Silsean and Moanbane again

Cairn, Silsean

 The last time I climbed Silsean my daughter chided me for not having my mobile phone with me.  What would happen if you broke your leg, no-one would know where you were and you would be left to decay on the mountain side. So I took my mobile phone this time: I did not break my leg but I did get to chat to Kate and was able to take some photos. This Nokia has a pretty appalling camera (all 2M-pixels of it, and not helped by a layer of dust inside the lens - must do something about that...) but it is better than naught and I can now post my own pictures rather than borrow them from the 'net.

There is probably some law against climbing on cairns, but I was barefoot and trod very carefully and circumspectly to obtain the following picture:

Me on camera

I don't think my legs are really that thick. As I said in my previous post Silsean does have a "pond" although it is mostly mud (although the water is only a few inches deep I can testify that the mud is up to two feet deep in places).

Pond just north of the cairn

This time I continued on to Moanbane (which for the purposes of this post I am assuming is the more northerly companion peak). Just like the other sites say it does indeed have a pond on the top - I tested one end and it was a good 18" deep with, of course, a muddy floor: not deep enough for swimming.  It seems contrary to nature to place a pond on the very top of a mountain - you would think it would fall off.

Moanbane pond looking North

Moanbane pond looking South (Silsean cairn in the distance)

Back to Silsean again

On the way down, Valleymount is visible stretching across the lake towards our home somewhere in the distance

Sphagnum moss (in reality it was much greener than this - such a beautiful green)

Half running down hill I come across plenty of wet gullies lined with moss: these provide a more comfortable passageway when barefoot than last year's heather although I have to watch for rocks and holes.  And then I enter the last mile of forest. Since my last trip they have been felling so there are piles of logs and very muddy tracks made by the heavy machinery.

The highest part of the forest - this was a moss-carpeted track before the trees toppled

The lower part of the forest is laced with water

And finally the last half mile which is now deforested

I return to the trusty velocipede and trainers, and turn left to return via the downhill section to the main Wicklow Gap road and thence to home.