A quick Sunday afternoon mountain

 

 

Cycling to Ballyknockan then along a forestry track to Silsean, our nearest mountain (700m).

Returning to Ballyknockan via the quarry road. Hiking stats: 3.8 miles, max altitude 697m, elevation gain 563m. Barefoot of course.

4 peaks and a couple of birds

Following my recent post I thought you might like to see the four peaks mentioned there, all in a row, viewed from just up the road from us.  And a couple of birds who got in the way. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

BTW - After clicking to enlarge I am able to navigate through the pictures at full resolution by using the cursor left / right keys or by clicking on the small picture icons. One viewer has complained that this does not work for him - is this a general problem?  Feedback please!

Four peaks and Mullaghcleevaun again

A gorgeous day - could it be summer? - and the hills were calling me again. This time I biked to Ballyknockan (marked "Start" on the map) and hiked from there.  The route encompassed four peaks: Silsean, Moanbane, Mullaghcleevaun and Black Hill, and included my Favourite Place lough Cleevaun, which I entered by its back door. I swam a few strokes in the lough - it was a bit cold and I am not a strong swimmer so am cautious when on my own.

My track

Track statistics indicate just short of 13.5 miles hiking. My "hiking" includes jogging when the conditions are favourable. Elevation gain 1137m with maximum altitude 845m. The biking part was a bit less than 4 miles each way.

The road bit back to my bike was hard work - my legs no longer wished to run and I needed a drink. But the mountain and lake part of the hike was wonderful, idyllic, almost unbelievable. The weather was warm but not too hot, and the hills were alive! Meanwhile some others from the community were at a CrossFit do all day (it was in aid of cancer research). Fair play to them and I hope they enjoyed their day as much as I did. I cannot imagine that they did, mind you, but then that is my perspective.  I prefer having the hills to myself so let the Others do what they will.

These photos have got themselves in reverse order - it was my first time importing directly from Google Photos, I must try harder next time! You can enlarge the pics by clicking on them, then use cursor keys to navigate through the album.

Back to civilisation but my feet didn't want to run any more

Thank you, kind landowner, and yes, I did have
appropriate footwear (none) and clothing (not much)...

Green road and war memorial

The amazing Green Road 

One of many spot the deer photos

Zoomed in

Black hill in the distance, and my way home

West end of lough Cleevaun

The lough from the west end

Shore at east end, a good place to camp

The peat (turf) fields nearby, barefoot runners paradise

Close up of the small pond 

A small shallow pond near the lough

Another view of the sandy shore

Same again (do I love this place?)

Proof that I was there

Waterfalls on the slope of Mullaghcleevaun

From the shore looking west

First sight of lough Cleevaun from its back entrance

Mullaghcleevaun from Moanbane summit

Silsean from Moanbane summit

The small and bottomless pond and Moanbane summit marker

Silsean and the pond in the saddle

Same again - Riche swam here when we took him camping

Silsean and 16 miles bare foot

Ballyknockan, Silsean, Granabeg

We had no work party this morning so I had a leisurely start with my usual breakfast, followed by brunch at the bungalow. Once dishes were done I had to force myself to go out but, once forced, I was glad for it. I figured it was about time I climbed a mountain (at 698m some would call it a hill). So I did. As you can see I chose the nearest one to home. Even so the return trip was 16.17 miles, barefoot of course, average speed moving a mere 4.55mph (lots of hills) and elevation gain 784m.  Here are some photos I took so you can get the atmosphere without having to retrace my steps.

Half way up

I followed a stream

Some snow near the top

A very muddy place (I collect them)

Summit

Hazy view descending

Back to civilisation

A quarry near Granabeg

It's that time of the year - I love gorse!

That's the mountain I was up a short while ago

Convention 2018

Gospel songs today have a lot to say

They lift you up when you're feeling down

Some have a country flavor, some have a modern sound

They all serve the need of planting seeds, so I guess they can't go wrong

But there's none so dear as when I hear an old convention song.

We host an annual convention. In days of yore we peaked to 150 attendees but now-a-days it's us plus maybe 20 or 30 visitors, half of which will be regulars year after year. Why? Partly because that's what we do, rather in the vein of the Cathedrals song. It's a bean feast. It's meet old friends. But it is also meant to be a time for hearing "what God is saying" which roughly translates to enduring multiple hour long sermons. For me, some of these talks have worthwhile content, whilst in others frankly I loose the plot - I come away not having any clue as to the point they were trying to make. 10/10 for effort; not much in the way of results. Maybe that's just me - I'm just a bad listener.

This year I have chosen to do morning boiler duty. Our boiler is the mighty wood burning Turboburn TB4. To meet the morning heating and hot-water load it requires a full load lit as early as possible, topped up as necessary to raise the water jacket to as close to boiling point as is feasible. So, during convention, I light the boiler at around 6 a.m. then go for my constitutional run after which I check the burn and add more fuel as necessary. I like this time in the morning. I do not need to act, listen, talk, and it is quiet which suits my damaged hearing. Whereas convention mealtime is painful. Being sociable, engaging in small talk, is not my scene. And the noise level...

In between meetings and mealtimes and socialising and chores and sleeping I managed to snap a few pictures and here are the best...

A picture in our hall caught in sunlight relief

 

Valleymount bridge

Ballyknockan

My lake shore

Remnants of Autumn

Remnants of Autumn

Yesterday the weather was permitting so I ran round the lake shore, Kings River end of the lake. The lake is starting to fill but it was still possible to ford the river. Another foot or two and it would need to be swum and the water is getting a bit too cold for that. In spite of the cold water, the sun was warm enough for a brief sun-bathe on the sand bar just before the river enters the lake and where it is safe to ford (no rocks underfoot). Sadly I figure this might be my last circuit of that end of the lake this season.

This morning the sky was almost completely blue and my heart urged me to make one last encounter with Autumn which seems to have been rather brief this year. But we had a meeting (it being Sunday) and by the time it was over, lunch had been lunched and washed up, and a few other minor tasks, it had clouded over. Wunderground was still maintaining that rain was possible but unlikely so I set of intending to do Church Mountain. But within minutes it started to rain and it continued for most of my run which I swiftly curtailed to just the lake perimeter (Kings River end) by road.

Ominous weather over Valleymount, from Blackditches

Suggestion of rainbow over Ballyknockan

Atmospherics over the lake, from our bridge