Over the mountains.

[Gramaisc]

Eventually, by means of careful clambering, I made it up to the tree-line, then had to negotiate very hummocky heath, with some big holes in, but the feral goats that hang around the area are generally helpful and mark the safe routes, so I made it back, exhausted up to another forestry road, from where i could see the road that I had entered the forest on.

I then had my regular Thursday night Lidl wraps, generic Twix substitute and water lunch at a table in the 'southern' car park.

Before heading back, along one of those roads that gets darker in the Summer.

 

[Trumpet]

Intrepid chap our Gramaisc.

 

[Gramaisc]

Today being another trustworthy-looking Friday, after a Thursday night shopping trip, I resolved to make an expedition to some waterfalls that I stood a better chance of finding this time.

The plan was to visit one set of falls, then drive to a ridge viewpoint, via the access road for a transmission mast, then drive from there to the falls near the head of the island's second longest river. This was to be accomplished by means of a map in my head, but I haven't been in that area for twelve years and this led to there being some corrupted data in the waypoints I had logged. Because of this, I actually did things in the reverse order, and I reached to ridge viewpoint on foot, after proceeding beyond the first falls.

Having abandoned the car, the first part of the path was moist, without being wet.

The next section was drier.

With an impressive vertical view.

 

[Gramaisc]

The falls exist in three steps and can be very exciting, after a wet spell - I considered coming here on Tuesday, after the extremely wet Monday that we had - but the weather was still a little difficult, so I didn't.

The fundamental structure of the mountains is Old Red Sandstone, which is a bit tougher than a lot of other sandstones are - although only reaching 550m these days, they were originally around 3,500m high, before the depredations of time and ice ages took their effect.

There are some classic geological features visible.

I reached the lowest of the three main falls - there was a chap bathing here when I returned, though the water was on the chilly side, I thought.

Higher up, the river runs in a gorge where the side is about 30m high and almost vertical - quite impressive, looking down off the path.

 

[Gramaisc]

As I proceeded further up, I decided that I 'should' be able to access the transmission towers from here and set off with that in mind.

The path beyond the falls has been considerably improved since my last visit and this was part of why I reached to decision to proceed up onto the ridge.

Large sections were like this - and there was little possibility of vehicular access anywhere, so it must have been quite an undertaking to get the materials there.

At one point, I had to make a decision about my route - although the masts are visible from tens of miles away, they are hardly visible at all from anywhere within five miles. I decided that one way 'looked' much better than the other, then I decided to check where the Sun was and , with the time of day, I changed my mind, heading in the opposite direction - this path became steadily less of a path, and less convincing, but it 'had to be right' - then I saw that I was heading into the car park at the view point - phew!


The site does look like @BobClay's holiday home.

The road accessing the car park is remarkably steep, but a bit wider than it was years ago, when hill-starts were much feared, if you met somebody coming down...

 

[Gramaisc]

I wound my way back to the car and proceeded to the other falls, on a river that becomes a tributary to the 'main' one.

These falls have a weir installed below them to create a swimming pool, with access ladders and lifebuoys - I did not partake.

 

[BobClay]

As I've said before: You can't have enough aerials.

 

[Gramaisc]

It being another dependable-looking Friday, I took my Thursday night Lidl sandwich on a small expedition.

The target was a cairn, known as the Stoney Man. This involves a trek along an ascending ridge, covered in blanket bog. I last did it forty years ago and it was a bit of a struggle, but I decided to try to repeat the feat.

I knew there was a bit of boardwalk from the car park to a nearby viewing point.

Some of the places visible from there are clearly identifiable with the naked eye*, even when they are sixty miles away.

From there, I could see bits of the initial part of the route that I intended to follow, which seemed like a good sign.

* naked but for my trusty Asda varifocals**...

**, my eyes, not me.

 

[Gramaisc]

I was surprised to see just how much improved the route was, it was mostly boardwalk, when it had previously been like the Somme without the bullets.

Even including impressive structures like this - a long way from vehicular access.

Eventually, the main boardwalk turned to head back to the start and a short spur ended, leaving the walker facing this.

I headed up the hill to see how things progressed...

...and. a few hundred yards later, found that the boardwalk started again.

 

[Gramaisc]

This continued most of the rest of the way, apart from a few short sections where it would have had no real beneficial effect.

The remains of the old route were there most of the way, for those who had nostalgia for the past difficulties.

After a short while, a cairn appeared.

A hundred yards off the track and much smaller than I remembered - and there was no sign of the small quarry that was the source of the stones - the others having been used for field walling.

Eventually, I noticed the 'real' cairn further up the ridge and set of towards it, again.

At this point, I was at 1600 feet and there was a bit of a wind, but the remains of the quarry is a useful windbreak for lunch.

 

[Gramaisc]

The quarry had some verdant vegetation.

And some small caves/lairs/dens that I didn't investigate very deeply.

I headed back along the same route, initially, before deviating for a different return to the car.

I noted that two intrepid cyclists had passed by during my lunch break.

 

[proactive]

Do you work for the Irish tourist board @Gramaisc?

Because if you don't then they ought to grab you and do themselves a favour.

 

[Gramaisc]

Last night, I made two predictions.

1, Today would continue to be warm, dry and calm.

2, I would wake up well into the early stages of a cold (hopefully just that).

Both turned out to be true, so I decided to have a day in the hills, to take advantage of the good weather and to avoid humans.

Rather than work out a new route, I decided to just head to the weird little hilltop lake again.

This valley looked quite wintry on the way there, but the 'snow' is just the white remains of last year's grass, as seen in the foreground.

The forest roads are generally quite good, though only available to public vehicles in the sense of bicycles. This one was improved last year, but it does now have a truly magnificent pothole.

That is four feet deep.

It was a nice stroll out and, oddly for up there, I did meet two people, but maintained a reasonable distance.

 

[Gramaisc]

Today, I found a marvellous book about the area.

It's a book whose existence I was previously completely unaware of and I would have been happy to pick up a copy at almost any price.

But, I didn't even have to part with any money to gain possession of it - because I found it in a pile of books in my front bedroom...

My current phase of domestic archaeology has turned up a few "unknown possessions", but this is a gem.

 

[Gramaisc]

It seems to have become almost traditional now for the first foray of the year to be to the weird little lake, but the real reason was to reveal the location to a friend who has failed to find it a few times.

It is probably at its most visible at the moment, with the water level a little higher than in the summer and the surrounding vegetation at the post-winter minimum - but, even with his elevated observation height, we were within a hundred yards before the water surface revealed itself.

As isolated as it is, it became apparent that at least two frogs had made it that far - possibly as tadpoles carried by birds, I suppose - and had survived far enough to produce a load of spawn, partially frozen.

To me, it seems a rather adventurous place to be a frog and I've never noticed any amphibian activity before - I might even pop back later and see how they are getting on.

One of the frogs was spotted as I went to pick my bag up. It was around 2C at that time, around noon, 1,600 feet up - he was alive, but a bit lethargic.

We set off back by a different route that I've not done before, but had down for a future venture, so I can change the colour of that line on my map now...

 

[Mudgie]

It seems to have become almost traditional now for the first foray of the year to be to the weird little lake, but the real reason was to reveal the location to a friend who has failed to find it a few times.

It is probably at its most visible at the moment, with the water level a little higher than in the summer and the surrounding vegetation at the post-winter minimum - but, even with his elevated observation height, we were within a hundred yards before the water surface revealed itself.

View attachment 13743

As isolated as it is, it became apparent that at least two frogs had made it that far - possibly as tadpoles carried by birds, I suppose - and had survived far enough to produce a load of spawn, partially frozen.

View attachment 13744

To me, it seems a rather adventurous place to be a frog and I've never noticed any amphibian activity before - I might even pop back later and see how they are getting on.

One of the frogs was spotted as I went to pick my bag up. It was around 2C at that time, around noon, 1,600 feet up - he was alive, but a bit lethargic.

View attachment 13745

We set off back by a different route that I've not done before, but had down for a future venture, so I can change the colour of that line on my map now...

Is that a tarn eroded by a glacier long ago ?

 

[Gramaisc]

Is that a tarn eroded by a glacier long ago ?

Anything is possible, but it seems a little small and regular to me - and there is nothing else similar in the vicinity. Also, the sides are vertical for about five feet, to a very soft bottom. It is an odd thing in an odd location and the geological powers have no firm version of the 'truth' about it - so far. It is in a blanket bog and I have no information on how thick the peat layer may be in the vicinity.

Even its age is a matter of conjecture - it is not shown on the 1912 map, but that may simply be because the surveyors just didn't see it.

The hills did suffer considerable erosion from the glaciers, they would be many thousands of feet higher without that activity and the frogs may be even less happy about that.

 

[Gramaisc]

Another Sunday Morning venture, to show my companion a sneaky way past the waterfalls to the cairn, with its nice views, even on a hazy day.

 

[Gramaisc]

From there, we proposed to attempt a route through the forest towards an abandoned village. We made a start, and found the going rather difficult - it was also clear that there were no human footprints anywhere - the tracks we followed were those of deer, mostly. We took a vote and decided to press on.

The deer seemed unperturbed by our presence.

Things got much harder as we entered the trees and there was talk of giving up and going back, but I pointed out that it had been very difficult to get that far going downhill, a return might be regretted and the forest had to end at some point. A hundred yards later, we emerged onto a new forestry track. We guessed the right way to approach the abandoned village, which was only a few hundred yards off our estimated course.

This was the last house in the village to be inhabited - still lived in in 1962.

It was hard going and I have suffered for these pictures...

 

[Mudgie]

From there, we proposed to attempt a route through the forest towards an abandoned village. We made a start, and found the going rather difficult - it was also clear that there were no human footprints anywhere - the tracks we followed were those of deer, mostly. We took a vote and decided to press on.

The deer seemed unperturbed by our presence.

View attachment 13773

Things got much harder as we entered the trees and there was talk of giving up and going back, but I pointed out that it had been very difficult to get that far going downhill, a return might be regretted and the forest had to end at some point. A hundred yards later, we emerged onto a new forestry track. We guessed the right way to approach the abandoned village, which was only a few hundred yards off our estimated course.

This was the last house in the village to be inhabited - still lived in in 1962.

View attachment 13774

It was hard going and I have suffered for these pictures...

Fast flowing white water in your first two pictures, then I saw a salmon leaping in your fourth, but no it's a deer grazing !
I'm overdue an eye test.