Visit to Devils Bit Mountain

Monday, the last day of Maria’s visit we decided to accompany my daughter, Eileen, and two of my grandchildren Claire and Anthony, to visit a local mountain know as the Devils Bit - named for the bite taken out of it by the devil as he rode over Ireland. Devil's Bit Mountain provides spectacular drives and stimulating walks.

Anthony and Claire on the drive to the mountain

A nice view on the drive to the mountain

Beginning of the steep climb to the top

The panoramic view from the top is spectacular and on a clear day you can see for many miles around - the only problem being, you have to get to the top first. Most of the way there can be made by car up a long winding road that takes you to the base of the mountain and here the fun ends as the final assault on the top has to be made on foot up a long steep rugged path for about 400 yards. This is the kind of path where you take one step forward and two backwards but undaunted by this we began our climb.

Taking a rest on the way to the top

It wasn’t much of a problem to my four youthful companions but for me, restricted by 69 years of roaming this earth and a heart bypass a few years ago, I wondered if taking on this climb was one of the smartest things to do. However, I pride myself in the fact that I am still pretty fit and I decided that I would start out and see how far I could get - promising myself that I would stop and return to the base if the going got too difficult.

In the event, I made it without any great difficulty to a plateau and picnic area about three quarters of the way up. Here the picnic table and seats were too tempting to pass by and I decided in the interests of common sense to pitch my base camp and wait for the others to return from the top. I was really quite pleased to have made it so far and I decided enough was enough.

View from the picnic area where I decided to wait for the return of my companions

Enjoying a picnic before returning home

One of the many wind farms that now dot the Irish landscape, supplying over 25% of our electricity to the National Grid. Pictured on the way down the mountain

Finally, a sign of the times we now live in. It's sad to see this evidence of Litter Louts who care little for the preservation of such a beautiful amenity and the image we present of ourselves to the many tourists and other visitors that come to this area.

Maria's Trip To Tipp (Tipperary)

Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end and so it was with my niece Maria’s visit to Ireland. I drove her to Dublin Airport yesterday to catch her flight to return home to London. It was a sad parting and I certainly hope she will return to see us all soon again.

In the short time she was here, we managed to get a lot of things done including visiting a couple of historical places but of course the best of all was visiting family and her meeting her uncles and cousins again after such a long time.

She has promised to do a post for my blog that I will publish as soon as it arrives. In the meantime, I am including some pictures from her visit that I hope you will enjoy and give you an opportunity to meet some of my family.

My sister Freddy loves to entertain and anytime a special visitor arrives amongst us, she will always use as an opportunity to bring the family together for a celebration. Here as some family members around her ample table partaking of her hospitality on the occassion of Maria's visit.

My sisters, Freddy, Kathleen, Biddy, and brother Jim

My niece Ann and my grandniece Kate on a visit to Ann and her husband, Dave's, house at Galway. Kate proudly displays the cake she made especially for our visit

There is a beautiful wood near where my sisters live. There is a little lake in the centre that you can walk round along a path for a distance of 1 1/2 miles approx. Here is Maria feeding the swans on our way round the lake.

My sister and I on our walk round the lake

Maria and Freddy on our walk

Son Tim, Daughter-in-law Mary, Grandson Anthony, Granddaughter Elizabeth and Maria on our visit to their house.

I am blessed with a lot of nieces and nephews. Here is a small selection of my beautiful nieces - Fiona, Maria, Siobhan, Alanna, Jackie and Lily, Aurlie.