Gap of Dunloe pics

With more pictures from my holiday in Ireland last month we come to a day that was blighted by the weather, but it didn't rain, it was simply very windy. The first picture in the report for this walk is of Tomies Mountain surrounded by clouds and strong winds. After this walk was abandoned I went up the Gap of Dunloe, a popular tourist attraction of outstanding natural beauty, as shall be seen. The picture below was taken at the end of the abandoned walk on the path as it meandered through the gorse bushes back into the valley.The next picture was taken on the road part way up the valley on a bridge over the River Loe looking across the Black Lake at the dark cloud-topped Gap ahead.The wind was howling down the valley at this point, so much I had difficulty holding the camera steady. The last picture in the walk report looks just like this one but is subtly different. I was holding the camera while taking the picture above but the picture in the walk report was taken with the camera sitting on the bridge. It was so windy I thought it was the only way I could get a steady picture. As you can see it didn't really need it.

The next picture shows the road winding its way up the valley with a number of people making their way up it.

This picture was taken on the left hand shore of the Auger Lake and you can see how windy it was by the choppiness of the water. These two pictures may have given the impression that it was a grey overcast day, but this was not the case as the next picture shows.Auger Lake can be seen again now looking back down into the valley with clear blue skies beyond it. The only clouds in the area were over the mountains including over the Gap of Dunloe. The middle picture in the walk report was taken from a grassy mound near the road looking back down the valley past a stone bridge at Black Lough.

The last picture below was taken from the summit of the Gap looking back across the wide grassy plain at the head of the gap with the road winding its way through it.A poor start to the day with little opportunity for photo-taking had turned into a spectacular afternoon resulting in some, in my modest way, quite good pictures. But these pale in comparison with the pictures I took on the following days walk.