Glendalough...

[mmcclellan]

A word of warning, beloved Irish APUGgers -- Glendalough will be SWARMING with tourists all through the summer, even when it's pouring rain. Your only hope of getting a shot that isn't full of Brits and Americans and assorted Germans and other Ireland-lovers is to have your cameras out the minute it opens and rush in before the buses arrive.

If, on the other hand, you do Glendalough in the fall, you can easily have the place to yourself on a Saturday morning. However, if you do go in the summer, there are still plenty of other wonderful sites all up and down the valley to photograph that the tourists hardly visit, including a lovely church that's about a 20 minute walk from the monastic city and off the trail near the main road.

I remember setting up my 5x7 one gorgeous summer Sunday and waiting for about two hours for a break in the traffic to get a clean shot. I finally gave up and headed down the glen hoping for another shot that would work. Outside the summer tourist season, though, you can easily have the place to yourselves on a beautiful day.

Good luck -- Glendalough is truly one of the most beautiful sites in Ireland (after Skellig Michael, of course!).

[Rolleiflexible]

... is to have your cameras out the minute it opens ...

"The minute it opens"? You mean, the authorities have come up with a way of opening and closing the glen? Alas, paradise lost.

Sanders

[Síle]

"The minute it opens"? You mean, the authorities have come up with a way of opening and closing the glen? Alas, paradise lost.

Sanders

You know I don't think they do? I'm a regular visitor, and having arrived there both in early morning and late afternoon and I've never known it to "Close" as such. Any opening and closing times relate to the visitors centre and not the actual Monastic settlement or lakes.
So would that be.. Paradise re-found?
It truly is my favourite haunt.. and yes you're right Michael the swarms of tourists do get worse as the summer moves on, so an early start is imperative.
I also know of that little church you mention farther up the valley.. the one you need to cross a little wooden bridge to get to? That's also on the itinerary for the day.. so bring your walking boots folks!

Síle

[Dave Miller]

I don't think it closes, last time we were there we arrived about 8am and had the place mostly to ourselves until the first coach arrive at 10am, and that was in June. I have a few snaps in my gallery for those unsure of what to expect, but there is lots more there other than stonework.

http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=1223

[Rolleiflexible]

there is lots more there other than stonework.[/url]

I once saw a rabbit the size of a kangaroo in the vale of Glendalough.

[Jon King]

I once saw a rabbit the size of a kangaroo in the vale of Glendalough.

I spent a lovely day, cloudy, but lovely in Glendalough. I never did see a rabbit quite that large. Other parts of the island however, seemed to be overrun with some other kangaroo sized beasts...

Thinking about it, I've never seen a kangaroo in the wild either, so I could be wrong.

[Rolleiflexible]

He (I assumed it was a he, he looked menacing and I doubt a female of the species would have glowered like that) lurked in the pines, leapt out for a brief moment as the sun split the clouds, then darted* off again. But there was that one shaft of sunlight that day, and that kangarabbit occupied it while it lasted.

Sanders

__________

* not DARTed.

[dferrie]

He (I assumed it was a he, he looked menacing and I doubt a female of the species would have glowered like that) lurked in the pines, leapt out for a brief moment as the sun split the clouds, then darted* off again. But there was that one shaft of sunlight that day, and that kangarabbit occupied it while it lasted.

Great, Scotland get the Loch Ness monster and we get the Glendalough Kangarabbit !

David

[Síle]

He (I assumed it was a he, he looked menacing and I doubt a female of the species would have glowered like that) lurked in the pines, leapt out for a brief moment as the sun split the clouds, then darted* off again. But there was that one shaft of sunlight that day, and that kangarabbit occupied it while it lasted.

Sanders

__________

* not DARTed.

Did you pick your own Mushrooms for breakfast that day??


Síle

[Rolleiflexible]

I still have nightmares.