The first was the White route walk at Glendalough (the Red route was closed), this involved climbing 45,125,812,135 little wooden steps up the side of spinc mountain, a brief heart attack, a beautiful walk along the top, a bit more of a climb, before winding down again through scree and huge boulders, to the miner's village and Kevin's pass at the bottom.
It was an amazing walk, the weather was gorgeous, then torrential, then gorgeous again, then even more torrential, 'changeable' puts it mildly.
The views were stunning and I managed some truly outstanding photos, prize worthy in fact.
I was thinking of having several framed.
Giving a few to friends and family as gifts.
But they all got wiped from my computer and I was left with one 18 second film which I took of some cloud.
I have never managed to lose photos from my computer, thankfully they weren't really important, but it was an awful feeling, I guess the photos were just too amazing to be seen.
At the top of Spinc, I saw a couple of very tame juvenile Ravens and some very noisy juvenile Jays, no Peregrines or Red Grouse in the uplands though which I was hoping for.
In fact, not too many species around, but a great walk.
One of the best for an easy day out, just remember your €4 for the car park, unless you have time to add another hour on for the walk from the free carpark a bit further away.
I think it's a 9k walk, it took me 3½, which included looking around, stopping to have my sarnies and flask of coffee (the main reason for going for a walk) and stopping to take some the most amazing photos the world would ever see.
Oh well.
The next day, I drove out to Greystones to do the coastal walk from Greystones to Bray and back again.
I think the 7k took 1½ hours there and same back, so 14k in 3 hours.
The route wasn't challenging at all, unlike the Spinc walk which I found quite tough on the inclines.
I don't like steep hills and they don't like me, cycling or walking, I just haven't got the fitness for them.
So the coastal walk was a breeze in comparison, possibly a little, dare I say, disappointing.
I have walked the Howth head walk several times and think it's a magnificent walk, the Bray head walk in comparison. although it had stunning and spectacular views, seemed a lot tamer.
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| Start of the coastal walk from Greystones |
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| These photos were taken on my little point and shoot, I think I must have had it on vivid mode. |
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| Irish colours |
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| Shags and Cormorants were nesting on these rocks, look how clear the water is. |
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| I'm walking to Bray, they're walking to Greystones. |
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| Howth head in the distance. |
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| the Dublin to Greystones Dart line |
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| That's right, blue, not grey. |
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| Bray strand. |
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| See the band stand in front of the ferris wheel? There was a live band playing there and about 1000 of us stood in front of a big screen and watched Katie Taylor beat Natasha Jonas in a Olympic quarter final that was as good as the final. The atmosphere in Bray (Katie's from Bray) was electric. My sister was over for the wknd and was much amused at the support. |
No photos of birds with the little point and shoot I'm afraid.
No photos of the lovely nutella and banana crepe we had either.
Birdwise, I didn't see anything hugely unusual along the walk.
Shags, Cormorants, a small Kittiwake colony on one of the rocks, possibly Guillemots, though I can't remember, I'm not doing very well here am I.
Tune in next week for the latest Drimnagh Birdwatch post 'I saw some birds on a walk, but I can't remember what they were.'
Exciting stuff.
