Later on Saturday evening we drove up the north east coast to the Slieveanorra Forest to get on with our completion of the Moyle area section of the Ulster Way. We got there at 8pm and parked our car at a spot where we considered we may camp as well. That idea was bashed on the head the moment we stepped out of the vehicle into Midgie Armageddon! on with the head nets fast!
The weather was beautiful however and came to hike so onwards and into the forest/wilderness. We did only 7km but it felt longer 😄
* A hike in photos *
Attacked viciously by the tiny midgie rascals = deploy head nets which were amazing
Basically nothing in our backpacks was glorious and the weather perfect
Pretty shafts of light coming through the managed, grid like forest
Over a stile and into the forest trails, I like these paths the best
Always reassuring to see a wee marker so you know you're on the right path
Not so wonderful broken fence serving again in it's second life as a wobbly ridge
Love this mixture of pines, heathers, grass and bog cotton
So...a damn sign took THE WRONG WAY! This is Andrew (blue and grey smudges) coming back after just going a little further to check....Back we go.
On the right path again - hooray!
There's Slieveanorra in the distance, we don't need to climb it as we've been up there but just need to get to a certain point to complete the distance of this section.
Treacherous bog land with deep ditches but also with beautiful ferns opening
Saw loads of these at one point, cocoons from some big insect? I'm still trying to find out what...
update - NORTHERN EGGAR MOTH cocoon!
update - NORTHERN EGGAR MOTH cocoon!
Our stopping point (by another way-marker) the views were amazing...
The track looks so obvious looking back on it, when you're in the midst of it you see the full contours as it rises up in front of you
The sun going down and yet it's so bright the moon is simply rising into a blue sky -
Midsummer dream days
This is at 11pm, we stopped at a picnic spot to have some tea and revive ourselves, that the coast of the Antrim Glens straight ahead and The Mull of Kintyre to the right.
Below is from the same position just looking in to one of the Glens (Glenarrif)
Then a simple drive home and as it was midnight Andrew got to open his Birthday presents and we had porridge with chocolate buttons in place of cake. Plus not a midgie in sight 😃.
Hugs and love
Carrie x
Good pictures. I thought perhaps you'd taken up bee-keeping. Happy birthday to Andrew, I think that I would have preferred cake. Happy hiking. xx
ReplyDeletehahahaa, I have a broken oven or the would have been cake as well as hiking :) Thank you for your comment xxx
DeleteI hope that you avoided being bitten. Those things make a midgeline for me. Well done on achieving your goal.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU! I wasn't bitten, it's amazing what a cheap midgie net can do for you. xxxx
DeleteAnd I thought the Mull of Kintyre was in Scotland. (Looks embarrassed)
ReplyDeletePerhaps the cocoons are something scarab beetle?
No need to be embarrassed! Goodness me the Mull is in Scotland, I just don't think many people realise how close we are to Scotland, especially it's western isles.
DeleteOh I hope they are beetle cocoons - research needs to be done!
Hugs xxx