Kinbane Head wasn’t a planned stop; we just happen to see the sign and decided to check it out. This is a lovely location along the coastal road to stop and wander around. It is just a short mile off of the main road. Prepare yourself for a bit of a hike. There are lots of stairs. Take your time and enjoy the view in both directions. If it is windy in the parking lot be prepared for what it will be like sea-side. The wind along the coast is a force to behold. Be extra careful along the edges of steep drop-offs. Kinbane Castle stands in ruin today; slowly waning away to ruble.
Kinbane Castle was built by Colla of the MacDonnell clan, the clan who also built many other castles and buildings in the area. This was the time when the MacDonnell’s were the most powerful clan along the Antrim Coast. It was completed in about 1547 but was destroyed in fighting with the English only eight years later. Colla himself died in the castle or the vicinity in 1558 and is believed to be buried in the Bonamargy Friary, not too far away. There is a story that a group of English soldiers were trapped during a siege of the castle. Fires were lit by the besieged to call for help and locals responded and arrived armed surrounding the besieging soldiers who were massacred in the area in or near a hollow cave under the castle called the “Hollow of the English.” The castle was rebuilt and remained inhabited until the 1700’s. It was then abandoned and fell into decay. The only thing that stands today is the ruins of a small tower and few remnants of the wall.
We drove out to the site of Giants Causeway our first evening in Ireland. We were too exhausted to even think about venturing beyond the parking lot. The wind and cold made our decision to turn around and find some dinner easy.
We returned to Giant’s Causeway on day 3 of our trip. Kilmail Country Chalet was selected for our two-day B&B stay in the area because of its close proximity to sites we wished to visit multiple times. We were 15 minutes away from both the Giant’s Causeway and The Dark Hedges. We arrived early enough to have all the causeway to ourselves. It was a beautiful morning. Blue skies with lovely clouds overhead. We walked around photographing this amazing wonder for almost two hours. Cyndie and I both agreed that we could have easily spent an entire day here. There is just so much to see and photograph at this natural wonder.
The Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986, and a national nature reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant’s Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places.
Much of the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. The remainder of the site is owned by the Crown Estate and a number of private landowners.
It was a relief to land in Dublin after being on the move since early afternoon the day before. I didn’t get any sleep on the flight. The excitement of being in Ireland perked me up a bit as did the nervous anticipation of loading up our rental car and heading out on our way. It was a bit of a bumpy start as we did not know that a diesel automatic car turns off when you step on the break. It was quite baffling, but after a few occurrences we assumed it to be normal and continued on away from the airport.
All was going fine for an hour or so into our journey until we put the town where we’d be staying into the TomTom. We didn’t realize how to change counties (Dublin = Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Ballymoney = Northern Ireland). Turns out there is a Bally-something-or-other in the ROI too. After driving in circles a bit and abandoning any dependence on the TomTom, we resorted to a paper map and information gleaned from Google Maps before our mobile hotspot (which we also rented with the car) quite working because we crossed over into Northern Ireland. Off to a smashing start.
Directions
Driving through the Irish countryside trying to locate you B&B while completely exhausted is an experience. At this point in the trip I was realizing why it was recommended to stay the first night in-country in a hotel in Dublin. To late. The frustration was further exacerbated by stopping to ask for directions. When you are not used to the accent, it is very difficult to understand much. Thankfully the nice shop keeper and local farmer were able to ascertain our desired destination and recorded the direction on a piece of receipt tape. The written word was a relief to see; shortly we were back on track…and actually not far from our destination.
The Causeway Coastal Route between the cities of Belfast and Derry~Londonderry is a kaleidoscope of natural landscapes, imposing cliffs, bubbling mountain streams and gushing waterfalls. The route starts in Belfast and will take you through the gorgeous Glens of Antrim towards the famous Giant’s Causeway. The highlight is the odyssey that is the Giant’s Causeway, 40,000 basalt columns jutting out into the ocean.
~www.ireland.com
Causeway Coastal Route
Our first experience with the coast of Northern Ireland was awe-inspiring to say the least. After checking into our B&B just a wee bit up the road from Ballymoney we headed out to find a place to have dinner. Our first sight of the coast was at the end of Ballybogy Road by The Royal Court Hotel. There is an access road to the beach and the White Rocks. The wind was gusting at almost 40 mph; on the beach; it was easy to imaging what a piece of metal being sandblasted must endure. It was difficult to stand there and view the beautiful coastline. The photo above is from the coastal road East of White Rocks. There wasn’t any sand storms up on the coastal road which made it easier to take a photo. The wind sure made it feel chilly too. If my math is correct, 45 degrees and 40 mph winds feel like 19 degrees. Brrrr.
We continued on down the coast scouting out sites to visit the following morning. It was getting late, it was windy, cold and we needed some dinner before we collapsed. We returned to The Royal Court Hotel where we dined on fish and chips with a pint of Guinness; it was divine.
Kilmail Country Chalet
After some much needed rest at Kilmail Country Chalet and their delicious traditional Irish breakfast we made our first visit to The Dark Hedges before setting out to explore the coast some more. We visited the following sites by heading East along the coastal road. We did visit Giants Causeway as well, but I am leaving that for the next post as it deserves it very own.
Dunluce Castle
Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim (between Portballintrae and Portrush), and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where an early Irish fort once stood.
Dunseverick Castle Ruin
Dunseverick Castle Ruin is situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, near the small village of Dunseverick and the Giant’s Causeway. The Castle and the peninsula on which it stands were given to the National Trust in 1962 by local farmer Jack McCurdy. The Causeway Cliff Path also runs past on its way to Dunseverick Harbour to the east and to the Giant’s Causeway to the west.
White Park Bay
White Park Bay is a bay and three-mile long beach located near Ballycastle, County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, along the Giant’s Causeway Coastal Route. Sheep and cattle graze the hills and beach along the bay, which has been under the care of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty since 1938. It is situated in the townland of White Park.
My first post of Ireland photos will begin with a favorite location in Northern Ireland, The Dark Hedges. The beech tree-line road was already one of the most photographed natural landmarks on the island of Ireland. This tourist attraction recently achieved global prominence after it appeared on the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. In January 2016, Storm Gertrude damaged several of the 200+ year old trees. The site is still a vision to behold, but it is a fraction of what it once was; only 90 of the approximately 150 trees remain standing.
Kilmail Country Chalet Breakfast
We had two opportunities to shoot this natural wonder. Our first view of this natural marvel was the morning of day 2 of our trip after a hearty traditional Irish breakfast while we waiting out a brief storm where a wee bit of hail fell. When we arrived at The Dark Hedges it was everything but dark. The sky was bright and full of clouds; the remnants of the earlier hail shower still lingering. The harsh sun cast deep and heavy shadows. You can easily see the gaps that Gertrude made here. Stay tuned for many more Ireland posts to come. Here are the shots from two different day at The Dark Hedges.
We made another visit the morning of day 3 before departing the area and heading West. The light was dramatically different.
My wife Cyndie and I recently returned from a trip to Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). It was twelve days of wondrous discovery and eye-gripping scenery. Aside from all the wonder, there were a few observations I feel worth sharing. Here they are in no particular order:
I found no car window scrubber at any filling station to clean the car windows.
Bathrooms = Toilets. At filling stations they are typically located outside; around back or along the side of the building.
A large coffee is equivalent to a small in the USA.
Large coffee :-/
I would recommend bringing a travel mug or small thermos for coffee. You never know when you will run into the next filling station or coffee shop. A “large” coffee doesn’t go far.
Coffee in Ireland is fantastic – at filling stations too. Coffee at the B&B’s is phenomenal. You may want to fill that mug/thermos at the B&B before you leave.
Water – we stopped at the first filling station we saw and bought a case of water. Repeat as needed. There are many sites where you will likely need to hike. Always have water on hand.
Most filling stations sell alcohol. Pick up some hard cider for an evening cocktail back at the B&B.
If you rent an automatic diesel car, when you apply the brake and stop, the engine will turn off. Do not be alarmed, when you take your foot off the brake, the engine will start again.
I highly recommend renting a GPS navigation device.
Look for a flag when entering an address on the GPS device to indicate which county you wish to navigate in – Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Huge time-saver
A portable WiFi device can be very useful. Be aware, though, that if rent it in the Republic of Ireland, it will not work in Northern Ireland. I would imagine the inverse would be true as well. WiFi access is nice when traveling from town to town to locate sites you wish to visit or what restaurants are available. Be sure to read the reviews.
Round-a-bouts (GPS refers to them as rotary) are not that hard to navigate; the key is to enter them in the correct lane and signal appropriately to exit. Learn this quickly as you will encounter many of them.
If someone recommends visiting the chemists, they are referring to the drug store/pharmacy.
When dinning out, ask for your check as they do not automatically drop it by your table. In most instances you do not pay your waiter/waitress; you pay at the bar/bartender.
When stopping at a filling station, presumably in smaller towns, always check to make sure their credit card machine is operational (or carry adequate cash).
Recognize the difference between the color of pump handle that corresponds to the correct fuel for your car. Green handle is diesel in USA, but in Ireland it is petrol (Unleaded). Black is typically diesel in Ireland.
Diesel is the BLACK handle!
Attractions and some ferries are cash only.
Make sure your credit and debit cards are chip. If you need a PIN for your credit card be sure to request it well in advance of your trip (typically 10 days to get). No PIN needed for purchases – just for cash.
The B&B network is extensive and a great way to travel. I would recommend making reservations for the latest possible arrival time as each B&B allows. That gives you some wiggle room as you travel from town to town.
We didn’t not purchase a phone to use while in Ireland. We kept our iPhones in “Airplane Mode” the entire time and connected to WiFi (both portable or at location where we stayed/ate). This was only an issue once when we were running behind schedule getting to our B&B. I sent them an email earlier in the day requesting a later arrival time, but they didn’t see it. There are pay phone in most town centers, but not at every filling station.
If you are going for an extended amount of time and wish to minimize luggage, use a laundry service. Be advised that you typically need to drop off in the a.m. and pick up the following a.m. so plan accordingly.
POWER – we purchased a BESTEK 200W Travel Voltage Converter with 6A 4 USB Charging Ports. The USB ports were handy for charging our iPhones and portable WiFi device. The 110 outlets worked great for charging camera batteries and laptop. This is only for electronics.
Take full advantage of the traditional Irish breakfast. It is typically large and very tasty. It usually starts with cold cereal/yogurt & granola, juice, bread and fruit; then the hot stuff – eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, black/white pudding, toast and coffee. This will carry you through the day well. Have a snack in the afternoon and a pint and you are set until dinner.
Traditional Irish Breakfast @ Kilmail Country Chalet
Fresh seafood and fish is available on every coast. We didn’t find a bad Fish & Chips anywhere. A good variety of fish to – Sea Bass, Hake, Cod, Monk Fish, Haddock, etc.
Filet of Sea Bass
I was surprised that I only found Bangers & Mash and Corn Beef & Cabbage at one restaurant each. Perhaps these dishes are more readily available in pubs. Not all pubs serve food though. If you are looking to eat specific things you may want to research what is available where you will be traveling. If you are interested in eating lamb you are in luck. That was served in some form everywhere we stayed.
If you desire Almonds while on your trip, pack them, as they were not readily available anywhere. Dry roasted peanuts were however plentiful and a satisfactory substitute.
The travel neck pillow you purchased at the airport makes and excellent cradle for you DSLR camera while driving around the Irish countrysides. You’ll likely be stopping often and packing it away each time in your camera bag just isn’t practical.
I don’t believe tipping is customary in Ireland, but it is greatly appreciated. I’ve never been waiting on more quickly and cheerfully every place we had a pint and/or had dinner.
And finally, enjoy plenty of Guinness & Bulmers on your travels. No where will it taste fresher than from the motherland itself.
My wife and I recently visited Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We traveled around the entire island. As you can imagine, the scenery and sites where quite picturesque.
Image from petapixel.com
Just before leaving on our trip we upgraded our iPhone from 5S to 6S. I was and continue to be very impressed with this rendition. The camera stills and 4k video are outstanding. We opted for the 64GB model thinking we didn’t want to run out of space due to large amount of photos and videos. We didn’t even come close; a 32GB model would have suffice, but that is no longer an option. In total, I alone shot 77 panoramas, 35 Selfies, 22 Videos and hundreds of other photos.
The panorama feature is by far my favorite. As a photographer that has shot, stitched and edit numerous panorama’s from a DSLRs files – using an iPhone for this purpose is almost effortless.
Map Module in LR
Another wonderful feature is the geo tagging of every photo. The GPS data is nice to have when you import all of your photos into Lightroom. The Map Module quickly and easily displays all of the location your used your iPhone. I do have a GPS device for our Nikon DLS. The Nikon GP-1A GPS Unit seemingly takes a while to lock in its position. I don’t want to spend my time waiting on a green light to take a photo. I leave it home more frequently now that I shoot with both my DSLR and iPhone.
Image from digital-photography-school.com
Our Nikon D700 and iPhone 6S each have a 12MP sensor. Hard to believe. The sensors are very different though. The D700 sensor measures 36x24mm and the iPhone just 4.8×3.6mm. I am amazed at the quality that something so tiny can produce; however, It does have many limitation. It doesn’t even begin to perform as well as the larger one. Low light, action and overall quality are very different. But when you consider ease of use, size, and the complete package the iPhone places in your finger tips; in my opinion it is hard not to consider it a serious camera for traveling and a complete replacement for a point and shoot camera altogether. With the addition of a third party camera app like ProCamera, you have most manual setting at your fingertips. I like ProCamera as it also allows you to insert your copyright info into the EXIF data of every image.
A new feature on the recent iPhone release is Live Photo. It is an interesting and entertaining feature. The result is both an image file and movie file; when you import the photo into Lightroom, the .jpg is hidden. Your options and solution to this issue can be found [here].
Stay tuned for deluge of photos I captured while on holiday in Ireland. I’ve reviewed and processed all the photos from my iPhone thus far and have a few thousand to work through from other cameras I shot with.
Hearts race and pulses quicken as the teams head into the starting chute, the breath of the anxious dogs filling the air with steamy blasts. Then, as the sun rises over the frozen heaves of Lake Superior, the signal is given and they’re off in a blurred fury of brilliant colors and snow, charging ahead into the raw wilderness to the encouraging calls of their mushers. Which team has what it takes to brave the icy challenges that lay ahead? Who will be crowned this year’s champion?
Another first this last weekend – sled dog racing. Cyndie and I joined our friends in Bayfield, WI for the 20th Annual Apostle Island Sled Dog Race. I must profess that the whole scene is pretty exhilarating. There was a palpable excitement in every sled dog preparing for the race. Some sat quietly waiting, but only for a moment before their passion-filled song and dance moved them once again. They are a vocal and energetic lot. They returned to the finish line a bit more subdued.
Watching the teams race out of the chute was fun. Photographing them was challenging as they raced toward you through the crowd that had gathered. Each musher had their own phrase to encourage their dogs on.
There were two main races: a 10-dog, 80-mile race and a 6 dog, 60-mile race. There’s also a 40-mile Sportsmen’s Race, a 6 to 8-mile Family Race and a 6 to 8-mile Youth Race (16 and under). Half the distance was completed each day. You can see the course of each race on the map.
http://www.winterlong.com/
You can see it in every dog… the drive and determination radiating from their eyes.
It was a perfect morning to explore Willow River State Park. Photographing Willow Falls has been on my list for a long time now. At only 45 minutes from Red Wing, I am not sure why we haven’t been sooner. After seeing numerous posts on facebook, I could not resist any longer. The trail to Willow Falls is short, but steep. The steps up to the lookout after you cross the river via the bridge appeared to be numerous. We’ll have to explore the three lookouts on a return trip. I’d like to explore more of the entire park. In looking at the full map, there are several trails to hike throughout the parks 2,891 acres.
The trail to Willow Falls is short, but steep. The steps up to the lookout, after you cross the river via the bridge, appeared to be numerous. We’ll have to explore the three lookouts on a return trip. I’d like to explore more of the entire park. In looking at the full map, there are several trails to hike throughout the parks 2,891 acres.
The centerpiece of the park is Willow Falls, a powerful cascade in a 200-foot (61 m) deep gorge. Another popular feature is Little Falls Lake, a shallow reservoir on the Willow River. Because of its proximity to Minneapolis-St. Paul it is one of the most visited state parks in Wisconsin. Trilobite fossils found in the lower layers of the gorge indicate the rock is around 600 million years old.
History
Santee Sioux and Ojibwa lived in the region and clashed over rights to wild rice lakes. European explorers witnessed one of their battles in 1795 at the mouth of the Willow River.
Settlers moved in, and by 1830 logging and wheat farming were common in the Willow River Valley. The river was invaluable for the former, as logs were floated downstream to the St. Croix. A German immigrant, Christian Burkhardt, realized the river could also be harnessed for the latter industry, and built a grist mill here in 1868. Burkhardt became a wealthy landowner and followed developments in water-powered industry. He traveled home to Germany to examine hydroelectric power plants and returned in 1891 to build his own on the Willow River. Burkhardt eventually built four power plants and dams on the river, which provided electricity to Hudson. Northern States Power purchased Burkhardt’s power company in 1945 and operated its sites until 1963, when damage to one of the plants from a lightning strike prompted the company to liquidate their Willow River holdings.
In 1967 Northern States Power sold the land to the Wisconsin Conservation Commission for a state park, and stabilized the dams at a financial loss. The state park opened in 1971. Some of the dams were removed in the 1990s to improve the scenery and trout fishery, and now only one remains. The land is still being restored from damming and farming. source-wikipedia
It was a bone-chilling 19 degrees when we awoke Saturday morning. It felt cold, but it wasn’t the cold that chills your core and burns your face, you know that type of cold that hits you around the end of January when you wish Winter were over. Cyndie & I, along with our good friend Linnae, arrived at Fort Snelling State Park shortly after sunrise. Traces of Autumn can still be seen, but for the most part the brilliant colors are gone – almost. We found some lovely color enhanced by the rising sun along the western shore of Snelling Lake.
Sunrise
Whitetail Deer
Our primary purpose of this trip was to photograph Whitetail deer – specifically [& hopefully] big bucks. It is that time of the year when bucks break away from their traditional habits and venture out of the thick stuff in search of receptive does in the day light.
Picnic Island
We found such activity quickly on Picnic Island. We noticed several scrapes and rubs. Pre-rut signs galore. There were no shortages of photographers on-hand to witness this spectacle. We spent a good amount of time watching a dandy 9-pointer pursue does all over Picnic Island. There were other smaller bucks darting about and avoiding direct contact with the bigger buck.
Pike Island
We decided to delve further in and explore another area of the park. Pike Island, a walk in only area,was just down the road. I am glad we opted to do this. The temperature was rising as was our excitement; we had buck fever.
We walked around the perimeter of Pike Island (mostly; except the eastern third) without seeing so much as a yearling. We decided to walk a game trail up the center. There were brush piles everywhere – all kinds of places for deer to bed down for a mid-day rest. It wasn’t long and we located a small buck. As I began to photograph him I noticed there was another buck behind him – a much bigger one. I continued to shoot and eventually saw the doe that was hunkered down in the grass next to them. I think we spent the next hour hanging out with those three deer. At one point a dozen or so turkeys came wandering down the trail and just walked on by like we were not even there. That was fun. What a great day.
*Just a side note on gear, you regularly see photographers hauling out the big lenses for wildlife. Thousands of dollars of gear. With the exception of the first few landscape shot, the balance of these images were shot with a Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 – a $449.00 lens; not a $2500 or $10k lens. The 70-300 was attached to a Nikon D700 shooting at ISO 2000 between f/5.6 – f/7.1. I am not going to lie, I would gladly shoot with a $10k lens if I had it. This is a simply demonstration that you do not need all that if you want to get out there and have a great time – especially at this location. The high-ISO performance of a full-frame sensor was beneficial given the low light.
Our last day in the Black Hills we headed to Spearfish. Our travels brought us through Hill City on our way to our first stop, Silver City, situated on the West side of Pactola Reservoir. It is a cute little town nestled in the hills with a small one-room church. We existed the town through Nugget Gulch on Edelweiss Mountain Road – the wrong direction – and ended up quite a ways south of the reservoir need Clear Creek. It was a beautiful drive and worth the time; the kind of back-roading I had wanted to do if not for the snow.
Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway was delightful as anticipated. I hadn’t been here is quite some time (Cyndie’s first time here), but it was as I remembered. We stopped at the first dam to stretch our legs and take in a bit of the canyon. There was a nice little reservoir and cascades below the dam. Our second stop heading down canyon road was at Roughlock Falls on Little Spearfish Creek off of 222. Another picturesque place to get out, tromp about and snap some photos.
Small cascades on Spearfish Creek.
Roughlock Falls Area
Roughlock Falls Area
Roughlock Falls Area
Roughlock Falls
Roughlock Falls
Roughlock Falls
Roughlock Falls
Roughlock Falls
Roughlock Falls
Further down the canyon we had brief roadside stop at the apply named Bridal Veil Falls.
Bridal Veil Falls
My favorite stop along Spearfish Canyon had was Spearfish Falls. Once we found the trail to it that is; the trail to the falls was a bit obscured by trees.
Spearfish Falls
Spearfish Falls Trail
Spearfish Falls Trail
After a lengthy stop at the DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery we made our way back up the canyon. We took the long way back to Custer, crossed into Wyoming for some different, but similar views. It was a long day and I was enjoying sitting back and driving. I couldn’t resist shooting this pano at the Salt Creek Overlook off of Canam Hwy (Wyoming 85) on our way to Newcastle.
Salt Creek Valley
We had a wonderful week in South Dakota. The next day we woke early, packed quickly and began the 10 hour drive back home.
