Minard - Knocknanacree
Stunning sunrise at the Storm Beach at Minard
This was my first time at this location, and yet again, was an area i had driven past a number of times over the last year.
What more can be said, the sunrise was absolutely stunning. I hope the video and the images show it. It did go on for a good while so there was a lot of frantic runing around the place looking for compositions etc. Even tho the area is small, being that it was my first time there i was unfamiliar with the layout, but thankfully the sunrise light did last a while, so i was able to move around a good bit. I get the feeling that the castle could be a focal point, but there was absolutely no light hitting it, and it was the big round boulders that immediately drew the attention. I dont think it came out in the video but the sound of the water going out over the rocks was a low rumbling, it sounded very cool. I had a lot of static video of just the waves crashing on the shore, but i couldn’t include it all in the YouTube, i was tempted to, but in the end decided not to.
Once the light passed i put up the drone, and while the shots were nice , it didn’t match the light from the sunrise, so i decided against using them.
The images, overall i’m very happy with them, even the unusual edits on two of them.
It really was a spectacular start. There was no way a hike could deliver the light for the first 2 hours, but it was the reason i was here and was looking forward to it.
Staying low again this week i was going doing Knocknanacree, Cnoc na nAcrai. A low hill at 286m but it gave some great views. It was neceassray to walk along the road for a bit even tho it was tempting to just head up thru the gate at the beach, there was no signs saying it was ok, so i didnt want to risk it. Anyway, the road walk up was nice so no harm done.
Raining Light
Once onto the hillside, you’re just following a track up around a small quarry while heading in the direction of the coast. Very quickly you start to get some nice views looking inland to the central dingle mountains, back towards the beach and castle and out across the bay towards the Iveragh Peninsula. It’s a relativley easy hike up to Knocknacree, a bit wet in places, but overall it was grand. Like i said in the video, there was a nice structure of sheep pen that provided shelter from the wind while viewing out across the bay. There was some serious light and cloud happening over on the Iveragh Peninsula throughout the rest of the hike. Different to the morning but impressive none the less.
Now, this is a bit i would probably not do again. Dropping down to Dooragh was ok,, some heather/furze and rocks, but it was only ok. You can see that unusual cairn in the distance and it really is interesting looking, but the trip out to it thru the furze really makes it not worth the effort, which is unfortunate as its very nice. I again followed a half a map i found online from a local walking club, but similar to the Brickany walk, it’s incomplete and shouldn’t be done. Maybe the locals know of some route, but matching up the one i found online to the OSI map proves pointless. i fought my way thru knee high furze for a good 30 mins and just decided to head back towards Dooragh. No path presented itself and it was utterly pointless. This is the second one of these “maps” that hasnt borne out the expected route of any description. I just left it out of the video and put in the bit where i said dont bother doing it, and i still stand by that.
Other than that slight route inconvenience, its a really nice hike. The weather could have been a bit better, but being a low hill it wasn’t any problem.
The sunrise was most definitely the highlight and i feel very lucky to have been there for it.
thanks again
Ed