antonalyptic: Mullaghcleevaun

Showing posts with label Mullaghcleevaun. Show all posts

20220327

Mullaghcleevaun

First proper foray of 2022. The occasion being the first decent weather this year.

Hiking part 9.1 miles, elevation gain 787m

Bike to Pound Lane, Lacken, then hike over Black Hill to Mullaghcleevan then back via beautiful Cleevan Lough. Then bike back via Blessington. Fuel: one creme egg plus one granola bar.

20201220

The great thing about playing down birthdays is that there are approximately 364 un-birthdays in a year and on one such day an unassuming brown cardboard package was placed in front of me at lunchtime here by my resident daughter, whilst across the table my resident son was videoing me on his cell-phone and telling me to open it. Which I duly did and, wow! A Pixel 5, a gift from my children here and far-and-wide and their respective partners. Wow! And thank you all!

What more shall I say? Time would fail me to tell of the wonders this piece of kit can perform: well actually I have hardly had a chance to find out yet. Doing the connect-your-new-Pixel-to-your-old-phone-and-transfer thing was simple and successful except, as expected, it left out the GPS mapping and tracking app Oruxmaps that I use when hiking and running. Because "it has been removed from Google Play because it violates the payments policy" so it has to be installed directly from the Oruxmaps website. And then there was the deal about it maybe not tracking in the background, but I managed to navigate through all that. So yesterday I took my new toy on a run to confirm that tracking is, indeed, working correctly and checked out some of the new camera features.

There are two main cameras in addition to the front facing selfie camera. The "x2" option, I am informed, is a software enhanced digital zoom. I'm a bit wary of digital zooms so I'm hopeful that the software enhancement does its bit. You can click on these images to view full size, but doubtless "full size" will not be the full native resolution because Google pics downgrades one's photos on the free account I have.

Wide angle camera

Standard camera x1

Standard camera x2

Panning to left to include Mullaghleevaun

20200510

Lunch on Mullaghcleevaun

Lunch was two soft-boiled (in the sun) eggs and a flask of Wicklow Well Water.

The lockdown now permits exercise up to a 5km radius which took me to the quarry at Ballyknockan, gateway to the Wicklow Mountains, where I figured I'd be off the radar. Apparently others did too. I met two hikers on Silsean, a group of four descending from Mullaghcleevaun, and a lone woman hiker at the summit. We kept our distance of course...

Such cramp - I had to rest awhile on the way back. And aching muscles the morning after.

20191026

Glad I'm back home

Eternal blue skies, hot weather, brown grass and fake skies be blowed - I'd rather have Ireland any day, even though it's perishingly cold at the moment. My usual circuit plus a bit of the lake today, bare foot of course.

20190814

Four peaks again

This time S and I took some visitors with us. It was the same route although I made the hike more accessible by ferrying them by car to the start and from the finish, reducing the hike to a total of 10.7 miles. We did well, no bones broken, all present and correct though tired, but there's a big difference between being on one's own (you can choose your own pace, and choose to take no backpack) and being with a group (you are sort of obliged to carry lunch and water and spare clothing for emergencies because.., and your pace is set by the weakest, so that S and I had to repeatedly stop and wait, getting cold in the process). And to add insult, before the hike I had run six miles first thing in the morning, and in addition the car was full so I had to bike to the start and run back from the finish. I was the only one bare foot. The others realised the benefit - their shoes were sodden - but steadfastly resisted. Not that I would recommend a mountain for one's first encounter with no shoes.

20190703

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!

20190622

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.