STORM BELLA

Storm Bella has been blowing for a couple of days now. Today I went out for a few shots of big waves, hoping it wouldn’t be too challenging for me.

These photos were taken in the Ballydavid area of the Dingle Peninsula, in the South West of Ireland.

I have to say it was indeed difficult to stand up to the cold strong North West winds, while being battered by rain, hail and sea spray. My fingers went numb, making it difficult to manage the controls on my camera. Keeping my lens clean was impossible. I had to continually wipe it, only to create a smeared affect on the lens. The spray was relentless.  I lost a lot of good images through having a foggy lens.

The results weren’t the best I’ve ever done, but I’m glad I went out and got the fresh air. In these covid days we have to make an effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting. If you enjoy images of turbulent sea, please visit my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/turbulent+sea

LEFT OF MOUNT BRANDON

On this walk we took a path to the left of Mount Brandon, a different side of the mountain from that my previous post. We had intended to go up Brandon but due to low cloud and skeins of foggy patches coming from the sea we thought it safer to not go to the top of the mountain.  I was secretly glad of this, to be honest, because I didn’t feel fit enough for the more challenging walk we might have taken.

 

 

The landmarks remained the same for much of the walk, but the clouds changed all the time.

 

 

 

This is how Brandon appeared as clouds rolled by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My guess at this story is that the farmer left this old vehicle here to use as storage for his fencing materials, and it was first vandalised by human eejits, and later attacked by multiple storms.

These two photos were taken in the same minute, and look how quickly the picture can change in this kind of weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We accidentally deviated from our path and arrived at this cliff edge, and sat for our picnic on the grassy slopes below, where I picked up a few sheep ticks – again!  There is Lyme disease here, but one can stay at home and be safe, or go out and take chances.  At least you can’t pass Lyme disease on to anyone else, unlike Covid-19.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, back down on low ground, and even on the correct route, just signposted with no obvious path.

A lovely walk with great views, and the foggy clouds even added to the beauty of the scenes. I hope you enjoyed the images.

Thanks for viewing my post. Please click on this tag for different views of Mount Brandon, photos and paintings on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/mount+brandon

MOODY HUES

Some recent photos from my local beach Béal Bán, Ballyferriter, on the Dingle Peninsula, South West Ireland. It was one of those moody days, when the light quality could change in an eye-blink. Just a normal day here really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guessed that the tartan slippers belonged to the occupant of a camper parked here. They created an unlikely and incongruous image by the beach.

Thanks for visiting my post, I hope you enjoyed  this beach walk.  Please visit my website for more Dingle Peninsula photos, with images of several other lovely beaches in this area.

https://www.helene-brennan.com/c25–photos-of-dingle-peninsula

DINGLE HARBOUR AND MARINA

In this post I am showing images of Dingle Harbour and Marina, which are the soul of this popular little town and tourist resort.

 

A boat full of tourists (now less full than usual, to facilitate social distancing) heads out to see Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin, which has lived here of his own free will, since 1983, and has brought millions of Euro to the area.

 

 

 

In the Dingle sunrise, there are some signs of work starting.  Some of these very early morning shots were taken a few years ago.  It’s rare for me to get up early to capture the sunrise.

 

I loved capturing the light on the boats and the reflections in the still morning water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setting out on a fishing trip in the light of the rising sun.

 

 

The above was taken recently, but not so early in the morning as the previous shots, the colours look so different.

 

 

 

In this photo above the boats in the foreground are traditional currachs, known in Dingle as Naomhóg, (pronounced nave-oge) which means Young Saint.  They have a timber framework and are covered in tarred canvas. They used to be used for transport between the islands and for fishing. The style of these boats have been adapted for racing, built by Eddie Hutch, who with Maunza Heidke have been dedicated to the traditional sport of racing the naomhóg, and have run the Dingle Rowing Club for several years. See below a photo of naomhóg lined up for a race at the Dingle Regatta, an annual event, but sadly not this year, because of Covid-19.

 

 

 

 

Some more recent photos below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Dingle Pier can be seen the face of Charlie Haughey, who was the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland for a number of years, in and out of office until 1992. He died in 2006. Some loved him, some didn’t. But here he is in Dingle because he was instrumental in providing funds for creating the excellent harbour and marina in Dingle, and that has been a significant factor in the development of all the marine activities here.

The following photos were taken as I was out rowing in a naomhóg, the traditional rowing boat as described above. It’s a great opportunity to get captures I wouldn’t get from the shore.

 

 

 

 

Really, there’s so much more to Dingle than I could describe here, although it’s only  a small town; I have only given snippets of it’s character.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you will return periodically. I confess to feeling a bit blog-fatigued recently and it gets harder to keep up the enthusiasm, but hopefully my motivation will return.

Meantime, there are loadsa pics of the Dingle Peninsula on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/c25–photos-of-dingle-peninsula

BALLYDAVID WALK

This was a walk along the coast and cliffs from the small village of Ballydavid, just a few km down the coast from my home. Thrift (sea pinks) were in bloom and looking glorious.

 

 

 

 

Above, looking across to Mount Eagle; the small beach opposite is Wine Strand, which has appeared in many of my posts, from a closer viewpoint across the way.

 

The small lookout post above was one of 83 that were built during World War 2 around the coast of Ireland and were manned by the Local Defence Force.

 

Cruach Mharhain and  Mount Eagle (right and left) opposite, viewed across from Ballydavid.

 

The Three Sisters above and below, also to be seen in many of my photos.

 

 

 

The headland in the distance above is Ballydavid Head.

Below, another view of the WW2 lookout post.

 

More images of the Ballydavid area can be seen on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/ballydavid

As always, I appreciate your visit. Do take care.

SUNSET ON MY DOORSTEP

You can never tell when you are going to get a really brilliant sunset. Tonight’s glory crept up on me with my back turned to the west. I had to run outside with my camera to grab something before it disappeared altogether.

Only last night I was beach walking at sunset (see this mornings post) and it was only an ok sunset, but tonight when I was in my home it took me by surprise. I was not about to ignore it –  even though I have so, so many captures of sunsets from this spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for visiting. Many sunset photos from several countries on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/sunset

Enquiries can be made from my website.

Stay safe

 

MURIOCH SUNSET

Another evening walk on Murioch Beach. The sky was somewhat featureless, no clouds, and the tide was a bit far out. I didn’t expect to get anything better or even as good as previously. I have shown photos from an evening walk here in previous posts, like this:

https://helenebrennan.wordpress.com/2019/08/19/evening-beach-walk/

But as the sun dropped low and the colour changed I got a few images that I thought were worth capturing.

For those Star Wars fans out there, the rocky ridged hill on the right of the picture above is Sybil Head, (Ceann Sibéal), on which the Star Wars set was located for the entire summer of 2016, during the making of The Last Jedi. Some filming was also shot on Malin Head in Donegal that same year (up north), and one or two other locations. But Star Wars was not new to Kerry that year. The Force Awakens was filmed on Skellig Michael the previous summer, in South Kerry.

More photos of Murioch (Murreagh) Beach on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/murioch

Do pay a visit.

Thanks for viewing my post. Stay well.

STILL STORMY 2

These photos were taken shortly before those in my previous post STILL STORMY. It was very windy. I was at Ballinrannig, Ballyferriter, on the Dingle Peninsula, South West Ireland. All these photos were taken from close to the small car park, viewing all around from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more Ballyferriter images, here’s a Ballyferriter tag-link to my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/ballyferriter

Thanks for your visit. I hope you have enjoyed my pics.

EVENING LIGHT, AT HOME

Not everything is life goes according to plan. I should be in Italy today, but circumstances got in the way. I was expecting to be basking in hot springs and hopefully warm sunshine, but no. However I really can’t complain. The sun is actually shining here. At sunset yesterday, I saw this lovely pink light on slightly snow topped Mount Brandon, through the trees in my back garden. Two months of storms have ensured a clearer view than usual through the trees and hedges – compensation for the loss of the shelter that is really so important in the garden when you live here.

 

Moving around to the front, facing west, I captured yet another sunset from this viewpont (below). But every one looks different.

In this part of the world, the gorse blooms a little all year round.

There’s no doubt that it’s winter – looking at these bare willow and reed stalks in this wetland area. But again – my view is better in winter.

 

 

Evening light offers lovely possibilities, and I often take advantage when the opportunity arises. I have many evening photos from several different countries, and you can see them on this link:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/evening+light

Thank you for visiting.

CONOR PASS OR MAIN ROAD

From Dingle to Tralee, one has two choices: the Conor Pass,  or the N86 main road. Both roads join together after the village of Camp, and continue towards Tralee. The Conor Pass, which is the highest mountain pass in Ireland, and has spectacular scenery, ever changing with weather, light and seasons, is quite unsuitable for buses, trucks and other large vehicles. You’d be surprised how many tour buses fail to see warnings and get stuck on the pass, blocking it for some long time. But to be perfectly fair, the alternate route is also well worth seeing. So I thought I’d post some photos from both routes. They were obviously taken at different times of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, are the views from the main road, Dingle to Tralee. Different, but still beautiful.

 

 

 

 

More Dingle Peninsula photos on my website, I hope you will check it out:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/c25–photos-of-dingle-peninsula

Thank you for visiting my post.