Herb Riddle's photos

A busy view of this working harbour located on the Belmullet Peninsular, Ireland in Blacksod Bay. Of course fences abound in such places. A miserable weather start to our day in this remote spot but it was to improve. In the background stands the old lighthouse. Just to the right, out of shot is still some evidence of the old whaling station (Blacksod Whaling Co ) that used to be located here (see pip). It was active from 1900 till 1925 as Blacksod Bay is the nearest point in Ireland to the continental shelf edge and the abysmal plain. Around 800 whales where harpooned and brought here and its main site on the nearby Island of Rusheen for processing. More info: www.marinetours.ie/wildlife-log/64-captain-whalesgalore-wonderful-winter-wildlife-log.html Enjoy the weekend. ps another phone photo, as my many DSLR photos did not capture all this at quite the same p.o.v.

Lying just about 50 metres away from the harbour we see this. We were informed that this was used in the whaling operations that was quite intensive here almost 100 years ago. As to its real use in that operation, one can only guess. Apart from an old winch nearby, there seems little else but long forgotten memories about all this. See next photo for more info and harbour scene.

As we continue our home stretch of this ‘Children of Lir Loop walk’ we witness more evidence of this traditional custom in this part of Ireland. Peat harvesting has been carried out here for millennium, originally as fuel for local home heating and cooking but more recently as big business for use in horticulture. We see here a tractor helping in digging rows of shallow trenches, where the brick-sods are cut out (slices of peat) and laid in rows on the surface nearby, in order to dry. You can see on here the outline of many years of peat harvesting covering the whole area. As we walked past dwelling, we could see many piles of these peat sods under canvas or shelters ready to be burned indoors. Even before seeing all that, you could smell the very distinctive aroma of burned peat. The Pip (last photo) shows a similar bog field just some 20 miles away. Nowadays, with the sure knowledge of climate change it is recognised that these wetland peat bogs, often many thousands of years old are great reservoirs of carbon and the harvesting of peat emits greenhouse gases by releasing that carbon. In that respect there are plans afoot to halt all commercial cutting. See link: www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/27/ireland-closes-peat-bogs-climate-change See last photo for a little more info.

County Mayo Although commercial peat harvesting in Ireland is (or is almost) banned, we see here the obvious signs of harvesting on a big scale. In the background are big piles of white plastic bags holding the peat bricks (sods), ready for transportation. ~ Peat bogs grow slowly, accumulating around 0.5 to 1 mm of peat each year, and the water prevents the plants from decomposing. As a result, many areas of UK (and Irish) peat bog have been accumulating gradually for as much as 10,000 years, and can be up to 10m deep. Nb The Pennine moorland tops, we see from our house (in the UK) is largely composed of peat too. See next photo

Having walked along the sea-cliffs of this 'Children of Lir' loop (just beyond the top edge here), we come finally to a strange structure, namely the ‘Children of Lir’ sculpture. In truth we knew this was here as it denoted our turn-around point but we expected something more in the way of a ‘traditional’ sculpture. We found nothing explaining how these walls and bits represented elements of the story: The Children of Lir sculpture - one of a series from the Spirit of Place Sculpture Trail which centres on culturally-distinct, historic, unspoiled and isolated regions around the world. The sculpture has significance to this area from where thousands of people have emigrated in the past to all parts of the world – bringing with them a strong spirit of place – but never to return. The legend of The Children of Lir tells the tale of children who were turned into swans and condemned to wander the countryside for 900 years, 300 of these were spent on the north Mayo Island, Inishglora, 300 on Lough Derravaragh and 300 years in the Sea of Moyle (above County Antrim) . More info on the legend: www.irishcentral.com/roots/irish-myth-children-lir-swan-lake We were to visit the northern spot with another storyboard near Bushmills on our second week here. Inishglora Isand can just about be seen (I think) in the PiP photo. Have a good day.

As our temperatures rise to an unprecedented high, I take an opportunity just before the two days of maximum heat to take a walk around my Dovestones area again. I really wanted to get an idea of the three reservoir water levels and in that I was shocked. Here I am looking down on Yeoman Hey reservoir and I have never seen it this low in my 50+ years of walking around here. The Pip shows the next higher reservoir (from where I am stood.) Greenfield reservoir from the now sandy shore that is normally 20+ ft under water. Today our temps go to 35C+ before a general cooling down tomorrow. I think we can count ourselves lucky that we have some water at all as part of England and continental Europe shoots up above 40 today. Nice full screen. Keep cool and safe.

We are on the Belmulet peninsula here not far from Blacksod. We come by a fascinating Stonehenge look-alike called Deirbhile's Twist. The village is called An Fál Mór (Fallmore). Please see the preceding photo for description of that. ps The big wavy metal object is a sign denoting the 'Wild Atlantic Way': 'The Wild Atlantic Way is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1600m) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, stretching from County Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula in Ulster to Kinsale, County Cork, in Munster, on the Celtic Sea coast.'. Wiki ** Keep cool in this dangerous heat today ! **

The stone circle made by artist Michael Boffin in 1993 from local granite stones in form of a twist erected with 22 stepping stones leading up to it. This is near the village of Fallmore (An Fál Mór) on the Belmullet Peninsular . It is the Last part of the sculpture trail through North Mayo to commemorate Mayo 5000. See PiPs.

Stone circle made by artist Michael Boffin in 1993 from local granite stones in form of a twist erected with 22 stepping stones leading up to it. This is near the village of Fallmore (An Fál Mór) on the Belmullet Peninsular . It is the Last part of the sculpture trail through North Mayo to commemorate Mayo 5000.

We are getting to our northern end of The Children of Lir Loop walk now with evermore closer looks at the Stags. We have now co-joined another bigger loop walk called the Portacloy Cliff walk. Benween Head is the headland we see here on the right. See last photo for alternative view and description. Nice full size.

We are getting to our northern end of the loop now with evermore closer looks at the Stags. We have now co-joined another bigger loop walk called Portacloy. They are in fact bigger than they look on here at around 3km from where I am standing. An Archipelago of five steep rocks with Teach Dónal ÓCléirigh rising to a height of 97m above the Atlantic Ocean. A closer look is by far best undertaken by kayak though and some people do try to land and climb them. They are completely uninhabited both by man and sheep. See Pip or next photo for another view and description.

As we continue up this rugged coast we see one of a few characteristic Islands just offshore. This is Kidd Island covering just 32 acres. I believe flocks of sheep graze on here in summer but we never saw any and the mind boggles to how they would get on there with those sheer rocky cliffs. Oops, I must correct myself: the white spots on the the left of the Island are indeed sheep (as seen on my sharper full size original). NB there is a another smaller nameless rock in front of Kidd Island here. Enjoy full screen.

This is part of our walk today near Belmullet. This is another round walk made especially for the tourist of around 5-7 miles. The lake is a shallow one and is called, ‘Cross Lough.’ This gate is more like a traditional garden gate but the barbed fence is very typical of fences everywhere near here. Our way follows the arrow back to the start. A great walk with the highlight being the walk along the beautiful sandy bay. Enjoy full size.

As our walk continues, we spot some earlier walkers heading away. Our path will take us along the edge of the cliffs on the left before Kidd Island. Enjoy full screen

We have left the Rinroe Beach area and am heading north again. The top left landmass is Kidd Island that we shall eventually pass. As you can see, a striking coastal panoramic adventure needing stout walking boots and a packed lunch in the rucksack! Enjoy full screen.

Back in Skipness, Kintyre, we have visited the castle and church and now take the little woodland walk through wild paths, brooks and trees. Here we cross over the little river on this old packhorse style bridge. A marvellous sight but quite difficult to capture in its full splendidness. As we walk we are accompanied by the smell of wild garlic and the sound of the babbling brook. Enjoy full screen.

Another shot from this park. A traditional seat overlooking this tidal stretch of water here at Holyhead. Enjoy full size and enjoy your week in safety.

A rare subject nowadays for my Ipernity. Flower closeups. This taken in our garden on a very warm day to checkout my newly acquired Nikon 105mm macro lens. It is actually the very end tip of one of our many Astilbe plants, also known as 'False goat's beard' Enjoy full screen and beware that hot sun.