The number of deaths and transmission rates of the virus are dropping now. Restrictions are easing. I am walking in the local area now; it’s great to be able to walk to the coast, walk on the cliffs and visit several beaches, all within the permitted range.
This walk to three beaches takes me along the main road, for part of the way, where there is a wonderful range of wild flowers, most of them the same as in my garden, which I have already captured, but every picture is different, even if the subject is the same.
Above are two shots of the wild yellow iris, a lovely flower when seen on the roadside or unused land, but an absolute menace in my garden where it grows enormous green spears and has massive roots like big tree branches spreading underground. They had colonised this garden for several years and have become too well established.
Speedwell, above, and herb robert, below. One of the things I really like about herb robert is the lovely red foliage that it sometimes has.
I just like the tangle of leaves and light in this one above.
I still haven’t identified this lovely small white flower.
Red clover above
My first beach, Murioch beach, above and three pics below.
I often pass this garden with these unusual long eared sheep. They can be difficult to capture as they almost invariably turn away as soon as I point the camera.
Goats in a garden.
Second beach, above and three below, is Wine Strand, a delightful very small beach. A young family is enjoying the warm sunny day.
I normally prefer to catch a little more drama in my photos. This has been an exceptionally prolonged spell of beautiful sunny and mostly calm weather. Shouldn’t complain!
The beaches below are Cúl Dorcha, at Ballinrannig, which leads onto Béal Bán Beach
Pardon me for mentioning it again, but the rocky hill seen here is Sybil Head (Ceann Sibéal) where Lucas Films had their Star Wars set for the shooting of The Last Jedi for several months during 2016. The presence of the Star Wars film crew and actors in the area was a big boost to tourism – not that it was needed, but I suppose many did benefit from it.
Just to step back in time, here is a photo of Sybil Head from my home showing the temporary steel road that was laid at the time, and some blue containers can also be seen. This was taken in March 2016. I think more of the set arrived later.
The children at the local primary school here in Ballyferriter, will not forget the visit they had from Peter Mayhew, who visited them at the school in full Chewbacca attire. They told me he had to bend down to get through the door. It was so nice of him to visit the children. It’s sad that he has since passed away.
I digress – back to my walk, still at Cúl Dorcha Beach.
Above, at a grassy promontory at Ballinrannig, between Wine Strand and Cúl Dorcha Beach is this Ogham Stone (pronounced ome, like home without the h). Ogham is an ancient Irish alphabet, dating back to the 4th century AD. It’s the earliest form of writing in Ireland. The marks on the side of this stone are the ogham script. There are several of these stones to be seen in the country, and a large percentage of them are on the Dingle Peninsula. At the end of the 18th century a big storm uncovered seven of these stones here and most of them were moved to other locations by Lord Ventry. This one above is the only one left at its original location.
A project to record these ogham stones and other carved stones in 3d can be seen on this website: http://corcadhuibhne3d.ie/home.php Several people in the community including myself have been involved in this project.
I like to record some of the old farm sheds in the area, here are a couple of examples I passed on this walk. The one above, like many, looks like it was originally built as a home. Many of these old stone cottages are now used for storage or for animals.
Peacock butterfly, above. Looks like some of his colours have faded.
No idea of the name of these pink flowers, but we all know buttercups, below.
So that’s the end of my walk. I appreciate your visit. Stay safe!