North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Deep Water

We could hardly believe how good yesterday's weather was. The early fog and mist cleared as we began the ascent of Mweelrea, Connacht's highest mountain (at 814 metres). I brought both a fleece and a rainjacket (Mweelrea's weather can be fierce, even in summer) but didn't need either of them - it was teeshirt weather all the way up and down. From near the highest point, clumps of cloud clung to the summit like wisps of wool on blackthorn, but it blew away as quickly as it materialised. Through the gaps, we could gaze down on the mouth of Killary Fjord and Little Killary (pictured above).

As the cloud rolled in and obscured our view, we could hear the constant revving of what sounded like marine engines down in the fjord. A couple of hours later, when we got back to our cars near Doo Lough, we saw the Coastguard helicoptor slowly wheeling around the mouth of the fjord. That wasn't a good sign - it was too late for them to be on an exercise, and they were far from their base. They were searching for a diver who had gone missing at the mouth of the fjord - his body was recovered this evening.

Camera=Canon5D, lens=Canon 24-105mm@24, ISO=250, Aperture=f10, speed=1/640, Lee neutral density graduated filter 0.9 (3 stops).

Buy pictures of Mweelrea. Co. Mayo here

mweelrea, killary, fjord, mayo, galway walking club, ireland, galway, westmeath, irishblogs, photoblogs, photography, galwayblogs, monasette, north atlantic skyline, autumn,john smyth, Canon, 5D, september, 2007