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.

There's something about the smell of the coast - a fresh Atlantic Ocean breeze, sunshine and recently passed rain.

And it's the smell of nature after rain that will be very familiar to anyone who spends much time outdoors, even in the urban environment, indeed a typical Irish town will have that particular post-pluvial odour caused by a mix of geosmin from gardens, parks and hedges and ozone from concrete and tarmac.

Of course the smell of the countryside, fields and forests the same.

And that smell has a name, Petrichor which comes from the Greek petros for stone and ichor which was the blood of the gods.

Every so often a little bit of colour catches your eye, here by the coast of Ireland I noticed every breaking wave and its spray carrying a rainbow of colour towards the white cliffs of the Antrim Coast.

Rainbows are usually fleeting, relying on a mixture of sunshine and water vapour meeting at the correct angle to create the separation of light into its constituent wavelengths - for us we see the visible spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Rainbows can occur anywhere, as seen here in the wave spray or on top of a mountain in a ringed glory, in urban settings and in fine autumnal scenes.

Pots of gold they say, that's what you will find at the end of a rainbow.

I'm not so sure, I have photographed many rainbows over the years and upon inspection have never found any gold - perhaps those pesky leprechauns got there before me.

Here, the round tower and small church of the monastic city at Glendalough are seen above the fast flowing river and underneath the rainbow. These stones must have seen plenty of rainbows and rainy weather in their almost 1,000 years in their current positions.

Rainbows can only occur when the sun is located behind the observer, when the sun is low in the sky and when there is rain or mist in the direction of view. The colours are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Sunlight enters droplets of water in the atmosphere and is reflected back, undergoing refraction as it enters and leaves the water.

Anyway, for a photographer a rainbow is a little like gold in itself, find a rainbow over any scene and it is instantly improved and if you move around to find a new angle the rainbow will be accommodating in its desire to fit neatly into the subject in front of you as seen here on Croagh Patrick in County Mayo.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, on a photography workshop in Ireland when we can travel again (in 2021) and in the meantime check back for more images, stories and news from Ireland.

Ireland has seen more than its fair share of stormy weather this summer, as I write we have thunderstorms and heavy rain with very warm temperatures.

This weather of course gives rise to rainbows, this one seen here shining over an old abbey building dating to the 12th century.

These stones have stood here for 800 years, the rainbow lasted mere minutes. 

It got me wondering, how many rainbows has this old building in the Irish countryside seen?

Now there's a thought, but even without an answer it was still a fine sight.

I have written about rainbows here on panoramicireland.com before, here are a few of my favourites: 

https://panoramicireland.com/blog-ireland-guide/croagh-patrick-pilgrimage-brocken-spectre-ringed-glory-irish-mountain

https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/rainbow-portobello-dublin

https://panoramicireland.com/miscellaneous-blog-category/stormy-day-weather-brings-delights-ardglass-co-down-northern-ireland

Stormy day spray off the sea brings a fine double rainbow that extends below the horizon.

Little is visible of the scenes beyond, the rugged Irish coastline extending beyond into the distance.

But the presence of a double rainbow, seemingly floating in the view offshore, is enough to make the rainy afternoon worthy of exploring with camera especially with that little glint of light - the hope of brighter weather to come.

I have been photographing rainbows a lot of late, with the recent stormy weather here in Ireland.

Here is one of those rainbows from a recent post from Dublin's Portobello: https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/rainbow-portobello-dublin

And here another from Dublin in this Facebook post:

Here you can see the colour range that we get with rainbows - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Enjoy the rainbows.

Dublin isn't just a city of amazing architecture, great pubs and leafy parks, it's also a city of impressive skies.

Here the iconic Ha'penny Bridge spanning the River Liffey is illuminated by a double rainbow.

I had a meeting in Downpatrick today, a bustling town in the east of Northern Ireland's scenic County Down.

A productive meeting, I then went around the coast of the very beautiful county that is home to miles of beautiful coastline and Northern Ireland's highest, and most famous, mountains - The Mournes.