Ballydavid over Mt Brandon shoulder to Cloghane

 Today was a very challenging day.  26 km and 800 metres over the shoulder of Mt Brandon, Ireland’s second highest mtn.














Above is finally reaching the summit.  Barb’s not as pleased looking as I am, but trust me she was.

Below is starting down the other side.




After this we ran out of water and were too tired to take photos.  😎

The views were just spectacular and it was a very fine day but we are two tired pups tonight.  When we finally arrived in the village we stopped at Occonnor’s bar (the only one in town) for water and of course a pint.

For our dinner we called Pat Scully (taxi) to take us back to Murphy’s pub on the water at Brandon, about 7 km back from Cloghane.  There we met a nice man, Derek, who had just opened a sheepskin shop in Dingle.  He’s been a sheep skin dealer and processor for many years and said his co processed 18,000 sheep hides a week.  That was quite a few I reckoned and I’ve got his card for follow up if needed.☺️

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jan 5. Kaikoura to Abel Tasman Nat Park

Image
 We stayed last night at Peteka Campground in a little cabin to avoid the impending wind and  rain.  It appears that we are fair weather tenters.  They had a nice shower house and outdoor communal cooking area.  5 star. Hafeeza and Abdullah enjoying their fist meat pie.  For breakfast no less! This young man is our master of wifi and phone tech support.  He is relentless. Our day today was a long driving day of 4.5 hours- broken up by a wonderful tour of the Yealands winery, a world leader in sustainability.  Built by Peter Leland.  “Be bold but tread lightly”. And “never say it can’t be done” Peter Yealand started the practise of baling up the old vines as they were pulled out and burning them to generate energy for the winery.   Peter Yealand also initiated the practise of inter row planting legumes and pollinator species and then grazing with babydoll sheep.   This breed is shorter legged and cannot reach as high on the vine so d...
Read more

New Zealand - Jan 4 Christchurch to Kaikoura

Image
  I arrived at Christchurch airport relatively unscathed except for the security at Auckland airport confiscating my tent pegs.  Hafeeza and Abdullah were there to greet me, we picked up our suv and let the adventure begin! First stop was 30 mins NE of Christchurch to visit Todd Barnes and fam.  Todd lived w us at Black Creek 26 years ago and we picked up like it was yesterday.  He and his wife Roz treated us just like family.  We had a great catch up, and they sent us on our way with a full bag of cherries, tent pegs a hammer and 2 bedrolls.   The photos below are a look around their 55 acre farm and I’ll take more photo when we return in 10 days time. Notice pasture chickens in background.  The sheep shed their wool so no shearing involved. Todd grows their cherries in this greenhouse and his girls pick and sell them at the end of their driveway.  His girls are both competitive rowers and are both tall and gorgeous.
Read more

Camp to Aanascaul

Image
  Leaving Camp Juction B&B off to Annascaul. Day 2 on Dingle Way.   This stream early in the day was such a pretty spot and the video is pretty funny- she’s not that bossy normally lol. We came across the cutest pair of lambs here and I’m pretty sure this is the range of the farmer I was chatting to the night before.  Annie and Stetley will get a kick out of these two. We had a couple cheese and crackers here and barb cleaned her boots a bit inside and out lol.  Turns out she’s a sheep sh. magnet.   Over the main range w Inch Beach in the background. Beaches and grassers in the same photo- loved that and they seemed to take a liking to Barb.  We saw quite a few Holstein/Angus steers in this region that farmers utilize for their extra grass.   Tom Crean was serving in the Navy in New Zealand when he saw this ad. The fellows in the bar last night recommended the South Pole Inn as our base camp for this evening.  We stumbled in at 2 pm and enjoye...
Read more