Day 100

Well, I finally made my hundred days with 4 to spare. We left in mid-afternoon so as to be back before dusk. While walking up the main road towards the hill, we noticed that there had been an accident on the main road a few hundred metres away. As there were plenty of people there already, we just kept walking.

The evening flight was fabulous and it was a nice clear evening – it is looking like we’ll have quite a severe frost tonight. As we continued on, it appeared that the accident was quite a bit more serious than it looking as a helicopter appeared on the scene.

We continued on with the walk anyway, and all had a nice time.

We did the round in record time with the children as one of them had an urgent need to get back to await the birth of some sea dragons that were due to hatch at exactly 3:30. So she sprinted around and the rest of us tried to keep up.

When we got back the helicopter was just leaving. So all-in-all a pretty eventful hundredth walk.

Day 99

After going through the entire year without a walk among proper snow, we had a flurry of snow for an hour this morning and it started to settle. So I grabbed my chance and my stick and set off for a quick walk.

Of course it being Ireland, the snow quickly turned to rain so I had to be quick with my camera. By the time I got into the second, less-exposed, half of the walk it had started melting.

It is always a fantastic experience to fine oneself walking a familiar route in snow as it is incredibly different. Even the thin covering here was refreshing in its variety.

As usual there wasn’t anyone to be seen on my walk and as I got towards the top, a fairly thick mist started gathering so that I was walking among ice, water and mist.

Little of the snow had made through to the ground in the second half of the loop but there were so traces to be seen.

By the time I got out of the forest, most of the snow had gone. A couple of hours later, the rain has settled in properly and there is no trace whatsoever.

Day 98

We had a bit of company on the walk today for a change so it was a nice trek in the woods. The unseasonal full bloom of the gorse still carries on during these short days. It was a fine sunny day for a walk and not even particularly cold.

There was a fabulous clear view from up the top with a lot of standing water about.

There is a quite a lot of heather in bloom at the moment.

We had a nice walk as I’m getting so close to the end of this project and there isn’t  a lot more to say about it.

Day 97

We decided to all get up relatively early (for a Sunday morning) and get ourselves up the mountain for the solstice dawn – which is supposed to be at 08:38. Unfortunately we were greeted with an overcast morning which wasn’t so great but it still got bright.

With the half light, conditions weren’t so great for photography so not a lot came out well. We didn’t have the fastest of walks and went around the longest route so it was nearly 10 by the time we got back home ready for a nice hot breakfast.

Day 96

This will be my last lunchtime walk of the year as I’ll be off work until the new year. This was the usual quick flit around. The place is quite fresh looking after a good soaking for the morning.

The water levels are finally catching up to what is normal for the time of year with a nice little stream running along one of the paths.

Not a lot else to report on this walk.

Day 95

Due to the dogs being somewhat deranged I had to get out for a walk on a soaking wet Sunday afternoon. It was so wet that I really didn’t bother with the camera around and just charged around in 45 minutes to avoid getting overly wet and cold.

You can see how dark it is at this time of year. I had to use the flash to take this picture and the background is almost completely black.

Anyway, we got around quickly and got into the warm and dry without much ado.

Day 94

This was a normal quick lunchtime walk on a fine dry day. I spotted this splash of colour on the way up the hill which is nice to see at this time of year.

I don’t normally take pictures of the road section at all. This bit is about 50 metres of road that you need to walk between the two halves of the forest loop. It is quite a spot for people to get rid of a bit of household rubbish.

There is so little light around at this time of year that the camera really quite struggles. It does however give this fantastic washed out effect sometimes.

This looks rather interesting and has suddenly sprouted up all over the place.

This is the most remote part of the forest. There is no proper path through here, just a track that is mostly worn there by me and the dogs.

Day 93

I was on a day off so managed to sneak in a rare Monday walk. I finally remembered to take a picture of the out of season gorse bush

Aside from that, it was an unremarkable walk – the weather was fine and nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Day 92

We managed to find a break in the showers to get out on a cold grey day and got the dogs out for a Sunday morning stroll. The weather is very changeable with fine sunny spells between flurries of hail, sleet and snow.

Bizarrely some of the gorse bushes are bursting right into flower although I forgot yet again to take a picture.

After doing the top loop we were greeted with a hail-storm when we entered into the second part of the walk. It was quite strange listening to it in the shelter of the trees.

This lichen was looking rather interesting but it was too dark to be able to take a picture without the flash and the flash was a bit harsh. I might try taking the SLR up some day if it is dry as it handles low light a bit better.

Despite the sleet and hail we had a nice a brisk walk and it was good to get out – not least because my 100 walk target is looking a bit shaky at the moment.