Every year, on this date, I have a plan. It is the same plan every year, and it usually goes unfulfilled. The plan is simple – take a picture at either sunrise or sunset that highlights the magic of the longest day of the year. Since 2008, the weather hasn’t cooperated much – last year, rain; in 2011, rain;in 2010, woohoo – sunshine; in 2009, sunshine and in 2008, there was a deluge.Normally, I have to recycle a picture taken at some other time, and this year is no different. The rain today will be repeated tomorrow, according to Met Eireann, so no point in heading off early tomorrow to catch the sunrise – I can see cloud anytime.
Two weeks ago, I hiked to Lackavrea in Connemara and spent the very short night taking pictures from the summit. Dusk lasted until 11 and dawn began at 4am. It never really got dark at any time, and there is something rather special about standing on the top of a mountain, watching the stars above while seeing the glow of the sun only just below the horizon. The picture above was taken just before 3am, an hour before dawn, looking north-east over the northern part of Lough Corrib towards Mount Gable (Benlevy) with the smallest glimpse of Lough Mask behind it. The lights on the other side of Lough Corrib are from Headford.
On the small island in the foreground stands Hen’s Castle – I photographed it before here and here .
What was also special was the reception I got an hour after sunrise – just not in a good way. I brought my little trangia cooker and cooked up some sausages . After eating them, I boiled some water for tea. Just as I was waiting for the teabag to do its magic, I began to feel some bites from midges. Now, I grew up on a farm near a bog, and I’ve hiked in Connemara for years – midges I am used to. This was different – within a minute, a huge swarm of the little feckers enveloped me, all with a healthy appetite. My fleece was literally coated with them and they repeatedly bit every single exposed bit of skin. I took the spray top off the bottle of bug-spray I had brought with me, and just smeared the liquid straight onto my face and hands – I might as well have coated myself in salad dressing – it didn’t deter any of them. I packed my stuff as quickly as I could, given that my eyes were nearly closed from the biting, and scurried off the hill.
Michael Viney’s excellent book – Ireland, A Smithsonian Natural History – explains that only four of the country’s thirty species of midges cause discomfort to people – I’m guessing that it was Culicoides impunctatus (latin for little flying hoors) that had decided that I would be the breakfast buffet that morning (it is the same species that causes such misery in the Scottish Highlands).
Of course, it is not just midges that can cause a problem…