Look Up Look Down Challenge : Week 26

For this week’s challenge I am looking up at some of the trees in Curragh Woods, near Midleton, there are some magnificent trees there, with lots of moss and vegetation underneath.   The woods are very popular with walkers and runners, and are easily accessible from the city, if you want to get away for a few hours.  You can find several different types of trees in these woods, such as beech, chestnut, oak, larch and Douglas fir.   At the top of the woods is a ring fort, with a clearing in the middle, and when the bluebells are in bloom (April/May) there is a beautiful carpet of bluebells underfoot.

Tall trees

And my ‘looking down’ photo is one of Cork City, taken from the top of St Patrick’s Hill and looking down on the main street of the city, St. Patrick’s Street.

Check out this link to see some more entries in this challenge.

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