Two posts(!) from my trip to Connemara in November; this is the first and contains the digital pictures. There’ll be another along soon presenting the pictures shot on film…

As I continue to discover Ireland after our move here in 2018, so far, Connemara is my favourite part. While the hills are not as high as Kerry, nor the coast as rugged as that further south, there is a peacefulness to the area that I really enjoy. The entire area is covered with small lakes and rolling hills, and even by Irish standards, very few people.

I drove up with walking boots, kayaking and camera gear but no real plan. Being the last weekend of November, the days were short and the sun never made it very high into the sky. There was a strong, cold wind, but in my limited experience of Connemara, this was unusually fantastic (my previous visit had been during Storm Deirdre) and so I made the most of it…

These first few pictures were made around Lough Inagh, from the R344 between Recess and Letterfrack.

Next up, the Twelve Pines on Derryclare Lough – surely one of the most photographed spots in Ireland.

On my last visit to Connemara, I went to see an extremely rare example of modernism in the West of Ireland, Our Lady of the Roadside chapel at Lecknavarna. You can see more pictures of the outside from my last trip there.

Dog’s Bay and Gurteen Bay are two back-to-back beaches with low dunes separating them. It’s a pretty unique place. The cloud had settled further inland, but on the coast, the sun was doing its best. It made for some interesting light.

I spent the night in a hostel in Letterfrack and after my bar meal for one, went for a quick walk around the village. I came across this scene – if you’re familiar with some of my older work, you’ll know it’s a scene that I wouldn’t be able to resist. I headed back to the hostel and dragged out my camera gear…

Early next morning, I walked from the village, via the Connemara National Park Visitor’s Centre, to Diamond Hill. It was a pretty steep climb, but the views of the Connemara hills and the Atlantic were spectacular.

I walked back down, had a sandwich from the Co-Op and then took a paddle around the bay that I’d looked down on from the hill earlier in the day (the pointy peak, a quarter of the way in from the right is the hill I walked up).

The light remained terrific for the drive home…

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Gubbins:

Most pictures were taken with a Leica M (typ 262) and a Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/1.5, or Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 lenses. The one from the hill was an iPhone snap, despite carrying all of my camera gear with me. The shot from the kayak was using a Canon 350d that I use only when kayaking as I’d be less bothered if I were to drop it overboard.

Hit the pictures below to see them full-screen…

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