This year we had planned to go to Italy in June to celebrate our 20th anniversary, enjoy some new walking trails, and I was looking forward to photographing the famous flowering in Castelluccio, a stunning event that attracts people from all over the world, it happens from late June until early to mid July (different each year) when the flowering of lentil plants coincides with that of poppies and other plants, and the entire plateau explodes in different shades of red, blue, purple, yellow, orange. I first heard about it in 2014 and we went there a few days later. But it was in 2014 when I was very new to photography and afterwards I wanted to go back and take better photos. We were there again in 2016 before the devastating earthquake happened (more details another time) but it was too early for all the colours to show up, so I was looking forward to going there again this year.
Here's a picture I took in 2014 to get a taste of what it can look like:
But then we were invaded by mice, and got Elsa. Now we have a sweet kitten that will still be too young to be left alone (even with a cat minder of sorts) or in a cattery as early as in June. We hadn't even talked about options yet when we were offered some gigs in early July and August, and then we decided to take those gigs and stay at home all the summer.
As much as I love going to Italy, I actually miss spending a full summer in Ireland. We haven't stayed a full summer in Ireland since the pandemic! I love spending some extra time in the garden and enjoying the local walking routes. And you know what? There are SO many places in Ireland we haven't seen. "At home" doesn't necessarily mean at home, it means staying in Ireland. We can go on short trips and explore places. There are plenty of walking trails and while I chickened out from one a few years ago, I'm different now. If I'm able to walk to San Bartolomeo, then there must be plenty of local trails to discover!
I will, however, go to Sweden for about a week, to see my parents and my sister, and I need to go and taste our last whisky cask on the west coast. That company was about to go bankrupt some year ago, but was bought up by some investors. It seems like they don't sell private casks anymore but those already in maturation are still around and will be bottled... I hope.
While visiting my parents, I hope to go for some longer walks (or possibly not so long but with extra time for photography), and I'll enjoy the lake again and hope for some warmer weather this year. Last summer when we were there, I was wondering if 17 degrees in Sweden were always so cold! In Ireland we can have summers of up to18C almost constantly and I'm still in shorts and tank top most of the time. The high air humidity here makes a huge difference.
So what about trail walking in Ireland? My experience so far is that the trails are usually more advanced than what the description says, and I'll go for the "easy" routes to learn what they mean with easy, before moving on to intermediate level trails.
A nice walk to start with could be Carrigfadda - it's not far away, only a few km and leads to the top of a hill. The views are supposed to be beautiful and it sounds like a perfect way to enjoy the spring once the weather dries up a bit.
Or this area:
This is on Sheep's head peninsula and we walked on this ridge way before any of us had gained any form of fitness. So it should be absolutely fine now! I don't remember it as partcularly hard, just that we didn't know how far it would be or if it even was a loop so we'd get back to the car, and the weather was getting sketchy.
Gougane Barra is fairly close and has a variety of trails including a longer hilly route which is quite tough. D is preparing for an ultra race in September so he definitely needs to tackle the hills during the summer! I might take one of the easier routes to begin with.
Further away but still close enough there are plenty of hiking areas in Kerry. There's the Torc mountain walk which looks very promising and perhaps not too advanced, and lots of other areas around the ring of Kerry and on Dingle peninsula. We haven't been in Kerry for a long time and I'd love to go back there this year, although in the summer it's probably a good idea to stay away from the populated areas because Kerry is famous for its beauty and gets VERY crowded with tourists.
For another time (if ever) there's the Carrantouhill. That's Ireland's highest peak and the hike is probably stunning, but for now it looks as realistic to me as doing the UTMB.
If we want to travel a bit further there's always Wicklow! I haven't been there yet. There's a mountain range with trails (where my husband's ultra race takes place), and an interesting whiskey distillery I've wanted to visit for years. And there's still our 20th anniversary! How do we want to celebrate when we're not going to Italy? I have no idea! In Kerry? Wicklow? At home? A nice trail walk is quite attractive as part of the celebration!
What's your idea of the perfect celebration for a big anniversary?
Comments
Those flower fields in Castelluccio look amazing! While it would be awesome to go back with your current photo skills, a full summer in Ireland also sounds very nice. And Elsa clearly voted "stay home"!
Hiking in Ireland looks so dreamy, I would love to do that one day. Perfect anniversary material, especially with some whisky thrown in!
Funny enough, we rarely celebrate on the actual wedding anniversary day. But whenever we do something especially nice within a few weeks of that date, we just upgrade it to our "anniversary celebration" afterwards!
That's a very practical approach about celebrating the anniversary! And it allows for all sorts of enjoyment too.
You would love hiking in Ireland! With your experience and fitness level, you could probably do the Carrantouhill without issues, and lots of those other strenuous but beautiful routes. Perhaps you'd enjoy the Ecotrail Wicklow race!
That photo by the lake looks like a watercolor painting — something magical about the light!
I think we are going to book our Ireland hiking trip this week. You have me a bit worried about the difficulty but I’ll have to figure out how to train for it. Skiing in fresh snow can’t hurt!
That is great news about your hiking trip! My main problem at that particular trail on Sheep head's peninsula was to slip and fall because it was very steep and sometimes muddy and in some areas it was covered by grass overgrowing from the sides so I couldn't see where it was safe to put my feet. It was only a year after my stress fracture and learning I had crap bones, and I was still fearful and insecure, plus not even close to being as strong as I am now. In addition, that trail was weird! It was labelled as intermediate, but after a while we came to a point where a signpost suddenly said "Very difficult! For advanced walkers only!" - couldn't they have mentioned that from the beginning?! The hilly Gougane Barra trail we tried was mainly very steep and sometimes a bit rough underfoot but otherwise fine, especially for the fitness level I'm at now.
I've had some bad experiences but you may be much braver than me in such cases and there's no doubt with all the training you do that you'll be fit enough. The main thing is a lot of hills with some rough and rocky parts and with stiles to climb over. Some areas will probably be easy and with some spectacular views - I'd like to do some of those trails myself now that I'm stronger and more confident. I'd recommend working some extra on leg strength and especially single leg exercises like lunges, Bulgarians, weighted step-ups and anything else that challenges stability. Throw in some RDLs too for the uphills. Hamstrings and calves were my biggest struggle when I first started doing the hilly walks around home. Have you done any hiking before? Do you have any hilly trails where you live or at least not too far away where you could go to prepare? And skiing should help!
Also, remember that is a guided organised trip, and in Ireland they wouldn't stay long in business if they said one thing and then the trails turned out to be much more challenging and that people would feel unprepared. This page might help you: https://www.sportireland.ie/outdoors/trail-grades
Here's another link that is helpful for training: https://allexplorers.com/how-hard-is-this-walk-trail-difficulty-explained/
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