On a very cold Christmas Eve, standing on the summit of Lackavrea in west Galway, I used a telephoto lens to see what I could see in every direction. The lens had an effective focal length of 640mm, or about 12 times magnification. In the south-east, I could see a solitary communications tower jutting out of the mist. What was it, I wondered ?
The wind turbines in the background gave a clue. They are the two windfarms built along the Sliabh Aughty mountains in south Galway. From my location, they are on the other side of Galway Bay, which would mean that the tower is probably the Eircom mast in the city. The wind farm in Derrybrien are 75 km (46 miles) from Lackavrea (according to Google Earth, anyway), and the city is 25 miles (40 km) away. Those large ‘dishes’ on the tower require ‘line of sight’ to communicate with other towers which is why they are located on high ground – in the foreground, on the east side of Lackavrea hill is another tower (along with some other communications masts). Bigger version of picture here.
a sea of smog … beautiful