Hiking around Powerscourt Waterfall

 On Christmas Eve I felt the need to escape the maddening crowd and headed to Crone Wood just outside Dublin. From here you can hike up Maulin mountain on a loop trail. 

A plus on this route is that you have rather spectacular views of Powerscourt Waterfall on the way up. There is even a bench or two set up overlooking the waterfall if you want to have a bit of a rest.

There was a lot of fog about, and I found "Far over misty mountains high" stuck on repeat in my head.

The trek up to the top of Maulin Mountain was rather muddy, and when I reached the top, fog all around. So no spectacular views for the album. I did however get my picture of the cairn, as you do.

I might just return in the summer for some spectacular view photos.

The entire trek up the mountain and the associated video clips can be found on the newly created YouTube channel 😁. 

Oh look, here is a link: https://youtu.be/GGWnR-Y8j0U

I used the All Trails app for general navigation. My expedition can be seen here 

Mars and the twins greeting me this morning

Taking the bins out this morning I was greeted with Mars, very low in the West, with Gemini just to the right. Mars is at it's closest to earth on the 12th January. In true Ireland tradition it looks to be cloudy that day. So I'll take this. Took a snap with the iPhone.

And for reference, the snip from Stellarium

And now, off to work we go for, as I like to call it, day one of the hostage situation.

Shooting Jupiter

 Seriously chuffed with myself. I tried my hand at astro-photography some time ago, and it was, shall we say, less than spectacular. On Thursday we had a rare, cloudless night in Dublin. Well then. Out comes the camera.

Now it is very low tech. I have an ancient Canon EOS 1000D and I have some kit lenses, a nifty fifty, and a 300mm zoom lens. From my research online it seems the prime lens is the best option and armed with my remote shutter, some crazy calculations for exposure times, a warm jacket and a mug of coffee, I headed into the back yard. 

I lined up on Jupiter, because it is bright and easy to see 😉. Did some focussing and fired away. Only did about 100 shots and stacked them using Sequator. 

On closer examination it is clear that my focus (or at least those of my pictures) are not all there. But it is close enough and definitely a base to build from.

Well, what? I think it is quite stunning. I am especially amazed that this was taken in the middle of Dublin, with an silly old camera and a wee little lens. 

Tonight, I went on to Stellarium and searched for the specific section of sky on the night in question.

My wife says it's cool. I agree. 

Misty Morning Spin

Yesterday morning started off foggy. Wanted to take the bike out for a spin to see if the cleaning of the injectors did anything to the mysterious misfire, but I thought I would give the fog some time to burn off. The day before yesterday, the fog lingered around all day, so I did not hold my breath.

But then, lo and behold, the fog lifted and the sun came out.

So I left home. The sun was shining. I checked.

As I went over the hill at Dundrum heading down to Blackrock, the fog returned. And properly so.

But I persisted.

Rode all the way to Dun Laoghaire harbour and parked on the old quay at the old coal harbour. I've not been down here in ages. Was amazed to see that quite a lot of boats were still moored there. 

The fog made for some great pictures, though.

It made  such an impression that I could not help myself, and had to have a stab at sketching it. I'm pretty happy with the result.

St. Annes Cemetery

 

When I visited Bohernabreena Reservoir and read up about the area, I stumbled across a name on a map. "St. Anne's Cemetery". On Google Maps someone left a "review" about how stunning the place is and "how did I not know of this"? 

So I was instantly intrigued.

So on a Friday off I donned my HiTec's and went searching for this hidden gem.

Following the reviewer's instructions I did not go through the reservoir but rather approached the cemetery from the upper road. A small road, almost hidden, leads from the lane down, through a rather apt gate, and through some farmland to the graveyard overlooking the reservoir.

It is difficult to believe that you are, for all intents and purposes, still in Dublin. The peace and quiet soothes the soul. And the grave yard is ridiculously picturesque. Overgrown in some areas with new gravestones popping up here and there.

Standing there I was reminded of one of my favourite books; "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. If you have not read it yet... shame on you.

 If I could choose a place to be buried, it would be here.

Looking deeper into the history of the site, it seems that it once housed a church, of which only one portion of the wall still exist. The site was actually called Kilmesantan, meaning Church of Santan and was dedicated to St. Santan. The church was in use until the late 1600's but was then abandoned and fell into ruin.

Remaining portion of the church wall

I absolutely love this place. If you take your time and look around there are some surprises looking up at you from the grass and some newer gravestones standing between the old ones gives a nice contrast. But for me, the best part is the peace and quiet.