Displaying items by tag: donegal

Tuesday, 23 April 2024 21:12

Beltany Stone Circle, Donegal

In Ireland's far north, one of its finest stone circles sits on a low hill with commanding views over the local countryside towards distant ridges.

Beltany stone circle comprises 64 upright stones organised in as close to a percect circle as a highly disturbed ancient bronze age site can be.

The stone circle is made up of larger than typical standing stones for an Irish site, some here are 2.5 metres in height.

Published in Guide

Intense double rainbow arcing over Doe Castle and the sands of Sheephaven Bay in Donegal on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way.

Doe Castle dates to the 1420s and was home of the McSweeneys, a clan originally from Scotland who came to Ireland as mercenary fighters known as gallowglasses.

The name Doe Castle is an anglicisation of Caisleán na dTuath which means castle of the area or district - a túath being an administrative area in Gaelic Ireland.

The tower itself is 15th century but the outer enclosing walls, the bawn, date to the 17th century.

Doe Castle, County Donegal, Ireland
Doe Castle, County Donegal, Ireland
Published in Photo Tours
Sunday, 17 September 2023 00:46

Reds and Rocks in Donegal, Ireland

Ireland's fine scenery, as in a recent post looks as good in grey and cloudy weather as in sunshine and blue skies.

A case in point, here in the northwest, in County Donegal this landscape of granite mountains covered in a soft, boggy carpet with just delicate highlights and shadows across the empty scene.

This, a glaciated valley features steep sides hundreds of metres in height.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph landscapes like these.

Published in Photo Tours
Saturday, 16 September 2023 01:10

Scenic Ireland, Even on a Grey Day - Donegal

I often get asked about photography and visiting Ireland, one of the most common questions is "What is there to photograph when the weather isn't good?"

Well even in summer, like here in this image, the weather can be grey and often rainy but it's still scenic.

And yet it is how Ireland often is, not the bright sunshine and blue sky of typical postcard images. The landscape is sympathtic to the soft weather of an Irish day.

There's a poetry to the landscape in such conditions as here in Donegal and although I typically head for woodlands in grey weather, I do still enjoy photographing the open landscape with the distant grey of mountains melding in with the grey of the sky.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in the Irish landscape throughout the year.

Published in Photo Tours

Amongst the most popular places to visit in Donegal and indeed in the whole of Ireland and in particular the 2,500km Wild Atlantic Way that stretches from Donegal's border with Derry right down to Kinsale in Cork, Slieve League's impressive sloping sea cliffs are inspiring.

The impressive cliffs and uninterrupted Atlantic views of Slieve League are located approximately one hour's drive west of Donegal Town in the south west of Ireland's most northerly county, Donegal.

On my previous visit to these cliffs that rise to about 600 metres off the Atlantic Ocean the weather was bright and golden with beautiful light striking the facets of grey rock and green grass.

On this occasion, summer 2021, it was warm but overcast so there was no direct, golden sunshine light. Still, at least the Atlantic weather was sympathetic to our photographic pursuits and there was plenty of colour as you can see in this image.

Published in Guide

I have written about Slieve League or Sliabh Liag before, Ireland's highest mainland coastal cliffs.

This is one of Ireland's finest landscapes with its indented, steep cliffs constantly battered by the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of metres below.

Bright, golden light catches each of the rocky indents.

Join me, in 2024 and 2025, to photograph in Ireland's most scenic locations including Antrim, Donegal, Galway, Wicklow and Waterford.

Published in Photo Tours
Monday, 31 August 2020 22:24

Bad Eddie's Boat, Donegal

Now little more than half an outline of a shipwrecked boat, the rotting planks that make up Bad Eddie's Boat, marooned on a Donegal beach since 1977, may soon become a more lasting figure if locals can raise enough funds to recreate the tourist attraction as a stainless steel work of art.

Overlooked by the long abandoned Óstán Gweedore, the monolithic hotel perched above the beach in Bunbeg, Bad Eddie's Boat is to be surveyed by a team from Queen's University in Belfast with the intention of recreating the structure as Ireland's first piece of submersed beach sculpture.

Seen here in 2014, the sea has not been kind to Bad Eddie's Boat. Eddie brought the French-built ship ashore here for repairs in 1977 and it has remained here ever since, providing interest to locals, visitors and artists alike.

Bono and Clannad recorded a video here for their famous track In a Lifetime back in 1986.

Published in Guide
Saturday, 29 June 2019 09:39

Golden Light at Slieve League

The island of Ireland's highest sea cliffs, Slieve League in County Donegal is one of the highlights of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way..

The dramatic coastline rises to a lofty 600 or so metres above the Atlantic Ocean making these cliffs mainland Ireland's highest, three times more than the more famous Cliffs of Moher further south on the western seaboard.

Published in Photo Tours

Ireland is full of ruins, it's also full of church ruins.

Many of the ruins are scenic in their broken state, centuries of tumble down action, ivy growth and fine locations but few are more scenic than the ruins of Dunlewey in County Donegal.

Published in Photo Tours

Situated at the northern tip of the Fanad peninsula in northern Donegal, Ireland's most northerly county, Fanad Lighthouse is undoubtedly one of the most scenic in Europe.

The stormy, but as seen here calm, waters of the Atlantic stretch thousands of miles beyond the horizon and distant mountains are visible in many directions.

This lighthouse is photographed more often than most others in Ireland and is a perfect location in a part of Ireland full of interest for landscape photography.

Published in Photo Tours
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