irish mangroves

Morning at work, struggled in through torrential rain and seaweed covered roads. By the time I returned home at lunchtime the sun was shining brightly and it was warm. We abandoned everything, donned our boots and headed for the hills. We went up high and walked through forestry, mostly conifers,and then we veered off across fields and bogs and little streams. Fantastically clear and very remote. The best bit was this - quite spooky, very lush, very mossy and very waterlogged - an Irish mangrove swamp. Many photos were taken but it's impossible to capture the verdant mossiness so this will have to suffice. The other interesting thing was the amount of frog spawn - it was everywhere including great dollops on the road. We were also nearly adopted by an old arthritic dog who was sitting rather forlornly by a car, no humans in sight. He followed us perkily for a bit until himself sent him back; he tottered off looking very dejected.

The only other bit of excitement is we have a new pump for our well. The old one packed in and Jim the plumber arrived and fixed a new one very efficiently. Lots of gunk had built up inside the pump- we are very prone to manganese!

One more morning then three days off - bliss :)