Travel Theme : Grey

Bantry Bay on a grey day

Ireland can be a place where there are a lot of ‘grey’ days, and showers, and clouds, but in spite of that, you can still see the natural beauty all along the coast.  The photo above was taken on a hike near Glengarriff, as we looked out over Bantry Bay, and the far off mountains, wondering would we make it back down the mountain before getting wet.

Kerry Mountains

Hikers and hill walkers love the challenge of steep mountains like these, and in County Kerry there are plenty mountain ranges to satisfy all different levels of climbers.

Linked to Travel Theme : Grey

Look Up, Look Down Challenge :

 

Look up to where we’ve been

Let’s go for a hike in the Kerry mountains above Kenmare, it’s quite a climb, and watch your step coming down through the rocks and tall grass

The Lakes of Killarney

This was our view from the top, looking back down on the Lakes of Killarney.

Long way to go

Keep on, and don’t get lost in the clouds!

Linked to Which Way Challenge and Look up Look Down

Travel Theme : Numbers

Whether we like it or not, our life is driven by numbers, when to get up, what day is it, what date is it, when’s your birthday, what date did it happen?   If you are interested in history, and when you learn history in school, there are so many dates and numbers to remember, that we all need a little help from time to time.

The sign below is on the old Kerry to Cork Butter Road which was the road travelled by farmers when they brought their butter to sell at the Cork Butter Exchange, near Shandon, in Cork City.    From there the fresh Irish butter, from the rich lush farmlands, was sent all over the world, in the 1700s, it was the largest (Number 1) butter market in the world.

The Kerryman’s Table is a large rock along the road, where farmers who didn’t have a means of transport left their butter to be picked up and taken to the market, and the weary travellers could have a rest along the way.

The Kerryman’s Table

Linked to Ailsa’s Travel Theme : Numbers

A Word a Week Photo Challenge : Frame

Killarney, Ireland

My photos for this challenge were taken in Killarney, and the trees in the National Park do a good job of framing Torc Mountain and the Lakes of Killarney.

The Lakes of Killarney

Another view of the Lakes

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-frame/

Killarney National Park

Autumn colours in the park

These photos were taken in Killarney National Park last October, when the autumn colours in the trees were magnificent.   Killarney’s National Park is about 25 000 acres in extent, and comprises the Lakes of Killarney, Muckross House, very old oak and yew forests, and a very large herd of native Red Deer.

Storm Darwin struck last week, and hundreds of trees were felled, and it may be a long time before the park is fully open to the public again.

I hope you enjoy these photos of a happier time for all the visitors to the park.

The Lakes of Killarney

A trip on a jaunting car through the park.

Look up Look Down Challenge : Week 22

I enjoy hillwalking, and it fits in nicely with this challenge.   My friends and I head out on a sunny -or wet – day, all excited to be out in the fresh air, and to be getting exercise at the same time.     We park the cars, get our boots and jackets on, get the walking poles ready and walk to the base of the mountain.    Then we look at the mountain and think ‘how will we ever get to the top of that’!   We plod on, step by step, stopping for a breather to admire the view every 10 or 15 minutes, then after another while we look back to the start and think ‘wow, we have come a long way’, and we don’t even realise how much ground we have covered!

Walking through the mists

After about two hours, we reach the top….bliss…..find a dry stone to sit on, off with the rucksacks, and out with the lunch.    We usually spend about 20 minutes at the top, then its off again, this time the trek back downhill.   This can sometimes be more strenuous than the climb, if the descent is steep, and then we are very grateful for the poles to keep us upright on the steep slopes.

Here are some of my ‘Look Up, Look Down’ pictures, most taken in Cork and Kerry.

Time for a lunch break