Athletic : One Word Sunday

Hiking in the Dolomites, Italy

Leading Lines : CCY Week 5

Gondolas at the ready

This week Cee’s Compose Yourself Challenge is to show leading lines.   These photos were mainly taken in  Italy last year, and the ones taken in Venice naturally  involve water and canals.   I hope you like my choices.

Chairlift to the top of the mountain

 

Light on the water

Going round the bend at Lake Garda

Weekly Photo Challenge : Reflections

Reflection must be for solitary hours     (Jane Austen)

A lake must be still to show a reflection

Dolomite mountains, Italy

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/weekly-photo-challenge-reflections/

Sunday Stills Challenge : Cows

Maybe it’s because I grew up on a farm, but I do have a few photos of cows that will fit in with this week’s Challenge!

Killarney National Park, Ireland

First up its Irish cows, or to be more specific, Kerry cows, taking it easy in Killarney National Park.  Sometimes, when you see cows lying down, it is said to mean that there is rain on the way, but not on this occasion, it was a lovely mild October day.

The handsome girl above is an Italian model, all the Italians (cows, that is) wear a bell around their neck, probably because they roam freely on the mountainside during the summer months, and the bells help the owners locate the animals.

not a bit camera shy! Dolomites, Italy

More Italian Cows

Walking in the Dolomites, Italy

Cows and walkers, busily ignoring each other!

See some more cows here : http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-cows/

Weekly Photo Challenge : Family

Apart from my own family, my hillwalking buddies are others that I consider part of my family, we walk, talk, sing and dance, struggle, puff and pant up those hills together, and always enjoy the experience.    Here are some photos taken on our Italian hiking trip last year.

Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : White and Purple

This week Cee has challenged all aspiring photographers to submit photos which are white and purple, or either colour.   I went through my photos and found a few purple ones, here they are:

The first photo is one of my walking boots and socks, abandoned after a  fairly steep walk in the Dolomites, Italy.    We stopped for lunch, and it was great to sit and relax and wiggle my toes without the constraints of boots.

These boots, and socks, were made for walking

Purple flowers always look very relaxing with the sunshine on them, and the wild flowers and bougainvillea around Lake Garda are very pleasant.

Bougainvillea at Lake Garda

Wild flowers on the mountains

The picture below was taken at a farmers’ market in Knysna, South Africa, with some home grown aubergines (known as eggplant in some countries) and the different shapes and sizes, and the rich colour, make them very interesting.

Home grown Aubergines

My last photo was taken outside the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin, where we went to see the Lion King, and thoroughly enjoyed it, in fact the audience was mostly adults when we were there, and everyone loved it.

Grand Canal walkway at night

There are many more great posts in this series, check them out here: http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/09/10/cees-fun-foto-challenge-white-and-purple/

Cee’s Which Way Challenge : Week 8

Climbing up, up, up.

For this week’s challenge, I am going with some paths and trails around the mountains.  Last week we were hillwalking in West Cork, and here are some of the pictures from a lovely sunny day.

Distant fields

There are lots of different shades of green and gold to be seen in the distance.

40 shades of green

And in the Dolomites in Italy, the view from these paths can take your breath away.

Looking down on the village of Madonna di Campiglio, Italy

To see some more posts log on to http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/09/04/cees-which-way-challenge-no-8/

Cee’s Which Way Challenge – Week 4

This week in Cee’s challenge, I would like to show you a few bridges that I have come across on my walks. The first of these was at a Rifugio (restaurant/rest house) on our travels in Italy, a welcome break after a steep climb at high altitude, on one of our first days walking in the Dolomite mountains.

The picture below was taken in Cork city at daybreak (yes, I do get out walking early…sometimes) we were on a charity walk for Pieta House for  Suicide Awareness.   This walk was called Darkness into Light, and started before the dawn, and we walked into the light, it was a very moving experience

And how about this view, taken from a bridge when on holiday in Duquesa, in the south of Spain?

Looks like a deserted street except for the washing hanging out!

The following photos were taken on a walk in Glenbower Woods, near Killeagh, Co Cork,  a few months ago, and covers two subjects, a bridge and a path!

Glenbower Wood

Another view of the old bridge at Glenbower Wood

For more entries to this challenge, check out  http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/07/31/cees-which-way-challenge-week-4/

A Hiking Holiday in Italy. Part One

Last week about 50 of us from our hill-walking club went on a hiking holiday in the Dolomites in Italy, and what a week it was, hiking uphill and down, taking the cable car to the top and then hiking down (a much better option), laughing, singing, (the hills really were alive with the sound of the ‘Fields of Athenry’  on more than one occasion) relaxing, eating lovely Italian food and ice cream, and drinking wine and cocktails, and then getting up at 7 a.m. next morning and doing it all again!

The Dolomites

We were staying in a hotel in a ski resort, which was about 1600m above sea level, and as you can see, there was still snow on the top of the mountains.

Our Italian guide, Maurizio,  was very knowledgeable about the  environment we were walking through, and one day we came across a tree that had been visited by a woodpecker, the birds tap away at the bark and  make holes so that they can eat the termites that live in the trees.  They can tell by the sound that their tapping makes whether there are termites inside or not, that is why you sometimes see a few smaller holes on the tree, that may have been abandoned.   Once the bird is satisfied with the size of the hole, he sticks his very long tongue into the hole and the termites stick to the surface of the tongue, and make a nice meal for him.    We didn’t see any woodpeckers, but we did come across a golden eagle, and our guide told us that there are about 8 breeding pairs in that forest.

Everywhere along the trails through the mountains, we came across little huts called Rifugios, but they are quite well equipped ‘huts’, most have accommodation, and serve delicious food and wine, and we usually bought our lunch in one of these rifugios, rather than bringing soggy sandwiches and a drink from the hotel.  There were plenty tables and benches where we could eat outside in the sunshine, and most of them supplied deck chairs so that we could linger awhile and rest our weary feet.   I wonder are other countries in Europe so well equipped to look after hikers in the mountains, Ireland has a long way to go in that respect.

There was so much beauty everywhere we went, I will post more photos of hiking in the snow, and our visit to an old city called Bolzana, a winery, and Lake Garda.    It was a very busy week, I would say an activity packed week!

Rifugio