I wrote a few years ago about one of Ireland's most famous mariners, Admiral Brown, who was born in Foxford, County Mayo in 1777; pictured above is the statue in Dublin rather than Foxford.

It has been almost 10 years since my last visit to Foxford, another journey to this scenic part of Ireland is overdue.

Over many years, William Brown distinguished himself as a mariner and eventually rose to the rank of Admiral, having founding the Argentinian navy during its independence campaign from Spain in the early 19th century.

He is regarded as a national hero with almost every town in Argentina having a street named for Almirante Guillermo Brown as he was known in the country.

In recent years of course the interest in Argentine-Irish connections has received a boost, particularly with the current World Cup 2022 featuring Irish-Argentinian Alexis MacAllister.

It might come as a surprise to many that there are any links between Ireland, the small country that led the 20th century in achieving independence from rapacious, subjugating overlords the English, and Argentina, a large, South American Spanish-speaking country - but there are.

Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, is home to many Irish dancing schools, and a cursory look through the phone book will find many Irish surnames such as Kenny, Cullen, Dillon, Furlong, Walsh and Lynch (the name of an ancestor of Che Guevara).

In 2022 the main interest is in World Cup finalists, Argentina, and one of their star players, no not Lionel Messi, but Alexis MacAllister. 

The name is often taken as Scottish, but the family have no knowledge of a Scottish ancestry as they have a direct link to Donabate in County Dublin, including to an old cottage that their ancestor left from and family in the area today.

They claim Irish ancestry and are quite proud of it, despite the common misconception that they have Scottish heritage.

Mac or Mc mean 'son of', often Mac is taken to be of Scottish origin and Mc of Irish origin but there are no real rules here and it can come down to who filled in the forms. 

Ireland of course never made it to the World Cup this year but there are probably more than a few people supporting Argentina based on the Irish connection.

Irish influence around the world is no just in the Anglosphere, notable figures in Irish history went to Argentina, Italy, France, Spain and beyond.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph and explore in the Irish countryside, Dublin, Cork, Foxford and other cities.

Bright golden autumn colour on one of Ireland's many back roads.

While some Irish thoroughfares get all the attention, The Dark Hedges and Grafton Street being two prime examples, the country is accessible from a dense network of small back roads that, in many places, are incredibly scenic.

Just colour here beside a small river, enough to make you want to stop and just take it all in for the few weeks of autumn every year.

The season is changing now and after lots of windy but warm weather recently most of the leaves are off the trees. The bare season of winter is nearly here.

Scenic and Colourful Irish Road in Autumn

Autumn sunlight and the scenery of a tree tunnel of yew.

Ireland is full of scenic roadways, avenues of fine trees but some are more impressive than others.

Obviously I am talking about the Dark Hedges in County Antrim, and yet as here above there are many other equally beautiful avenues to walk through in Ireland.

A fine afternoon sky from today in Ireland with rays of the sun . 

Sunbeams break through fast moving clouds as the sun edges past the hypotenuse of this nebulous triangle into clear blue sky for a short time.

The hills and low mountains of Ireland, illuminated in places into the distance.

After a fine scene of golden winter light yesterday, this definitely made a perfect afternoon outing with camera to mark three years since my cancer operation. Indeed it reminded me of this image from the time of my chemotherapy.

There is still good time left this winter for cold, snowy weather but so far 2022 has been mild. In a few days the 1st of February marks the traditional start of spring in Ireland with Saint Brigid's Day.

Now that the various lockdowns and restrictions have ended here in Ireland, and hopefully we won't see more need for them, I will be photographing throughout Ireland all year and you can join me, Panoramic Ireland, in any part of the Irish countryside that you would like to visit.