Dear Peter,
Thank you for this article, it is a little trip back in time for me, as i used to live in Co. Wicklow, now Donegal. County Wicklow was my first stop when I came to Ireland nearly a decade ago.
Allow me to add the one or other thing that LuLa readers might find interesting as well.
One can see in the northern front of your shots the creamy colored sandy beach, right? It is an interesting place in deed.
You drive south out of Dublin towards Glendalough over Sally Gap, a typical bogland/heather landscape, which is the pass over the Wicklow Mountains where the River Cloghoge feeds Lough Tay and Lough Dan.
Sally Gap is easily underestimated, particulary in Winter, and in deed it is the regular occurance for the Wicklow Mountain rescue to haul naiv Tourist outa there. While the irsish /Wicklow Mountainscapes do not offer the grandeur of the Rockies or similiar, it is a remote place, and should be respected as such, this can not be overestressed enough. It always stroke me to see the busloads of tourists in Glendalough with Ladies in their High Heels trying to walk passed the old mines, stumbling along on the granit bolders, and inevitably braking bones. Twice I found tourists there with ankles fractures, to be hauled out by Helicopter. In Winter times Sally gap is often unpassable due to weather conditions. So if you visit the area, do treat it as a remote wilderness and you are on the right track!
Now I thought the readers might find it amusing to know that Lough Tay is also known as "The Guiness lake" for two reasons, one being that this lake borders on the huge estate of the Guiness family.
The other has to do with the dark water of Lough Tay and the fact that the Guiness family imports tons of creamy sand to its northern shore, and if you look at it from the right angle, it looks in deed like a pint of Guiness. <smile>
Unfortunately, I did not do photography when I lived in Wicklow, as much as i would like to back this story up with a nice shot from the other side of the Lough, then again, may be you have one coincidently and share it here with us.
I saw a few shots from Donegal on your site, please feel free to send me a PM and I gladly give you my phone number in case you plan another visit to this stunning beautiful part of Ireland and we can hook up for a pint or two, or may be even organise a shooting with clients, I have Mac's and an Epson 11880 and 3800 at my disposal. I am located on Dooey Beach not far from Glenveagh National Park, the latter is an area you might want to visit as well, a postglacial landscape of breathtaking beauty where Golden Eagles sore high above the peaks of the Derryveagh Mountains again, more than hundred years after their extinction, successfully reintroduceed.
Thanks again for the interesting article, I highly recommend visitors to Dublin to go and spend some days there, it is a magic place in deed, and do bring propper boots! <grins>
Best wishes from Donegal
Georg Baumann
Oceanviewstudio
