This past weekend, I headed down with some friends to Lough Dan - a ribbon lake in County Wicklow. (lough = lake in Irish) Haven't camped since I was about 7 and it was at 'church camp', which wasn't really camping so much as extended Sunday School on location. This was real camping. Tents and fire and marshmallows and everything. I wore four layers of heavy clothing with a rain jacket on top, woolen mittens, wooly socks, a thick scarf and brought with me a fancy sleeping bag and tent. Yay Irish summer!
All of which is to say I slept a total of 1 hour through the night and sat shivering next to the dying embers of campfire at dawn, stoking the flames and rocking back and forth like a junkie in the effort to keep warm.
But oh my, is Lough Dan wondrous. These Irish got it good. Drive 40 minutes south from Dublin and you're in a magical fairy land, replete with stony, electric green mountainside, misty mirror lakes and air so fresh you get a headache. Growing up in the suburbs of midwestern America, I was so starved for nature that a group of trees on the side of a highway was akin to a nature preserve. Look - a tall tree! Some mulchy dirt! And oh look, a bird. That was it.
It takes about 30/40 minutes to hike down to the beach, once you pass the 'No Camping Allowed' sign just opposite a field of sheep. Descending into Lough Dan, there were moments when I fully expected the scenery to be one big green screen - Cabin In the Woods style. Truly, this bounty of nature couldn't be real! I brought the camera along and ended up taking 1200+ pictures. The sun began to set around 9pm and night set in just after 11pm. I was grateful for sunrise (at about 4:30am) cos I got to capture some pretty amazing mist rising up from the lake.
Here are some of my favorite shots from the trip:
The pathway in.
The beach.
The campfire kindle.
The rocky mountains next to the beach.
Natural wine cooler.
That morning mist.
After the mist.
All of which is to say I slept a total of 1 hour through the night and sat shivering next to the dying embers of campfire at dawn, stoking the flames and rocking back and forth like a junkie in the effort to keep warm.
But oh my, is Lough Dan wondrous. These Irish got it good. Drive 40 minutes south from Dublin and you're in a magical fairy land, replete with stony, electric green mountainside, misty mirror lakes and air so fresh you get a headache. Growing up in the suburbs of midwestern America, I was so starved for nature that a group of trees on the side of a highway was akin to a nature preserve. Look - a tall tree! Some mulchy dirt! And oh look, a bird. That was it.
It takes about 30/40 minutes to hike down to the beach, once you pass the 'No Camping Allowed' sign just opposite a field of sheep. Descending into Lough Dan, there were moments when I fully expected the scenery to be one big green screen - Cabin In the Woods style. Truly, this bounty of nature couldn't be real! I brought the camera along and ended up taking 1200+ pictures. The sun began to set around 9pm and night set in just after 11pm. I was grateful for sunrise (at about 4:30am) cos I got to capture some pretty amazing mist rising up from the lake.
Here are some of my favorite shots from the trip:
The pathway in.
The beach.
The campfire kindle.
The rocky mountains next to the beach.
Natural wine cooler.
That morning mist.
After the mist.
It's even worse now in Chicagoland. Temperatures are record-setting, there's an awful drought, and everyone's lawn is turning brown. It's gotten so bad over all of Illinois (and most of the midwest) that the price of corn is shooting up. So, yeah, you got it lucky in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteNo, not the corn! That stuff's in everything back home! Yeah - have been pretty worried about all the drought reports. Sounds like it's getting kinda serious... Meanwhile, I can only think of a handful of days here where it didn't rain for at least part of the day.
ReplyDelete