeting of the Waters.
This is one of Ireland's oldest tourist beauty destinations, and it's easy to see why.
Just below the Meetings Bridge the rivers Avonbeg and Avonmore join together at a spot where a small park commemorates Thomas Moore's verses celebrating the beauty of the place. There is a monument to the poet there, and the tree under which tradition says he wrote the lines is commemorated.
There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet, as that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet.
Oh! The last rays of feeling and life must depart. Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart. Sweet vale of Avoca! How calm could I rest. In thy bosom of shade with the friends I love best.
Who could argue with such sentiments?