Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

Last weekend, I crossed the Irish Sea for a more social visit to the southwest of the island where my parents live. While there was a spot of lawn-mowing, hedge-cutting and other bits and bobs to be done, there were chances for limited immersion in hill country too. Friday saw us heading to Gougane Barra in West Cork. The sun was playing hard to get until later in the day but that didn’t spoil any enjoyment derived from poking around Coillte’s forest park in the Valley Desmond. There remains one trail that I would mind doing but it’s best never to exhaust the possibilities of anywhere. In any case, having had good weather for photography on a previous visit meant that it didn’t matter on this occasion.

If I had been dissatisfied, Saturday was going to rub it in with its cloudless skies and strong hot sunshine but I wasn’t to be bothered. The sun did change my colour as I attended to lawn edging and other tasks but it was nothing that a rub of after-sun soother couldn’t sort. It turned out that Sunday was going to offer more of the same so hat-wearing and sun screen were my defences against the attentions of strong sunshine. Letting down my guard wasn’t an option.

Though many were heading for the coast, we struck on for Killarney. With the heat that was to be felt, it wouldn’t have been the wisest to embark on a long hike without acclimatisation but it was not going to be that sort of day. In fact, the time was taken up with driving from spot to spot and strolling around them too. The locations included Looscaunagh (where the old disused pub is now for sale; who’s going to buy a derelict building in the middle of nowhere in these times?), Moll’s Gap, a stop to the west of Ladies’ View, a lunch stop by the Upper Lake and Muckross House and Gardens. Though there were coach parties being conveyed, Moll’s Gap didn’t feel overrun and it was only as we came downhill again that more and more other folk were being encountered.

Though there was a suggestion of haze, no cloud occupied the sky. Not was that a complete change from the last time that I was around there but giving the sun unobstructed access to the countryside had a dramatic visual effect. In fact, I really have to think back in time to pick out a visit to Iveragh that was blessed with such good weather. The last one must have been of a Sunday in September not long after the turn of the century, when we were celebrating a family occasion with a ride out from Ross Castle around Lough Leane on the Waterboat. Before that, my memory is taken to 1995 by photos that I took that long ago. A few years before that, there was a drive down the rough track into the Black Valley and on to through Gap of Dunloe. Maybe I need to visit more often so as to even up the odds of getting optimum weather.

With my luck with the weather around Killarney, it might be that 2010′s visit will stick in the memory for being a photographic sweet shop. Only the chance of having an earlier start or a later finish would have made it better. As it was, I had to contend with high sun and the risk of lens flare but I came away with something better than anything that I got before regardless. The viewpoints were by now familiar to me so I had ideas as to what to do with them and there was no fumbling in the ever strengthening sun. That’s not to say that i wasn’t open to anything that came my way and I now have quite a few photos to organise.

Apart from a longer out and back walk down the spit of land that separated Muckross Lake from Lough Leane. It was all short strolls for me but that was no bad thing with temperatures hitting up to 25º C. That’s not to say that some weren’t embarking on longer journeys with a charity cycle in progress and a good of folk out on (hired?) bikes. Some of the latter were later found with their feet in the cooler waters of Muckross Lake and who’d blame them? Others were loafing around in front of Muckross House as I caught it catching the sun for the first ever time.

As good as the day was, I left with ideas for the future with the main one being the prospect of a walk all around Muckross Lake. That would need more time than I had and figuring out something to occupy less patient souls while that is in train will be a must; I ended up most of half an hour late on returning from my walk and it sounded as if every minute was an eternity for someone, not good but I was at peace and I didn’t let it get to me. An ice cream stop in Barraduff put that behind us and I got to capture a view of the Paps between the more urban paraphernalia too.

The day after couldn’t have been more different with its foggy greyness but things got ever brighter as I continued north to Dublin as I commenced my eastward return. It had taken over well by the time that my flight took off into the air. On the way over Wales, I spied the hills of Snowdonia and made out gashes like the Ogwen Valley and the Llanberis Pass. They were helping me to draw distinctions between the Carneddau, the Glyderau and Snowdon itself. In the midst of all this, I even tried looking for Moel Siabod but without certainty as to whether I had picked it out from the surrounding bumps though the Conwy Valley was unmistakable. Apart from recollections of Welsh hill outings, all this was reminding me that I am in the middle of giving the Snowdonia photo album in the photo gallery a makeover. That’s not finished yet and new photos of Kerry already are in mind as is doing something with the uncertainties of the bank holiday weekend that is upon us. All this is the sort of activity that has to take second place to the necessary tasks of everyday life but it never stops in its own way either.

Those Irish strolls may have been short but I was left feeling so at ease that I ended up thinking that I don’t go over there often enough. That’s an old problem but resolving it could be interesting if perusals of recent issues of Walking World Ireland are to have any effect.

Though sunny evenings were tempting, this past weekend has been one spent doing other things at home. Getting some trip reports out of the way were among those and the one on a recent trip to the Scottish Borders had me looking at entries from the early days of this blog. What struck me was how eerily brief they were. One even had more details on travel and accommodation than the actual walking!

Satisfyingly, it didn't take me too long to start addressing the balance and putting the outdoors wanderings on centre stage. Saying that, more water had to pass under the proverbial bridge until the travel pieces really got sidelined. Still, seeing the way that things have developed makes me wonder how it is that they went the way that they did. Encouragement from regular readers must have had something to with as well as reading the accounts shared by others. All that must have made me think that I could say more and the result is what you see today. There is one nagging thought though: do I need to watch how long I make these things? It's something that I'll keep in mind from this point forward.

With a bank holiday weekend in prospect, I somehow managed to fix up a trip to the Isle of Man with some walking in mind. Though weather forecasts were mixed, I took the chance anyway and that even was after my drenching while on a day trip there. Manannan may be a mythical being who uses mist as a protector but this Irishman wasn't deterred by that first encounter last July.

This past weekend, the weather over there was far kinder with the only rain that gave me any sort of wetting being the lighter variety that frequented Douglas on Sunday night or the few drops that I thought I felt while crossing over Cronk ny Arrey Laa earlier in the day; heavier stuff may have fallen while I journeyed back from Peel after a day of walking but I was under cover then. A rainbow was spied around Peel on the approach to the end of my walk but any rain was away from me. Otherwise, it was dry with a mix of cloudy skies or blue ones letting the sun out to bring the best from the countryside, coastline and seascapes. The walking was a mix of poking around Douglas and Onchan on Saturday followed by a testing hike from Port Erin to Peel on Sunday and a far gentler potter around the latter under sunny skies before leaving the island on Monday.

All in all, it was a good sampling of the delights of the island's countryside and I left with more to explore. Examples include the area around Snaefell, the island's highest hill, the kinder northern shoreline and the populous areas around Laxey and Ramsey. Having to choose between so so much left me feeling torn as to what to do. The only cure for times when you have a few days and really need a week is to savour what you can and leave the rest for another time should it ever come. From what I have enjoyed already, I clearly see that there are plenty of good reasons to go again.

There are plans afoot to say more but there was a time when such a brief resumé would have constituted a trip report on here. That was back in the early days of this blog and the brevity of the report for a weekend in Pembrokeshire surprises. Thoughts of expanding it come to mind but I don't know how vivid four year old memories are. Returning to the area to explore more of its delights might be a good way of conveying this blog along through a little more of its fifth year. Time hasn't exactly stood still since those tentative steps taken after a Mayday bank holiday weekend divided between Fort William, Inverness and Pitlochry with a longer walk from Corrour to Spean Bridge fitted in among all the journeying. Rereading that account now reminds me how I have changed what goes on here: more on the actual walking and less on travel and accommodation. It is in that vein that I plan to continue and reading the writings of others must have had something to do with it.

It seems that the good weather that we are enjoying currently waited a week before arriving. We only can imagine the sort of memorable Easter weekend that we'd have had if it came a week earlier. However, other preoccupations might have meant that I hadn't made the best of it so the week's delay might have been better after all. Between the usual Easter events and my deciding to give the Peak District album in the photo gallery a bit of attention, it wasn't as if I was idle anyway and I get out on Easter Sunday for a stroll about which I have yet to say more on here.

Milky skies and a certain hazy feel to the light may pervade as I write but I am pondering an escapade for the weekend. The sight of forecasts with clear skies and bright sunshine cannot be left to go to waste. Trip reports might have to wait but, this being Britain, it'd be foolish to let too much good weather go without making use of it. There are plans in place but, so as not to tempt fate, I'll remain tight-lipped until all is over.

Last weekend should have seen me heading off somewhere for a day trip but nothing of the sort happened. Various excuses could be summoned and fatigue following a busy working week certainly would be among them. Then, there's the one that you cannot be away every weekend and that's true too. Still, it would have been nice to have made better use of the fine weather that visited us on Saturday and Sunday, especially with the weather for the forthcoming Easter weekend looking as if it will be as mixed as it is at the moment.

In the middle of all of this, there are a variety of interests competing for my attention. Sunday was taken up with a spot of messing about on a computer. In part, the cause was the resurgence of another interest of mine: cycling. With the bike's back tyre still needing attention to rid it of a (very) slow puncture, a damper should have been put on this but, no, it is threatening to send my brain off into places that are not compatible with adding contributions to what essentially is a hillwalking blog. It was that state of affairs that had me sent off exploring another piece of blogging software called Serendipity (yes, there's nothing wrong with WordPress but there's never any harm in having a look at the competition from time to time) in the name of crafting a cycling blog to complement this thing. While Serendipity itself works well, a few rays of reality fell on the idea and I am minded to consign it to the back burner for now. Saying that, a quick look on Google demonstrated that there might be a place for a cycling blog that revels in the countryside that gets explored. Of course, that also is what I do here so there may be room for including news of the occasional bicycle foray so long as it doesn't the focus of what you find on here.

With a website idea being left to come to maturity in its own good time, my mind again turns to the Easter weekend and any opportunities for restorative escapades. The weather has turned cold gain with blizzards visiting parts of Scotland and whiteness coating parts of Ireland. Here in Cheshire, it is cold rain that we have but that doesn't mean that I am ruling out the chances of an escapade between the showers that seem to be in the current forecast. It's just that I'll need to see how things look later in the weekend before making any plans. That's not to say that there aren't some ideas already in my head such as coastal hikes in Northumberland or Pembrokeshire, a short hop to Arran or, closer to home, a wander along the Peak District moors between Baslow and Hathersage. For any of those to happen, it's a matter of having at least some of the kind of weather that those such places visual justice. It will be a case of waiting, this time around.