Tag Archives: hiking

Just the boys today

Day 15

The plan for today was to do a brownie walk but I decided to head out before them with my son and the dogs so we got our act together quickly so as not to be over-run by a hoard of brownies. The weather was OK today but there was no sunshine and a little drizzle.

The heather is beginning to come into flower although it isn’t really visible on this picture.

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We had a good stroll around and made very good time considering. There are a few nice little trees at the top of the loop and it was nice to see that they all survived the Christmas tree poaching season. People seem to rather cut down a bigger tree and take off the top 8 feet which is a bit wasteful

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The foxgloves are starting to put on a bit of bulk at this stage – they are looking quite healthy in some places – whatever combination of winter conditions we are having seems to be suiting them quite nicely.

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Guide Walk

Day 14

The plan for today was to get out for a walk along with the local guide group, mainly so that I could take the dogs and look after our non-guide children. Needless to say, the usual peace of the walk was pretty much shattered but it was nice to get to share the walk with a few more people.

It was quite a nice day for it with spells of sunshine and the sky had gone a very odd colour – blue which is something we haven’t seen too often lately.

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A good time was had by all on the walk and the guides made a few rope bridges and such-like. A few of them got a bit wet as is wont to happen but everyone was happy at the end

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Missed the Snow

Day 13

After spending the morning doing jury duty and managing not to get picked, I got home in time for a lunchtime walk. Unfortunately, the overnight snow had all  but disappeared so I didn’t get the pleasure of a snow walk. I did manage to get quite wet as it started pouring rain during the walk as the approach storm started to break.

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It was a relatively unremarkable walk although some of the paths are getting close to impassable in hiking boots due to the amount of water flowing. If it gets much worse, I will need to alter my route a bit.

Sunday Stroll

Day 12

It was a fine morning when we got up – you could almost describe it as spring. So we all nipped out for a quick lap after breakfast. In particular the dogs needed it as they had been inside on their own for most of the day yesterday.

There are a few signs of spring starting to appear in the forest. The birdsong in particular seems to be getting a bit louder as everyone is waking up and there were a few bulbs pushing up shoots.

We had a nice rest at our usual resting spot while I took a few shots of fallen trees. I still only had my phone with me though so the shots aren’t brilliant.

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You can see bits of lichen growing in the foreground of that one – this seems to be doing pretty well at the moment.

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Anyway, we got around reasonably quickly and the weather was reasonable all through the walk.

Pleasant Day

Day 11

It turned out to be a beautiful morning after a frosty night so I got out at lunchtime for a quick lap. There is a rather fabulous-looking broken tree about half-way around the walk which has a huge scar from where a branch has almost separated. I guess there would be some rather interesting grain in there if it even came down, but it always reminds of Tolkien’s Ents

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For some strange reason, somebody took a mind to clearing up the fallen leaves around this area and made a few little piles. This is all quite strange as there is no other signs of maintenance anywhere in the forest.

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As usual, it was a quick dash and a bolted sandwich so as to get back to work in a reasonable break for lunch. But at least I had good weather for the walk. It isn’t looking so much like I’ll get that again over the weekend.

Gap in the Weather

Day 10

There was a bit of a gap in the stormy weather at lunchtime so I took my chance and got out for a walk while I could. As it was a lunch walk, I was in a hurry so didn’t get to take so many pictures. Still, it was good to get out as I was a bit slack last week and only got out twice.

I love the pattern of the trees here but getting a decent picture is obviously beyond the abilities of my phone. I need to bring the good camera with me again or take it dimmer light.

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At this point, the ground is pretty saturated and it doesn’t really seem to be getting any wetter. I took the short route mainly to see how wet it was. Just by way of example, this is the track at a point particularly prone to flooding. Not exactly passable.

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This rarely dries out completely but it is exceptionally bad at the moment.

Morning after the Storm

Day 9

There was quite a blow on over the last 24 hours or so so I didn’t manage to get out on Saturday. Any, it was beautiful this morning so we all went for a walk and had a grand time of it. Oddly enough there was no moaning from any of the children so that was quite pleasant.

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There wasn’t much of interest really – everything is still very wet with streams running down some of the paths. Just the usual pleasant walk.

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This is our resting stop which has a nice fallen tree to sit on although I doubt it is going to be useful for much longer as it is getting quite rotten.

Bridges in the Forest

Day 8

I managed to get out for a quick walk today and it felt a lot colder than the 4 degrees reported by the weather forecast. At least it was dry which made it a bit easier. On the way in, it was nice to see a splash of color from what I think is a rosehip. With the Holly long gone, this is pretty much the only colour in the landscape apart from the gorse which is trying to get going

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When I get to the second part of the walk, there are several bridges over streams in various stages of disrepair which is odd as the route is very rarely walked. I’ve only ever met one or two others on the route.

This is the first one and is probably in the best state of any of them. Somebody went to a bit of effort putting this in.

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The next one isn’t quite as strong but is in a reasonable state

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The last one is really falling apart and I am going to have to try to find the time to fix it up a bit as it is extremely slippy, particularly when a bit wet.

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There is another one that I made myself but it needs a little bit of work before I post a picture.

Ruins in the Woods

Day 7

It was a bit of a miserable day but not so bad as to keep me inside. This was another quick lunchtime walk as a break from work so I had to be quite fast on the route.

I took the longer route around so as to get a couple of pictures of some ruined cottages in the wood. There were once quite a few people living up in on Ardagh mountain but with the general depopulation of Ireland through much of the 20th century, the houses ended up deserted and the rather marginal land was planted with forestry.

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This is what’s left of a fairly well-built stone wall.

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Under all this there are actually the four walls of a stone cottage although it is almost invisible under brush and fallen trees.

The Road Less Travelled

Day 6

There are few roads in the forest that are mainly used for Coillte to get their trucks in and out. This one is quite odd as it goes just about 50m but I presume it is there to allow  trucks to turn.

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I like to avoid the bigger tracks as much as possible as it is more interesting to be in the wilder parts of the forest but today I spent a bit longer than normal as one of the tracks is a bit of a short-cut and I was in a hurry.

Towards the end of the walk I get presented with a choice between two roads. One of these is a muddy track while other is a gravelled road used by Coillte to get trucks in. The good track leads to a public road and makes for a longer walk but I hate road walking so tend to avoid it.

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The other road leads down towards a ruined house and allows me to get back into my own fields without going near any public roads. This suits me as it allows me to let the dogs off the lead and let them have a good run without having to waste time catching them and getting them back on leads.

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So  in my case, the Road less Travelled is the one I travel most which is all a bit metaphorical. Who would want to walk along a boring gravel track when there is a muddy wild way to go instead?