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- Windy Waves II
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- Walking on the Beach
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- Rough seas
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- Windy Waves I
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- Achill Island, Mayo
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- The tide is out
“The sea spends its day ebbing and flowing”
Ecotourism
Ag tuile is ag trá a chaitheann an fharraige an lá
Mountain Scenery
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- Early morning fog
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- Hills of Mayo
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- Corrie Lake, Mayo
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- Scree strewn mountain top, Mayo
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- Cliffs overlook Dirkbeg Lough
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- Mountain top bog pools
A short post to share some pictures I’ve recently taken out hillwalking here in Mayo. The weather has been incredible these past few weeks, with very little rain and nice bright, crisp blue-sky days in the hills. Great weather for hiking Mayo’s hills and higher mountains, so “Get Out There !” and go walking.
Mayo’s mountains tend to be wet and boggy places, with only a few boasting truly rocky summits. Our highest peaks reach modest levels between 700m and 814m for Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest point. Mountainous areas are to be found mostly in the south and west of the county, while the north and east are more flat landscapes.
The great attractions of Mayo’s mountains are twofold. First, this is a truly rural, little populated part of Ireland. You’re unlikely to meet anybody on any Mayo mountain, with the obvious exception of the ‘holy mountain’ of Croagh Patrick. Second, it is from the summits of our mountains that you can best appreciate the extraordinary landscapes of this west of Ireland place.
Look down from a mountain on our beautiful and varied coastline, our vast blanket bogs, our tiny villages – indeed our deserted villages – and across the surrounding mountains with their superb examples of corrie lakes.
You’re welcome to Mayo.
World Wetlands Day 2012
Thursday, February 2nd is World Wetlands Day. Check out its origins here.
World Wetlands Day poster
World Wetlands Day is about appreciating the vital role wetlands play in our ecosystems and protecting them. Here in Mayo, we are blessed with many wetland areas, from our blanket bogs, dotted with small lakes and bogpools, to our ‘great western lakes’, like Conn, Cullin, Carra and Mask, to our coastal sites, like Mulranny saltmarshes and the brackish lake of Furnace. Indeed, we have 3 Ramsar wetlands sites of international importance, in the Sheskin Knockmoyle Bog Complex, the Owenduff Bog Complex and the Blacksod & Broadhaven Bays area.
All Ramsar sites can be viewed in the database here.
Reversal of bog drainage through dams
For long periods, Ireland drained its bogs in order to lower the water table and therefore dry out the peat for harvesting. In some places, this peat production has now ceased and efforts are being made to allow the bogs to refill with water and return to something approaching their natural state. The picture, left, of a blocked drain in north Mayo illustrates how this is being achieved.
On February 2nd, I will be out walking on the bogs to celebrate World Wetlands Day and I will share pictures here afterwards. Come and join me, if you like.
Posted in Blog, Ecotourism
Tagged bog, Knockmoyle, Mulranny, Owenduff, Ramsar, Sheskin, walking holiday, wetlands
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Welcome to 2012
December saw me take on three good hikes in the off-season.
I had a specific reason for revisiting The Bangor Trail from the Bangor end on Dec 21st, the shortest day of the year. While on ‘The Walk of Hope’ with the fabulous people of Foxford Ramblers Walking Club the previous Saturday, two companions from Bangor had told me of works being carried out on the Trail that they weren’t at all happy with. I just had to investigate, fearful of another example of environmental vandalism by public bodies.
The Walk of Hope, with Foxford Ramblers Walking Club
But first, back to Foxford. Jim Murray and his colleagues had organised a charity walk for Sat, Dec 17th, in aid of Hope House in Foxford. It was an excellent 16 km walk over the lowish Mayo foothills of the Ox Mountains, from Bonniconlon back to Foxford. Towards the end of the walk was a superb wetlands area, with rushes, streams and three small lakes I need to re-investigate some time this year.
The walk was led by Taoiseach, Enda Kenny and we had lovely weather, save for one rough enough hailstone storm. A good 80 walkers took part and it was most enjoyable. Find out about Hope House here and Foxford Ramblers Walking Club here. A great day !
The Bangor Trail
The following Wednesday, I hiked from Bangor to the Tarsaghaunmore River on The Bangor Trail and back (8 km one-way). On the day that was in it, I knew I wouldn’t get any further by dusk and didn’t really fancy hiking after dark. All was going swimmingly until near the bridge, where I discovered the work to which the Bangor people had referred.
A bit of history : a number of interested parties, including NPWS and the local Leader company, had attended a meeting in late 2010 to discuss what should be done about the waterlogged nature of much of The Trail. I was decidedly on the “leave it alone” side of the discussions. My understanding of the outcome of this meeting was that only streams crossing the Trail would be boardwalked and / or drained and the remainder left as is. Instead, what I saw in December was both boardwalking and drainage work where there is no need whatsoever for either. Or to put it another way, if they deem work necessary on that section, then they’ll deem it necessary almost anywhere. The fear now is that this type of work will be carried out way in excess of what is required, threatening to ruin the uniqueness of this place.
Lugnaquilla, Co. Wicklow
Between Christmas and New Year, I joined my brother-in-law for a hike up Wicklow’s Lugnaquilla, Ireland’s highest mountain outside Kerry. We came from the Glen of Imaal side, heading up by Dwyer’s statue. The walk (6.5 km one-way) was really easy, taking just under 2 hours to the 925 m high summit. It snowed on us for part of the hike and we unfortunately had no view when we reached the top.
It’s a hike I must try to do again this summer, but from the more difficult eastern side, because the Glen of Imaal approach is just a walk up a not-very-demanding slope. Indeed, many Mayo or Connemara mountains, of only 500 m height demand much more physical effort than this did.
She took and kissed the first flower once
and sweetly said to me :
‘This flower comes from the Wicklow hills,
dew wet and pure’, said she,
‘It’s name is Michael Dwyer,
the strongest flower of all.
But I’ll keep it fresh beside my breast,
though all the world should fall.’
[Na Trí Bláthanna / The Three Flowers (trad.)]
All said, an excellent December to finish off 2011. Now for 2012. Get in touch if you’d like to join one of my guided hillwalking weekends in Mayo.
Posted in Blog, Ecotourism
Tagged Bangor, Ecotourism, foxford, green travel, hiking, Ireland, Lugnaquilla, Mayo, walking, walking holiday, Wicklow
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Poland Walking & Wildlife 2012 Trip
I’m delighted to announce the details of my annual trip to the truly beautiful National Parks of Biebrza and Bialowieza, in eastern Poland. We will travel on April 10, 2012 and return to Dublin on April 15.
The itinerary is as follows :
April 10 : Fly Dublin to Warsaw with Aer Lingus and transfer to Biebrza National Park.
April 11 – 13 : Walking and wildlife spotting in Biebrza NP, home to Elk, Red Deer, Beaver, Wolf, Lynx and birds, such as Lesser Spotted Eagle, Crane, Stork, Woodpecker, Owl, Geese, etc. Biebrza (‘beaver’ in Polish) NP is based around the river basin of the same name and is a spectacular area of river marsh and wetland woodlands. Beautiful forest tracks are perfect for exploring the woodland and marsh areas.
April 13 – 14 : Walking and wildlife spotting in Bialowieza NP, home to Bison, Deer, Wolf, Lynx, various species of Woodpecker and many other fabulous birds. Bialowieza NP is based around the primeval forest of the same name – one of the very last tracts of such beautiful and serene forest in central and eastern Europe. An iconic location for lovers of nature and Europe’s biodiversity, memories of your visit to Bialoweiza will never leave you.
April 15 : Return to Ireland.
We stay in shared rooms in lovely traditional Polish ‘pensions’. Meals, transport within Poland and full guiding with our wonderful local expert are all included. The flights are not included and should be booked directly with www.aerlingus.com as soon as possible, once you have received confirmation from me that the trip is proceeding, in order to benefit from the best prices possible. Today, October 17, 2011, the return flight with no luggage in the hold, costs approx. Euro 120.
The cost of this great trip with us is Euro 500 per person sharing. If we get a group together and you then book your flights and bring just cabin luggage, the total cost should be around Euro 620. I cannot recommend this trip highly enough. Our local guide is so good, he’s written the guide book to the nature and biodiversity of Biebrza National Park.
Walking is easy, on forest tracks, with no hills of any note. This is a lovely relaxing trip into the vast nature of eastern Europe. See pictures of this trip in previous years, by visiting here.
Watch a YouTube slideshow of a past group here.
If you would like to join our small walking group for this excellent trip to Poland next April, please get in touch, via e-mail or phone, and reserve your place.
Posted in Blog, Ecotourism
Tagged Bialoweiza, Biebrza, bison, hiking, hillwalking, lynx, Poland, primeval, walking, wolf
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No Slieve Carr This Time
We parked the car at F 95 10 on The Western Way and headed north along the forest track, with Lough Kilnabrinnia as our first target, on the SE flank of Slieve Carr. Our plan was to ascend the mountain from a direction we had not previously taken. From Kilnabrinnia, we intended to move northwards along the E side, up as far as Lough Drumderg and the small, unnamed lake to the NW beyond.
But it didn’t happen. Even as we left the car, the rain was pouring down and the sky was very low indeed. We couldn’t see much of Nephin Beg, which should have been looming above us immediately to the W.
By the time we got to the end of the disused forest track at F 936133, where it meets a stream, we were pretty deflated. Our gear was holding up with no problem, but the spirit was somewhat damaged. The unending rain can do that to you, especially when there’s no view.
We ploughed on, starting the gentle slope towards the lake above. By the stream, we came across an area of deer activity – the bracken had been crushed and trampled, leaving a space of some 6m x 4m flattened in the middle of the otherwise 60cm high undergrowth. With deer droppings all around, this was a wallowing site.
We eventually gave up and retreated, still dry after 3 1/2 hours, but disappointed that we had not achieved more. On our return to the car, we came across some conifers that had been ‘barked’ by the deer. Barking occurs where the deer remove strips of bark for food. We also saw an impressively large frog and lots and lots of rain.
