Another Sunday, another walk.
I try to get out and have for myself a long walk each Sunday and this Sunday more than most, as I had been stuck in bed yesterday after the flu gave me a parting gift by kicking my ass once more. The day started on a low note, when I was late out of bed for dinner and found that they had replaced me at the dinner table. Traitorous curs.
My destination today was the high hill behind Tirellan Heights as it has the best view anywhere in the city. Period. Thonabrucky has the best views of Lough Corrib, but if you want a great view of the city, bay, countryside and the Lough, you go to Tirellan Heights. Its also more accesible than Thonabrucky. “More accessible” in that you only need to trespass on corporation land and risk your neck climbing a short slope that’s nearly vertical. Other than that its all rosy.
Other than the day was spectacularly clear and fresh, there’s not much to write about actually walking there. Out the Dyke Road and then up the back of Crestwood. Once I got up past the playing fields, however, I decided to make things more interesting by cutting through the forest and up the hill, rather than using the nicely provided path. The going was hard, but it was interesting at the same time. A cattle trail led up the hill through the wood, which I followed. You can see it in the last picture.
The whole side of the hill was karst pavement, both in and out of the trees, so the going was fairly treacheous.
Its a limestone pavement that’s been eroded over time by wind and rain and it covers the whole area, from down to Menlo Castle and by the river to up near to the Headford Road. Actually, that whole area is pretty rough, once you get off the roads and except for the houses are more modern, the area is about the same as it was a century ago. I have a closeup of the pavement here.
I eventually made it to the top of the hill and to the top of the water reservoir. The sky was…very blue, as you can imagine and the view was spectacular. I’ll skip on posting a half assed panorama and just show the highlights of the view:
Looking toward Lough Corrib:
Looking toward the east side of the city:
And toward the quarry…
I couldn’t call myself a warm-blooded male unless I went to the quarry to throw rocks in. It as you imagine a quarry would, and I took the opportunity of lying at the top of the cliff taking photos to play with the macro focus on my camera, to nice effect:
I headed home after that as the day was starting to turn, but there was one suprise left. Walking in the Headford Road along the dual carrigeway, I chanced to look over the barrier and what was all of five feet away but a crane:
And that was my day, ho hum.
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Me, elsewhere
