Month: June 2018
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Roseberry from Newton Moor
A cracking morning. Out and back before the crowds make the pilgrimage to the summit. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Great Ayton Village Fete
It’s carnival day in the village. A biennial event. The procession begins to leave the Low Green on its slow progress up to the High Green. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Troutbeck Valley
What wonderful freedoms we enjoy having access to the hills and countryside enshrined in our Open Access legislation and Rights of Way system. The Scottish Access Code or Sweden’s Allemansrätt are, I admit, very enviable but we should treasure and protect our hard won rights to enjoy the sights and sounds of the outdoors. This…
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Chaine Memorial Tower
Two years ago I was waiting to catch the ferry from Larne and ended at the Chaine Tower. I pleasant quiet place to a pass an hour or so away from the hustle and bustle of the terminal. The stone tower was built at the entrance to Larne Lough as a memorial to James Chaine,…
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Back of Benbulbin
The plan was to climb Benbulbin, a 525m high distinctive tabletop mountain overlooking Sligo but it proved difficult to find out any info on the best way which seems to be a hidden secret. Web forums talk of an approach from the north but also mention recent access issues with an irate farmer. To avoid…
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Mallaranny Saltmarshes
This is the season of thrift, the sea pink. There is so much of it about. The saltmarshes and machair at Mallaranny in County Mayo have a carpet of it happily grazed by the sheep. They must have a unique flavour.
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Croaghaun
The highest mountain on Achill Island, with real mountain look and feel of metamorphic psammites and schists. Well actually this is the 664m high south-west peak of Croaghaun, I am standing on the 688m actual summit which is mapped as Tonacroaghaun. To the right, the cliffs drop steeply to the Atlantic covered by low lying…
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Keem Strand
Achill Island and the end of the road. In Ireland, it is a Bank Holiday Sunday and it was heaving, no doubt influenced by an Irish newspaper article extolling it as one of the best beaches for “wild” swimming. Today there are no residents. The road, built in the 1960s is almost exclusively the domain…
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The black waters of Doolough
A silence undisturbed by those who perished here, a poignant reminder of times gone by. For beside the black waters of Doolough many met their fate. 1849, the height of An Gorta Mor -the great hunger, the potato has gone leaving famine and dysentery. And beside the inky waters of Doolough many met their fate.…
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Connemara
Sea pinks and lichen on the rocky coast of Connemara. Oscar Wilde called it a savage beauty. Fading light and high tide amongst the ‘Inlets of the sea’. Inland more rock and bog, a place to explore.