A Saunter At Gougane Barra.

I think we are getting old.  On Sunday morning. Number one son went repairing some livestock fencing for some body he knows and number 2 son went into town to see his pals. He didn't want to spend his sixteenth birthday with his parents.  

They didn't want a trip out with their parents to Gougane Barra Forest Park.  So it was just my wife, Fido our trusty terrier and tripe hound  and myself who drove to the sixteen miles to the forest park.  

Fido is fifteen now so we couldn't walk very far.  So we walked for twenty minutes or so in one direction and then turned around and walked back to the car.  We took photographs of some of the things we saw on the walk.  It was good to have company on a walk for a change.  My wife says she likes to walk on the flat and 'my' walks always become hikes.  The walk was on tarmac and it was a good way to spend a Sunday morning.

 Thatched WC.

 St Fin Barr's Oratory.   A picturesque place to get married.  

 There's snow on them there mountains.

 The walking routes 

 No Dogs Allowed.

 A moss covered ancient dry stone wall.

 Some of the fallen trees from when Storm Darwin visited West Cork.

 A fungi in February.  Anybody know what it is?

The lake and oratory from another angle.

Back To Glass Bottles?

I haven't seen glass milk bottles for donkeys years have you?  

That was until today in a supermarket in Bantry.  A West Cork dairy farm is giving you 70 Cents back when you return your empty milk bottle. Do you think we should go back to glass milk bottles?   Glass decomposes naturally unlike plastic which probably take hundreds if not thousands of years to decompose.  

  

Where Are The Rubbish Bins In The Countryside?

Have you been watching the Sky Ocean Rescue programmes last week on Sky News?  More than eight million tonnes of plastic is thrown away each year and ends up in the sea and on shores.

I went for a walk the other day and noticed the same kind of rubbish on our peninsula.  I came back the other day and noticed the tide had took most of the rubbish away.  One thing what strikes me when I am walking where are the rubbish bins?  I suppose councils would say we should all take our rubbish home.  But you could say that about town centres.  

Even when I walk some of the famous walking routes in Ireland I see bins for dog poo but never a bin to put my plastic bottles or food packaging.  Not everybody takes their rubbish home.  Especially if they are camping and hiking for a few days.  

I think there should be rubbish bins every few miles.  I know people will still dump rubbish.  But if there is a bin for them to put litter in,  They don't  (won't)have an excuse not to use them. Will they?

Why can't we have old fashioned shops that wrap everything in paper that can be recycled or put in the solid fuel range?

I drink a bottle of water every day.  I wonder what the old people would have thought of buying bottled water?  We recycle what we can and burn fuel taking our cans to the (wasp pubs) bottle banks.  Then we find nowhere for the plastic bottles and warning signs of CCTV cameras and on the spot fines if we leave any litter.  Yet there is nowhere to put our bin bags or carrier bags in.  Could they not provide litter bins for us?

Why can't they employ people like yours truly to tidy up the beaches and countryside?  Do you agree?  Is it another case of towns getting all the amenities and the countryside getting nothing? 

The Rain That Gets You Wet And Measuring My Feet.

Sorry I have not been in a blogging mood lately.  I have got back into my walking routine again though.  Yesterday I walked nine miles along the north side (the name of my blog) of our peninsula in my rainy day suit.  I only spoke to one person on my saunter.  A middle age lady was busy shoveling leaves out of a road drain.  We both said: 

"Hello".  

That was my only human communication apart from waves from passing cars.  The people in rural Ireland often wave to passing motorists and "fools in the rain", yours truly.  

It was a typical mizzle day in West Cork.  It was that rain "that gets you wet" kind of day.  But my new waterproofs (I bought them last summer) have given me a new lease of life.  I got home and my wife had made me some home made bread and some soup.  

A few hours later I asked her to measure my feet (like you do) for me.  I was informed that I am size eleven.  This was quite a shock for me.  I have been wearing size ten boots/shoes for nearly forty years.  I know feet swell when you walk and I was blaming Metric sizes being too small and why can you not get ten and half boots anymore..?  Must get some new walking boots.  

Snow Over The Bay.

Hi everybody.  This is a photograph of Bantry Bay taken on Friday morning.  There was a talcum powder like covering of the Caha mountain range over on Beara.  Which is the peninsula across from us.  We live on Sheeps Head.  

The mountain is Hungry hill which I have shown you before.  It reminded me of that great Neil Young song: Sugar Mountain.  Sugar Loaf mountain is also on Beara.  But Hungry Hill looked more spectacular.  Hope you are all well and I will catch up with your blogs this week.  Not been in a blogging mood.  H

Here is another song that's always playing on my mental juke box.  Neil Peart (Rush lyricist and drummer) coined the phrase in his wonderful motorbike travel memoir: Ghost Rider.  

Digging With Jack Frost.

Old Jack Frost had been painting the garden last night.  I decided to do a bit more winter digging with my four prong pike on the veg plot.  It's good to get back on the land.  Although frost is always a sure sign it will be followed with rain.  I hope to strim the lawns tomorrow.  They have grown very long and would choke the lawn-mower even on its highest cut setting.

 Before with weeds on top of the soil.  Notice my old paint tub for a weeding bucket.

After.  The soil is ready for another visit by Jack frost tonight.  The positive news is the nasties get killed off and the birds can search for them for food.  The negative side: my knees and my back ache.  I have decided to treat my self to a Buplex tablet and a glass of Chardonnay wine.  Shame I can't afford to employ a "little man or woman from the village" to dig over  my  veg plot.  

I remember years a go I use to read postcard notices in shop windows on posh housing estates in Lancashire and Cheshire saying : "Wanted active pensioner gardener for a few hours work for a bit of beer money. " I feel old now and I am only in my early fifties. Do you like digging?

New Years Eve At Castlegregory Beach.

Happy New Year.  We went shopping in Kerry (Iceland and Argos) and went for a drive to Castlegregory.  It looked so different to when I walked the same beach back in August.  We stopped at the car-park and did our usual staring at the bay.  The clouds and sky looked lead in colour and very emotional.

My mental jukebox started playing in my head.  A song from one of my favourite Barclay James Harvest albums: The Turn Of The Tide.   Hope you enjoy it.

Hope 2017 is a great year for you and all your dreams are fulfilled.