Photograph of the week. Part 1 up to May 2015

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 Every week I intend to post a photograph that means something to me. It may not be from my last trip but from any walk over the last three years.
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Comments are very welcome. Some people have told me they tried to post comments but could not do so.  If you just click on comments on bottom of page it will show you existing comments and a place for you to post your comment. Also I would appreciate if you would use the share buttons to share on facebook etc. 

I have many different posts so please check the blog archive on your right, or simply click on OLDER POSTS at the bottom of this page . Thanking you and enjoy.
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I will try to post at start of the week on a Monday.
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The return of the wanderer. To explain why there has been no posts for the last six weeks, I have just finished walking in Spain, the Camino from Valencia to Santiago called Camino de Levante. Amazing walk sometimes very hot, they experienced a heatwave while I was there. I will over the next few weeks post a special section on my bog and website. There were very few Pilgrims on this route, you could go for a couple of weeks just meeting two or three. It was also a route of wide open flat spaces and big skies. This shot sums up the lone Pilgrim and big sky.

Pilgrim Sky

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A lovely new trail has opened in Sligo, it is to Knocknarea (327 meters). The entrance to it is opposite the Rugby Club Strandhill, Sligo. The first section is pathway and steps, then there is a board-walk through the woods. You can then exit the woods and follow the pathway to the Cairn, Medb's Tomb. My photograph shows a section of the board-walk.

Board-walk Knocknarea Sligo

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Trying to come up with a suitable photograph for Easter Sunday. I was going to photograph my hard boiled egg and post that,  This is a shot I took on Easter Sunday it is on the Le Puy route.

Easter Sunday market

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This week my selection goes back to the beautiful Pyrénées.

Arrens-Marsous to Lac d'Ilheou

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This week three photographs  taken on Saint Patrick's day. It is the wood above Glencar Waterfall County Leitrim. I like the moss on the tree and very twisted bare branches of other trees in the background looking down from the top top of a steep bank, to what is really  a cliff face.

Sleeping Trees 1

Sleeping Trees 2

Sleeping Trees 3

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Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's day is next Tuesday 17th March. I now feature a few photographs of Croagh Patrick, a mountain associated with Saint Patrick. He reputedly fasted there on the summit for forty days. It is now a site of Christian Pilgrimage. It was a site of Pagan Pilgrimage, especially for the Summer Solstice since 3,000 BC.

The tiny Church on the top of Croagh Patrick

Climbing Croagh Patrick

View from Croagh Patrick towards Clew Bay, folklore says there are 365 Islands in the bay, one for every day for the year.

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This week a local image take in the Dartry Mountains.

On the Dartry Mountains

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I am still working on my new website  Camino Gallery and as a result I am going through all of photographs. I came across this photograph taken near Krauchthal Switzerland. It was taken well into the woods and this "crib" was situated in the middle of a large pile of logs. The date was early February, at first I thought it was a Christmas crib, now I am not sure. It would have been near Valentines day, has that any significance? The pink doors and the two hearts. If you know any more leave a comment please.

What is this?

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This week I want tell you about a project I have been working on for many months, that is a website based on my many walks over the last few years. It is called Caminogallery.com The emphasis will be on Camino routes but will also include some of my other walks and photographs taken around my home area in the West of Ireland. All of the images in the website are available for instant download in high resolution JPG format. I explain on my website the many suggested uses of the images. I am not setting a price on my work, I will let you do that. Obviously the site will need to generate income so that I continue to do what I am doing. The website is called caminogallery.com.

So this week I am posting a photograph of a shell associated with the Camino and a link to my website. I hope you will enjoy and may

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Next Thursday 19th February is the start of the Chinese New Year. This year it is the sheep/goat(horned animal).In celebration of this I post a photograph taken on the Le Puy Camino a few years ago. Ideally I should have posted a photograph of sheep with horns but I like this one.

All look at the camera please.

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The Pyrénées is where we go this week. This should give you an idea what it feels like to spend an evening and night in one of these unmanned huts high in the mountains. You have to find your own water source, in this case it was more than 1 km away. No toilet or electricity. You go and forage for firewood. That night I was alone in the cabane. The sky was full of amazing stars, the only light pollution is the passing Jet traffic. I lit a nice fire it provided both light and heat, the candle allowed me a little extra light so I could write my journal.  

Cabane Besset Pyrénées

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St Brigig's Cross.

Today the 1st of February is St Brigid'S feast day. Crosses are traditionally made on or for today. They are made out of rushes (grass like plant). This feast day was formerly a Pagan festival to mark the beginning of Spring. 

Traditionally the crosses were set over doorways and windows to protect the home from any kind of harm.

This photograph was taken in the hills over Glencar, my friend Pauric just picked some rushes and made it while we were walking.

St Brigid's Cross

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Another photograph from Lough Gill, Sligo.

Swans in flight, Lough Gill, Sligo

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At the moment I doing one of my many re-edits of my work. This is a shot of Hazelwood, Lough Gill, Sligo taken January 2009. I like the feeling of the photograph.

Lough Gill at Hazelwood, Sligo

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The Yellow Rose of Winter
or a piece of confectionery.

Mitchell Curley Park Sligo

Till Spring, I sleep.

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In the archive section of my blog you will see many posts dedicated to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. This is a collection of major pilgrim routes ending in Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain. I now include an image of my own shadow taken on the Via de la Plata. It is the type of image that sums up the Pilgrim and the long road ahead. Many pilgrims who have walked the road to Santiago have taken an image similar to this.

A shadow of a Pilgrim

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This was take in Salamanca, Spain a few years ago while walking the Via de la Plata. Nice place during day even nicer at night.

Plaza Mayor Salamanca Spain

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Hello everyone and a very happy New Year to you all.  May you have a good 2015 and I hope you have some nice adventures. Maybe you will walk the Camino for the first time or walk a different Camino from your last one. Walk the Pyrénées, the Alps, the Sligo Way. Get out there and enjoy. 

I will have details and a link here in a few weeks of my new photographic website.

Today (31-12-2014)I went walking in Glencar with a friend of mine. This is a shot of the Waterfall that blows back up into the sky and mountain, I have posted a photograph a few months ago of it from underneath. This is a shot from above it is called Sruth in Aghaidh An Aird.

Man in blue at Sruth in Aghaidh An Aird 

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Almost forgot to post this week as it is hard to remember what day of the week it is. Taken in July this year in Provence.

Beauty in Provence or is it a Philip Tracey Hat?

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Hello and Happy Christmas from Sligo. To you all who have visited the blog on a regular basis thank  you and a hope you enjoyed  it. Also to the many people I met over the years on different Camino routes, the Pyrénees, the Apls, Provence, Cévenees, Lozere etc.

I intend to have a website proper up and running sometime in January.

My best wishes to all,

Dermot Dolan

Raindrops on Holly, Ballygawley Wood, Sligo

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Hello everyone its Christmas week and I am going to post a photograph of snow and flowers. This was taken on the day after the summer solstice  and I now post it a day after the winter solstice. Flowers are growing up where there was a footprint. It is taken at the Col du Palet French Alps Vanoise National Park.

Flowers in the Snow 22 June 2014

  

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A portrait this week from Provence, France. I was walking the GR 4 in High Provence and had got to the the town of Manosque. The route way markings had now become non existent and I had no map. The only sensible way to get out of Manosque was by bus. I took this at the bus station.

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An extra one this week. Taken today (8th December 2014) on my walk in Ballygawley wood. You would have seen colour shots taken in the same place a few weeks ago that showed brilliant late Autumn colour. This I think works in black and white.

Ballygawley Wood 8th December 2014

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As I sit in my house today 7th December, a wet cold grey day in Ireland, I look back on photographs of warmer times. I pick a Camino photograph. Taken on Le Puy route in France, on a misty but warm morning. It is taken very near Eglise de Rouillac a few kilometres past Montcuq. It is of two French pilgrims. You can just see the guitar, protected by a towel, on the back of the rucksack of Jean-Baptise. You can almost hear their conversation.

Jacques et Jean-Baptiste sur Le Chemin de Saint-Jacques

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This week it is the Ardéche, France. While staying in the lovely Abbaye Notre Dame des Neiges, which in English means "Our Lady of the Snows",a lovely name. It is a Trappist monastery. I was walking the Stevenson Way,Robert Louis Stevenson stayed here in 1878. 

This mating ritual was taking place opposite my window.

Acting the Goat

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27 November 2014. To all my American visitors who look at this site I wish you a happy thanksgiving. The most appropriate photograph I can find is one I took on the Le Puy route this year. 

Happy Thanksgiving

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An additional midweek shot. Taken in South West France, on the GR 65, just outside Arzacq-Arraziquet.

Into a Maize (a field of).

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More from photograph of the week this week. I went out twice to Glencar today once in late morning and again towards sunset. Unfortunately there was no real sunset but I got a shot of the reeds that I liked.

Glencar Lake

Reeds after sunset, slow shutter speed lets the reeds move in the wind.

Hawthorn berries over mountain stream.

Looking down on Glencar Lake from the Bog Road

Glencar Lake.

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The photograph of the week this week is from Glencar Co Leitrim. Taken above the main waterfall in the hills with the bare tree as the feature.

For everything there is a season.

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I am re-editing the many thousands of photographs I took this year. These are three I liked for their colour. All taken in High Provence, France. They were taken on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July respectively. 

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I have been taking a lot of photographs in the last few weeks with lovely Autumn colour. I posted a special section of local Autumn shots all taken in one mornings walk. It is well worth having a look at, this is the a direct link to it.
 http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/11/a-wet-grey-autumn-day-in-woods-and.html

Now to this week. The lovely Pyrénées again. Taken in the Pyrénées Atlantique.

Lone Bird, above the clouds.

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This week Autumn colours in Ballygawley Wood Sligo. Taken on two different mornings, one taken yesterday 8th November (first one) the other taken on 29 October.

Click on image to enlarge it and create slide show.

Rays of Sunshine Early Morning 

A carpet of leaves.

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I have recently added four new sections based on Camino routes. The latest is a section on the Camino Portuguese. You can check them out by looking at the list of posts on the right hand side of blog, they will be in the October 2014 section.

This week a local Sligo scene. It is taken Hazelwood and is the light breaking through after a misty early morning.

Hazelwood Sligo

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I have spent a lot of time in front of the computer for the last two weeks since I came back from my recent walk. I have post three new sections.

I  will now simply give the link to each of the three of them.

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/10/le-puy-to-moissac-early-spring-2012.html

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/10/el-camino-over-pyrenees.html


http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/10/the-le-puy-route-gr65-chemin-st-jacques.html

But this afternoon Tuesday 28th October 2014 I went photographing in my local area.  I needed the walk. An amazing new walkway - trail has been created. It is in Glencar area of Sligo. It is to a lovely high waterfall, not the main well know Glencar Waterfall but one know as Sruth in Aghaidh An Aird (Gaileach -Irish language).

Here is the lovely Waterfall.

Sruth in Aghaidh An Aird Glencar Sligo Ireland

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Recently while walking towards the end of the Le Puy route I saw the beautiful Pyrénées in the distance. It was Saturday 4th October 2014 and I was on my way to Arthez de Bern. I had two years previously walked the GR 10 which goes the full length of the Pyrénées from Atlantic to Mediterranean. So now I was able to recognise different peaks. I saw Pic du Midi d'Ossau and my heart began to beat faster.

This is a shot I took on my 2012 walk. 

Pic du Midi d'Ossau

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I recently walked from Espalion in France to Roncesvalles in Spain. This is part of the Chemin St Jacques or GR65. It is one of the few Camino routes that I have walked twice as I generally don't like to repeat my steps. It is my favourite Camino. I now post one photograph here taken this Autumn, but also set up a special section of the route.  

This is a direct link to the Le Puy section,

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/10/the-le-puy-route-gr65-chemin-st-jacques.html

Pilgrim

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This was taken on my recent Le Puy trip, between Lectore and Condom. Early morning a farmer picking up the windfalls in a field. It sums up Autumn. I like the colour against the almost black/grey soil.

Windfalls

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I am still working on my "Le Puy" photographs from recent trip. I will probably post a section within a week, a lot of work involved editing. In the meantime I post this of my local area taken last Sunday 12th October 2014. It is about 4 km from where I live. Nice to come back to.

Cloudy Sky Lough Gill Sligo Ireland

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 I am back home again after walking most of the GR 65 in France. It is the Chemin Saint Jacques de Compostelle. I walked from Espalion in France to Roncesvalles in Spain. Hello to all the lovely people I meet along the way, I will email you in due course if I promised you I would.

I will now start the long process of editing my photos. I will have a special section posted in ten days or less.

This is taken at the end of my first day of walking. The two pilgrims in shot were probably walking for many days at that stage. I have no idea who they are. It is self explanatory. 

End of the day on the Camino, Golinhac France

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Another photograph from the Le Puy route. Taken on Saturday 20th September in the early morning just outside Livinhac-le-Haut. The image was NOT photoshoped or altered in any way.

Into the Mystic

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Just a quick update. In France at the moment, photographing and walking.On the Le Puy Camino route. Will update blog when I get home.
home. Dated 27th September 2014
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This lovely sunset was taken less than one km from where I live in Sligo. I had been for a walk and was just opening my font door when I realised the Sky looked so good, I hoped into my van and just got it before it set.

Sunset "The Rocks" Sligo Bay

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Extra photograph this week. At the moment the weather is lovely in Sligo. Last evening 9th September 2014 I went to Rosses Point for a walk. I took this shot on the Promenade facing back towards Sligo town. There was a lovely Moon. Thirty second expose time at f6.

Moonlight Waters Rosses Point Sligo

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Hope you like the new look blog, I have changed the colour scheme to make it look brighter. This week another shot of the Pyrénées. It is taken near the Refuge de Bésines at the start of the Pyrénées Orientales. The deep colour that morning was amazing. It was late September, later that day there was snow. 

Stormy Morning near Bésines Pyrénées

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I have walked many places in France and enjoyed them all. The Pyrénees will always be special for me as it was the first real mountain range that I hiked. This is Vignemale, it is the highest French Peak of the Pyrénees at 3298 meters. In the photograph you can see the glacier. The cloud was rising off the mountain when I first saw it after about three hours of climbing, it was then a beautiful sunny morning, it was overwhelming.

This is the approach from the north (which is generally considered to be the most dramatic) after climbing around the beautiful Lac de Gaube. A very eccentric Irishman called Henry Russell will forever be associated with this mountain after his many very elaborate climbs, including full champagne banquets on it.

Vignemale, Pyrénees.

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I have just checked my blog entries and the blog is one year old today the 25th August. I was just about to head off on my final part of the gr10 Pyrénees trek when I decided to set up the blog. It was initially meant as a platform to inform a handful of people of my progress and include just a few photographs. It I think has changed and developed quite a lot in the last year. There has been many photographs from many places posted since then. Many hours taking photographs and many more spent in front of the computer editing. The rewards have been many, in seeing and walking in beautiful places both at home in Ireland and abroad, mainly France and Spain.

One great joy I get is to see so many  people from Ireland and all over the world visiting the blog regularly. To you from all corners of the world thank you for visiting and I hope you will continue on the journey with me. It might now be a perfect time to go through the Archive section (on the right hand side of the blog)or simply click on Older Posts at bottom of the blog, you many see many pictures that you had missed first time around. Also you can spread the word to your friends by sharing the blog.


Well the Fleadh is over for this year a great success and credit to all involved. It is back in Sligo next year.

I went for a walk a few evenings ago to the seaside at Rosses Point Sligo. An evening of brisk wind and interesting light, blue with greys of approaching light storms. This is the seafront in the village with a big sky and the boats bobbing up and down in the water with a strong current.

 "Sea to Sky" Rosses Point, Sligo

A second photograph this week. I think it shows a hint of Autumn in the tiny leaves in the foreground. Taken today 24th August 2014.

Mountain Stream in the hills of Glencar Leitrim.

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I have spent the last week photographing the Fleadh which I have explained about in the last post. Thank you to all the lovely people I meet during the week. The music and dancing blew me away and I am not normally a fan of traditional Irish music. The organisation was excellent and so many nice people, well done everyone.

I will again include the direct link to the Fleadh section of my blog.

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/08/fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann-sligeach-2014.html

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Fleadh Cheoil na hÉirean is in Sligo this week 10th to 17th August. Translated its name means The Music Festival of Ireland and that is exactly what it is. The Fleadh, as it usually called, is the largest single festival of Irish Music and can reach attendance of 400,000 over the course of nine eventful days. Here is a photo I took today August 14th. I will now set up a section for the Fleadh.

Here is a direct link to that section.

http://dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/08/fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann-sligeach-2014.html

Enjoying Playing

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Time to include a local photograph. This was taken last summer in Sligo. It is taken in Lough Loman.

Water Lillies Lough Loman Sligo  

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We are still in the week that marks the centenary of the start World War 1. I think it appropriate to reproduce a photograph I posted in the Alps section of my blog recently.  

This by pure  coincidence was my last photograph taken on my tour of the French Alps. It is "Aux Enfants de la Commune de Bramans morts pour La France".  I have seen a memorial like this in almost every village I walked through in France. It really was the slaughter of the innocent. I include it here with full respect to all who died and their families. The beautiful mountains and Alpine meadows I have shown in this section were robbed of their children who were led to their slaughter.

"He shall not hear the bittern cry
in the wild sky, where he is lain.
Nor the voices of the sweeter birds
above the wailing of the rain."
Francis Ledwidge Irish war poet, was killed in action in the Battle of Passchendaele.

I will now also include a photograph of a poppy growing in a wheat field. In remembrance. It is blowing in the wind.

A field in France.

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Time to get photograph of the week back to a normal footing. This was taken on my recent trip to France. It was taken in the village of Rougon at the entrance to the Gorges du Verdon. A very friendly happy man chatting to us from his upstairs window, but somewhat surprised by the camera. More photographs from Provence can be seen using this link. There are also two other new sections on France, if you look at the post on the top right hand section of my blog. One on the Alpes and one on Le chemin de Saint Guilhem le Désert.

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/07/la-haute-provence-par-les-gorges-du.html 

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Hello again. it has been a while since I updated this section. The reason being that I was hiking and photographing in France. I now have two new sections added to the blog. One on the Alps and one on Provence. I will shortly have a section on Le chemin de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. 

I will now post two photographs from the Alpes and two from Provence with direct links to the relevant parts of my blog.

This is a direct link to the section on the Alpes

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/07/les-alpes.html

 Friday 20th June 2014 Col du Bresson

Sunday 22nd June 2014 Col du Palet

Now for a couple of photographs from Provence.

The view from my bedroom in gite Mur d'Abeilles in Rougon, looking towardss the amazing Verdon Canyon

Lavender fields Provence.

 This is the link to the Provence section

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/07/la-haute-provence-par-les-gorges-du.html

I have just started a third section from my Summer 2014 French trip. It is a section on Le chemin de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. It is still a work in progress.

A dragonfly which is a close cousin of the may fly which can also be seen a bit further down the page. I spent almost an hour in the river (in my flip flops) at Navacelles following this elusive beautiful creature.

Cirque de Navacelles

Papillon

This is a direct link to the section on Le chemin de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/07/le-chemin-de-saint-guilhem-le-desert.html


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Time for another portrait. This time in Merida Spain. I asked to take this mans portrait and in the fist one or two shots he was smiling, this was my last shot and my favorite. 

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Now for something totally different. I was in Berlin about four years ago and spent a morning in the Stasi Museum which is a research and memorial center concerning the political system of the former East Germany. The  Ministry for State Security, situated on an approximately 20-acre site and was at the end of the GDR in 1989 workplace of approximately 8,000 employees.It was stormed on the 15th January 1990.

Here is a button camera used in surveillance.  To think what a mobile phone can do today!!

Button Camera Stasi Museum Berlin

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An extra post this week. I went out to the Gleiff Horseshoe yesterday 2nd June. This was taken near the rest and picnic area at the site of the old mill.

Gleniff beside old Mill

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This was taken yesterday morning 31st May 2014. It is taken at Killaspog Point Srandhill Sligo, with the Lighthouse in the distance. It was so peaceful there. I meet an elderly couple who were just after a swim in the lovely but cold Atlantic. 

Sky to Sea in perfect symmetry , notice the Lighthouse in the distance.

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Last week I climbed Benbulben. I include four photographs of the Benulben area.

This Plant grows on the rocks on the exposed cliffs of Benbulben

Top of Benbulben towards Donegal

Cloyragh Benbulben with the Atlantic Ocean in the background

Freshly cut turf, looking towards Benwiskin

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I am a bit late posting this week as I had loaned my computer to a nephew. I was still photographing the local scenes. 

Mountain Streams of Glencar

The Peacock  Butterfly - Ianchis io

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I have been posting mainly local scenes in last few weeks. This has been because the landscape is so beautiful with all the wild flowers and great greens. This week a change. Into the archives and back about two years ago. A portrait of a great character taken in the city of Merida Spain.

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Taken today 10th May at Dooney Rock Sligo. It is Mayfly time, the fly that causes so much interest for Fishermen and Trout.

Mayfly on the underside of a leaf on shores of Lough Gill Sligo

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Today 9th May 2014 in Union Wood Sligo. While walking in the wood on a wet morning found this beautiful creature on the old tarmac road at the entrance to Union Wood. It would have been nice to see it on a plant but the colours are great. It is a Cinnabar Moth and feeds mainly on Ragwort. 

Cinnabar Moth Sligo Ireland

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Two photographs from a morning walk (Sunday 4th May 2014) in Glenade Co Leitrim and Gelacar. Firstly there was heavy mist and rain but the light was constantly changes. In the shot of Glencar the light was very clear after the rain.

Raindrops on Wild Irish Orchid

Glencar in Spring Colour

I went out again photographing in the afternoon today (Sunday May 4th 2014). This time in search of Bluebells. I have photographed different woods with Bluebells this year some nice but none that fully satisfied me. With tripod in hand I tried again and found this wood with the combination of wild garlic, bluebells and ferns with some pink wood anemone. To me this place was pure magic. I am going to post several shots because I liked them. Yes I used some of the wild garlic with my dinner it tasted as good as it looked.

Bluebells and Wild Garlic 

Bluebells and Wild Garlic 5

I went back again today Monday 5th May it is such an amazing place. There is no need to put a caption on these three.

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There are some Photographers and critics who be-little photographs of sunsets and simple photographs of flowers. My opinion is, if you still get excited by the beauty in nature, then you are still alive. Don't always try to "create" just simply try to capture what exists.

Taken in Ballygawely Wood Sligo today the 3rd May 2014.

A Bud in May

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I have done a lot of walking in the Dartry Mountain range in the last few days. I was there again today. I now have a section of photographs of the Dartry Mountain range which is an ongoing project. Again for  two weeks in a row I had people join me who had never been on Benbulben before. They enjoyed it, so did I. I really don't know which photograph to post. Here is one from the top the top of Benbulben today.

Benbulben looking towards Sligo Bay

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Happy Easter, I went for a walk yesterday Good Friday in Hazelwood Slgigo. It was a beautiful afternoon and the Bluebells have started to bloom. It reminded me to dig out a photograph I took last year in Glencar of a White Cabbage Butterfly and a drop of water  on a Bluebell. Maybe you get out yourself for a walk and see some Bluebells or whatever is in your Country.

Happy Easter

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This was taken about two and a half years ago. It is on the GR 65 in France which is a Camino route. It is the canal near Malause, which in turn is about 20 km south of Moissac. You can see the fog lingering on a late August morning. It was taken with a camera phone.

Misty Morning France

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I have spent the last week putting together a new section which has proved very popular, it a section of recent photographs of Springtime on the Via de la Plata 2014. I will put one shot here and advise you to have a look at the full section.  This is a direct link.

http://dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2014/04/via-de-la-plata-2014-photographs-work.html

Stork Andulucia Spain

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Hello again, this section has been absent for the last few weeks as I was walking part of the Via de la Plata. This photograph is a typical Spring scene and it could have been taken in any Country. It is in fact taken near Embalse de Alcantra in Extremadura Spain. This little lamb has got lost from the flock temporarily and was running trying to find its mother. I wanted the shot to give a sense of movement and the birth of Spring. Yes it did find its mother. No the green in the background is not mint, it is just grass.

I will post a special section within a week (hopefully) of the Via de la Plata 2014. Good luck to all I meet on it and to those still walking it.

The Lost Sheep

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Brent Geese winter in Ireland. They are a Winter migrant from high Arctic Canada. They are usually in Ireland between October and April. This was taken near Aughris Head, Sligo. You can see Benbulben in the background.

Brent Geese, Aughris Head, Sligo

Brent Geese, Aughris Head, Sligo

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The Headless Beasts. This was taken just 10 km or 12 km outside St Jean Pied De Port France eastwards, while walking the Pyrénées using the GR 10. I spotted these cows grazing all heads down. See the outline of their bodies almost sculpture like, maybe they are!.  (Click on the image and you will see it much larger).

The Headless Beasts Pyrénées France

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This is taken in Arrens - Marsous which is a commune in the Haute-Pyrénées in south west France. This is about 8 am on a September morning. The full moon looked so large over the Pyrénées.

Arrens-Marsous France

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Another Via de la Plata photograph. There were many buildings very brightly coloured, even some semi derelict buildings were painted like this.

Bright Walls Castilla y Leon Spain

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I was walking the Via de la Plata a few years ago when I took this photograph. It is northern Spain in the Provence of Galicia.  This elderly man was working in the fields, his face says so much.

Gentle Man Galicia Spain

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This is also taken on the Camino Mozarabe in southern Spain. It is in the small town of Alcaracejos on a very cold Saturday evening. This great character is slicing the local air dried ham which tastes great, it is my lunch for the following day. He is a Real Madrid fan and they were playing their arch rivals Barcelona that night. I pretended that I thought Messi played for Real Madrid and kept praising him. It was great fun, in the end he smiled and said many things to me in Spanish, I did not understand his words but knew what he was saying.

Local ham on the bone, served with great banter.
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This is Spain. It is taken about 20 km from Granada while walking the Camino Mozarabe. This was my first day and I was excited by walking through Olive plantations but after about 10 days of nothing but olive trees I was glad to see the end of them. I have eaten oranges straight off the tree, apples off the tree, grapes off the vine, peaches, figs etc all tasted beautiful but don't try to eat an olive off the tree. I did, they are the most awful bitter thing you can taste. They have to be cured etc. The circles around the trees look amazing and the whole picture looks like some form of living Mosaic.

Never ending circles Southern Spain

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One day last week I went for a walk trough Slish Wood  and on by Killerry Mountain. It was at sunset and the colours around this little lake-pond were amazing. It is just after you leave the main Slish Wood Loop. I had never noticed the waterfall before, if you look closely at the picture you will see it in the woods a little left of center of the photograph.

Killerry Mountain Sligo

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This week I go back to France. It is taken between Le Rozier and Meyrueis in the Lozére dépatrment of southern France. I had just left the Tarn Gorge the previous day. A beautiful place on a long hot September day.

Near the start of Cévennes National Park

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I am doing a lot of walking at the moment so I am taking more photographs. This was taken this morning the 9th January 2014. The location is Ballygawley Woods, Sligo. The time was 10.30am, very strong morning light bursting through a passageway lined with trees. The trees were covered in droplets of water and the strong light gives off a silver glow. You would think there were tiny blossoms, it is the water droplets.

Ballygawley Woods, Sligo

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This was taken while I was walking the Via De la Plata from Seville to Santiago De la Compostelle.  I was staying in a tiny Albergue (Pilgrim Hostel). The religious calender beside the King and Queen of Spain reminded me very much of a combination popular in Ireland of  1960. In Ireland then it was common to see a framed photograph of John F Kennedy alongside a religious picture of the "Sacred Heart". This photograph brought all of this back to me. An interesting combination indeed.


Church and State.

Albergue Riego del Camino

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Happy New Year to you all. I will in due course set up a new blog for 2014, I will do so so to reflect my hikes in the North West of Ireland. For the moment I will continue with the current format. Today my walk was very similar to yesterday. I took some variants to the main Sligo Way. I found an absolute magical part of the wood, the photograph is somewhat similar to yesterday's. The colour is not changed or "photoshoped" just the exposure slightly altered. Enjoy.

"Moss Heaven"

Here is another from the same walk of 1st January 2014. It is Lough Lumman. It is taken handheld at a slow speed allowing a certain amount of movement in the long wispy  brown grass. It is raining very heavily.

Winter Wilderness

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The last photograph of 2013. Taken today (31 December 2013) on the way to Slieve Daeane but just opposite the Union Wood entrance Sligo. I had a great four hour walk in mixed weather conditions. Took numerous photographs, liked none of them, Then this was one of my last shots. I liked the simplicity and the colours were very vivid.

Ballygawely Wood

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This was taken today 30 December 2013 at Killaspugbrone Church and Graveyard Strandhill Sligo. It is after sunset I use a long exposure of about thirty seconds to give the effect I wanted. I was standing on the seashore with the water gently lapping on to the rocks.

Killaspugbrone Church Strandhill Sligo

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Trying to get back to normal after the Christmas. Yesterday (29 December 2013) I went for a walk on Leean a lovely mountain in North Leitrim.

Leean North Leitrim Ireland

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I have recently posted many photographs of snow I think this might be a nice change to mirror a New Year approaching. I have posted a similar photograph in another post but I prefer this composition. It was taken in Glencar in the evening light on the 6th of January 2009.

Glencar

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Happy Christmas from Sligo. These two photographs were taken in Sligo at Christmas time 2010. They are taken where the Garavouge River enters Lough Gill.

Lough Gill Sligo

"The Back Avenue " Sligo

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This is the bridge near the main railway station in Zurich. I did not expect to see seagulls in land locked Zurich also they are flying very low. You can see the snowflakes falling on to the lens.

Low flying seagulls Zurich

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This is one of my favourite photographs of Switzerland. It is  near Krauchthal photographed towards  the end of a lovely mountain walk, "man in black". This tree is well know in the area and I think it has special significance.

Krauchthal Switzerland

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Switzerland again. This real Christmas Card scene was taken near Interlaken complete with Bambi.

Bambi  "Winter Wonderland"

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This photograph was taken near Interlaken Switzerland. I had spent a beautiful day been shown the sights of this part of Switzerland. This was towards evening and we were going for a coffee in a lakeside cafe.

Interlaken Switzerland

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Because it is getting near Christmas I will post some extra photographs every few days. I will continue with the snow theme. This photograph is taken in the Emmental region in west central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is mainly a dairy farming area. We all know its famous cheese, there are many more lovely cheeses as well as the one with the holes.

I like the undulating hills in this shot. The road looks so black. You can see the snow marking poles at the side of the road with their red tops.

Emmental Switzerland

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It is coming near Christmas so time for some photographs of snow. Earlier this year I stayed with the family of a Swiss fiend that I met and walked part of the Camino with. I was shown a magnificent time and great hospitality  in an amazing country. I was brought to many places and saw many wonderful landscapes covered in deep snow. It is difficult to make a selection, but this a very simple shot with no cropping or any form of editing. It is taken a few kilometres from where I was staying in Krauchthal, which is near Bern in the German speaking part of the country. The houses are very traditional farmhouses.

Near Krauchthal Switzerland

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Mountain streams. Over the last two days I have climbed the Benbulben area and Glencar. They were misty foggy days with low light levels. On Saturday when I went to climb Benbulben I just got as far as the Plateau and did not proceed any further because of poor visibility. On Sunday I went to Glencar, again misty. This type of light can be very nice in its own way. I looked at my photographs from the two days and the main feature was water, the mountain streams.

These type of photographs I find relaxing to look at. I carried a tiny gorilla pod with me. I will put one of the photographs here but also a special section called Mountain streams.

This link should bring you directly to the Mountain stream post.
http://dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2013/12/mountain-streams.html

Glencar Water

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Aumont-Aubrac is in the Lozére commune in southern France. I stayed in it while walking the GR 65, the way of St James from Le Puy-en-Velay to St Jean Pied de Port. I saw this statue of Christ the King and the sun was beginning to set. I waited in the freezing cold evening of early April to get both into the frame as the sun was just about to disappear, as if both were communicating. The sculptor is Marcel Courbier and it was created in 1945.  It commanded a lovely view overlooking the town.

Statue in Aumont-Aubrac France

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This photograph was taken on the Le Puy route (GR65) in France, on the way to Espallion. It was around lunchtime and a large herd of cows were been guided into a shed. This farmer was chatting away to some French pilgrims. He seemed very happy with his lot in life.

French Dairy Farmer

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While walking the Camino Portuguese I stopped to buy food at at a market. I got amazing cheese and cured meats and really fresh fruit. I asked this Lady could I take her photo and she agreed.  The face, the hat, the wisp of hair, the life, the eyes, the black clothes,..........

**** Have a look at a new post of Irish photographs called Today in Glencar. Just click on the link. *****
http://www.dermotdolan.blogspot.ie/2013/11/today-in-glencar-17-november-2013.html.



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I am posting a little early this week as I wont be available on Monday. This was taken last year in the Pyrénées. It was between Barages and Chalet de l'Oule. There were many lakes that day and all of them very beautiful. This shows the amazing clear colour that was able to reflect the sky perfectly. A lovely place to have lunch, life is good.

Lac de Madamete Pyrenees

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This photograph was taken in Zamora Spain while walking the Via de la Plata. It is siesta time in the afternoon. What is the man looking at? I could not imagine this man without the hat.

Zamora Spain                                    

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This was taken in an Albergue in Casar de Caceres, Extremadura, Spain. I walked the Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago de Compostela. I stayed mainly in Pilgrim hostels called Albergues, this one was free and was provided by the local community. It was located in the centre of the town. When walking you carry very little because you have to carry it yourself on your back, therefore the little clothes you have you wash almost daily. Then you hang them to dry in nearest possible place, this town did not want a collection of underwear hanging in the lovely town square.

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This image was taken last Thursday 17th October 2013. It is near where I live and is on the"Sligo Way", which is an 80km  waymarked route. I was on my way to Lough Lumman, the morning was very foggy and wet. This web had lovely droplets on it, the depth of field is such that the centre is sharp and rest drifts out.You look at something like this and it looks great but webs like this are notoriously hard to capture because of their structure and light. Of course because this is not full size file you wont see the full detail in the shot but I still like it, (I have it as the screensaver on my computer). When walking it is important to look at the detail as well as the larger landscape.

Week 4 Sligo Ireland

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I am looking through a large collection of photographs taken in many parts of Spain and France, and again the Pyrénees is the choice this week. It is taken in the Pyrénees Atlantiques in La Pierre Saint-Martin. The day before I photographed the vulture that is already shown here. The Gite d'Etape I stayed in was beautiful, I think the owner was once a professional climber. There was a very severe storm during the night but I slept through it. The following morning with my coffee cup in hand  I walk around to the front of the Gite

Week 3      La Pierre Saint-Martin

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The Pyrénees. On Wednesday 4th September 2013 I walked from Refuge de Marialles to Refuge Cortalets. A good stiff walk of about 7 hours it involved walking through the Canigou Massif. There was an option to take a detour and climb Canigou but I heard this meant climbing "the chimney" which is basically a rock face, I decided against it.

At dinner on Wednesday night with my 5 friends from Bordeaux we talked about Canigou and 3 of the gang said they were going to climb it the following morning and I should join them. I did. Canigou is a special holy, sacred mountain for Catalonians.

We started at around 8.30 am and reached the top 2784 meters at 10.20 am. Great feeling,  but the fun was only staring. We were now to descend the "Chimney". For me who is a long distance walker and not a climber this was a challenge. It went on to be one of the most memorable days of the Pyrénées. I overcame many of my fears that day. I walked / climbed for almost 11 hours. I was carrying a full 15 kg backpack and a 1.2 kg camera strapped to my body. I was terrified going down the chimney but still managed to take some photographs this is one of them. It shows Philippe shouting encouragement  back at me with Christian just in front of me.

Week 2        Chimney Canigou.
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This was taken around noon, near La Pierre-Saint Martin in the Pyrénées. I saw this vulture sitting look into a field of sheep. I was very close to it, I was using a fairly standard 18-135 zoom lens. I trained the lens on the vulture and waited very silently for  a very long 10 minutes. Then it suddenly took off and came towards me and I got this shot. I think it's eyes were starring at me as it passed me by and flew down into the valley. Enjoy. It was a special moment for me standing alone in a very beautiful place. I have recently re-sized this photograph.

Vulture Pyrénées  Probably my favourite photograph.