Day 47

I got home early in time for a walk but it wasn’t looking too great on the train home. But we broke through into clear skies in Edgeworthstown and it was actually a fabulous evening. So I quickly got changed and hitched up the dogs when I got home.

Up the top, there was a beautiful blue sky and the sun was shining which rewarded me with this rare vista.

I had a fair old stomp around and did the lap in under an hour which was good going seeing as I met somebody in the woods and stopped for a chat for a few minutes. For once the dogs were well behaved and didn’t try to savage the interloper.

It is nice to see others using the woods for walking. The place is so incredibly lush at this stage of the year. This is actually one of the bigger tracks running through and it is amazingly overgrown.

So that’s another walk done and I’m getting quite close to the half-way point. I don’t think I’ll quite make it by the end of may as I have to travel every day this week and I’m planning another chunk of canal for the week.

Day 46

Another lunchtime walk and I was in the mood to walk quickly so I didn’t bother with the camera too much. We had this new arrival in one of the hedges near the forest today – probably a garden escape. Aside from that I didn’t see a lot of note.

The cuckoo was keeping to himself today which was a little bit disappointing. I hope he’s around at the weekend so that the children can hear him. The weather was dry again and I didn’t need to bother with my raincoat at all. It was quite a rushed walk as I wanted to get finished up at work relatively early. The only other picture I took was this view of one of the clearings up near the top.

Day 45

This was another lunchtime walk and for a change the weather was fine. In fact it was rather fabulous in that while it was overcast, the sun seemed to be shining through for most of the walk. There was a fabulous view of clouds and wide open country from the top

The cuckoo has obviously taken up residence as he was calling again. Strangely enough both today and yesterday he only let out one sequence of 4 calls. It will be interesting to hear if he does the same again for my next walk.

Once we got under cover, the sun was a bit less evident but there were still patches of blue sky visible.

It was very refreshing to get to do a walk without having to bother with my raincoat and we all had a good hour outside. Hopefully that will mean an end to the recent streak of wet walks.

Day 44

I got home early from work and although it was pouring with rain, I decided to get out for a quick walk with the dogs. I took the shorter route as it is a bit dicey doing the longer route on your own in the evening in heavy rain when the bridges are very slippy. I didn’t get the camera out much as it was raining so heavily.

Most definitely the highlight of the walk was hearing a cuckoo which must have been in reward to my perseverance in the bad weather. Although they were in fine fettle during my trip to Mayo earlier in the month, this is the first time in years I’ve heard one in Longford.

There wasn’t a lot new out. I’m still amazed by the devil’s matchstick I spotted last week but there is no sign of the red tips now. There were a few clovers in flower.

It turned into a bit of a trudge once I crossed the road and headed into second half of the walk as the ground was very wet and the rain was pelting down. I got moderately wet by the end but nothing much to complain about.

Day 43

After a fews days’ break due to work and other commitments, we took advantage of a break in the weather to go for a family walk around the forest. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t stay broken for long and it started raining after about 15 minutes.  There is more an more stuff coming into flower and we are moving beyond the spring yellows

Just before it started raining and the sky was an angry-looking dull grey. Sunblock is not quite necessary.

The holly is in flower at the moment. Compared to the bright red berries the flower is quite a dull white thing.

There must be hundreds of types of willow and sally tree in the forest but they are mostly done flowering at this stage.  Here is one straggler

The final sign that summer is upon is that the great ash tree in our garden has finally got its leaves. It is always the last of the trees to get its leaves and tends to hang on to them right up until late October. There is no sign of the dreaded dieback disease that is supposedly going  to kill 90% of ash trees so here’s hoping.

We had a nice but slightly wet walk. Nothing too bad but it would be nice to string together a few decent days.

Day 42

We this is supposed to be the number that holds all the answers but unfortunately I haven’t achieved enlightenment yet. However, the weather was a whole lot better than the previous couple of walks although to some extent I did strike it lucky in getting out between showers. It was dry, warm and there was a fabulous blue sky. What a change.

I didn’t spot any interesting little things to take pictures of but I did notice that the cow parsley was in full flower. This is an absolute menace in the garden with a tough easily broken tap root that is almost impossible to get out. But it is a quintessential part of the Irish summer flora and as such can’t be all evil.

The pine cones are developing quite nicely at this point. Tree fruits and flowers are something you just tend to ignore unless you are being particularly observant but I think they are interesting looking things.

Deeper into the forest, the ground was relatively dry and for once I didn’t end up soaked to the hips from tramping through undergrowth. At this time of years, gaiters don’t quite cut it but I’d rather have wet trousers than deal with waterproof trousers. The bluebells are beginning to get a bit bedraggled – probably here because there is a bit too much cover but I do believe that they are slowly managing to colonize the resting place.

The path down past this bit is starting to flood again a bit after the last couple of weeks’ worth of heavy showers but I guess it won’t be long going back down if we get a couple of dry days. Nothing worth worrying about with my boots anyway.

We had a grand lunchtime walk and the dogs were pretty exhausted after their exercise. Just the thing to clear the head for an afternoon’s work.

Day 41

After a relatively dry morning, I set off for a quick loop at lunchtime. This time it didn’t even wait for me to get the dogs harnessed before the heavens opened with a mixture of hail and rain that continued for almost the entire walk. This was a typical view for the walk – not a great picture but my camera’s auto exposure had messed up which is the first time it had done that.

It was a bit of a quick dash due to the miserable weather so I didn’t really get a chance to take a lot of decent pictures. Some of the gorse is beginning to get a bit past its best. The most interesting thing I came across was this lichen which was “flowering”. It was all over the place which is a good sign for air quality.

It is a bit tiny so is hard to get a decent picture with a relatively cheep point and pray camera. This is known as Devil’s matchstick and it brought a lovely dash of colour to the place.

So after a thorough drenching I got back home from a quick loop relatively refreshed. It had been a few days since I managed to get out – a combination of busyness and bad weather kept me off the mountain for the weekend so it was nice to get out.

Day 40

After a miserable wet morning, I decided to take a chance and get out at lunchtime for my usual quick loop. It was pretty nice when I left but about 10 minutes later the heavens opened. That lasted for about 5 minutes but I didn’t get too wet. I took a chance on taking off my fleece and jacket when I unhitched the dogs after the first 2 km but that wasn’t to last for long. After another 10 minutes it really started pelting it down and I had to dig out my coat again. This time, it kept it up for quite a bit longer and I had a right soaking for my troubles.

Aside from the rain, the place is looking very lush at the moment. Everything is growing furiously and that was part of why I ended up with such a soaking as the ground cover was well up past the level of my gaiters. The rain did stop about 10 minutes from the end and there was quite fabulous light coming through the trees in the sudden clearance.

I don’t think the camera quite does it justice but it was worth a try. This wasn’t the fastest of walks due to the amount of faffing about with raincoats and rucksacks but at least I got out.

Day 39

This was another quick lunchtime loop but there was a real highlight today. The bluebell is probably the most iconic spring flower in Ireland and they made an appearance today. The first sign of them was on the lane into our house where there is a small clump of them under a big ash tree than normally flowers a few days before the ones in the forest.

There had been a recent rain-shower so everything was a bit wet. I had foolishly not bothered with gaiters so my trousers were quickly soaked once I went off the road. That’ll larn me. The tadpoles up the top are doing well and the recent rain will have been appreciated.

There aren’t any bluebells for the first half of the walk but when I got into the deepest part, the first couple of flowers had started to make their appearance. There isn’t an abundance of bluebells in the forest but give them another 20 or 30 years and they should have started to take over properly.

As a final snapshot, although not strictly of the forest, the apple trees are now in flower and looking well.

This is going to be a quick post as I need to get ready for the weekend’s walking as I have planned to do the Great Western Greenway from Westport to Achill. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while and should get it written up over the weekend.