July 14th, 2014. That is when I first set off on my bike for the Nagle mountains. And April of that year was also when I started cycling. Ten years of cycling, and ten years of the Nagle mountains. Where does the time go!
I remember before that trip, just looking at random locations on Google Maps, and then just realizing, there was a mountain range, A MOUNTAIN RANGE, within cycling distance of my house. It seemed at the time that the possibilities for adventure and wonderful experiences were unending, and, ten years later, I can confirm that I was right!
I debated in my head whether this post was going to be a recap of all my previous cycling trips there, but I think I’ll forgo that to an extent, because I wrote a post in 2022 called “The Twentieth Cycle To The Nagle Mountains” which basically acts as a summary of the, at that time, previous 8 years of my trips to the Nagles. Here’s that post if anyone’s interested:
https://autismneurodiversity.com/2022/09/18/the-twentieth-cycle-to-the-nagle-mountains/
So for this post, I’ll mainly concentrate on the trip I made yesterday to the Nagle mountains.
After the usual ritual of checking that I had my keys, phone, water, hand sanitizer, camera, and food, over, and over, and over, and over
(Four hours later)
and over and over again. I set off. I realized I’d gotten lucky with the timing of it. I took off early enough to miss the roadworks that would in an hour or so be creating delays on my way out. YAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Usually my severe travel anxiety tries to derail my trips to the Nagle mountains in some way, this time I got a panic attack on the bike while I was within about four miles of the mountains. It didn’t last long however. I think after all these years, my anxiety “gets it”, once I’ve decided I’m going to the Nagle mountains, I’m going, and no amount of anxiety induced feelings of light headedness or wobbly legs or bizarre aches is going to stop me. So my anxiety, defeated, quietly fucked up, and on I went to the mountains!
I reached the base of the mountains, tied the bike to the, gate thing, I don’t know what it’s called ,and begun my ascent of Knocknaskagh mountain. Ascent is probably putting it too strongly. I’ll try that again. I reached the base of the mountains, tied the bike to the, gate thing, I don’t know what it’s called ,and begun my gentle walk that even a fairly athletic baby could manage of Knocknaskagh mountain.
The beautiful trees combined with the distant views is simply amazing.
Another thing I should mention about yesterday, is that the sunlight was, simply beautiful. I love the sun in Winter, it’s go a different kind of brightness to the Summer sun. It reminds me a lot of the sunshine I experienced during a trip to Iceland I took in July 2009. Because we could probably be described as being at the half way point between Summer and Winter, the lighting was this magical combination of Summer light and Winter light. It was incredible.
Simply amazing light.
As I neared the top of Knocknaskagh, I saw a meadow pipit.
Hello pipit!
I reached the top of Knocknaskagh mountain, and now it would be fairly easy walking to what is my absolute favourite part of the Nagles mountains, the wonderful cairn to the north. And as I walked I took in the wonderful landscape around me.
The glowing heather of September. Sounds like a name for an album!
Wonderful landscape.
The Nagle mountains is a fairly magical place where you can just escape into the wild. The sound of the wind up there is fairly breathtaking. But, what I’m going to say next you may find depressing, and it’s to do with an attitude in Ireland, and many other countries, that I find to be simply heartbreaking.
If a place is beautiful, if it’s magical, if it absolutely takes your breath away, to many powerful people in Ireland, that’s simply not good enough. All that matters is, can I make money off it?
And so, a lot of sections of the mountains consist of forests owned by Coilte. They plant fast growing trees that are not in any way good for bird life, they plant them, they grow, they cut them down, then plant more. Because, the depressing reality is, at some point, a group of politicians and business people looked at the wonder, the splendor, the majesty of the Nagle mountains, and said, “Not good enough, it has to make money.”
Luckily, in spite of, in no way because of, Coilte’s interference in this beautiful place, it is still magical, and it still takes my breath away. But, if every inch of land, every forest, every waterfall, every mountain, is just deemed useless if you can’t make money off it, then, I really fear for the future of this beautiful planet.
Things that don’t make money can have a lot of worth and merit. It is NOT hard to understand!
For most of my journey through the mountains I was accompanied by wonderful swallows overhead. Their complicated and majestic flight patterns are simply a joy to behold. And then I reached the Northern Cairn.
One of the best places in the world.
I stayed longer than I intended to. I was thinking I shouldn’t stay too long because the evenings are getting shorter. Sunset is now slightly before 8:00pm, but if it clouds over a lot, you can be talking about significant darkness by 7:00pm. But how could anyone find the strength to only spend a short amount of time in this wonderful place?
You try leaving this place!
A wonderful world of heather.
I never get tired of this view.
Oh the green!
Soon enough I was hearing a really interesting sound from the trees that I had never heard before. It had a machine like mechanical sound, but also was quite mesmerizing. My bird app told me it was the sound of a raven.
Shortly after that, the raven emerged from the woods, and flew about two hundred metres away. Luckily with the zoom function I was able to capture a shot, wish I’d done better than this, but it’s okay.
RAVEN!!!!!
Also heard another bird song from the trees. My app told me it was a coal tit. Sadly the recordings I got are far too faint to be of any use for listening. But, I got some good pictures when the coal tit emerged from the forest!
A lovely bird on a lovely tree.
Bird looks to the north.
A wonderful chap.
AWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!
Earlier this year I set myself the goal of photographing and identifying fifty different birds before the year was out. Before I made this trip to the Nagles, I was at 44, and now with the sighting of the Raven and the Coal Tit, I’m at 46. The trip I made to the Nagles in June this year gave me my first sighting of a Meadow Pipit. Three new bird sightings out of two trips! Not bad! And that’s not counting the many birds that flew away before I had a chance to photograph them. Despite Coilte’s placement of trees that are all about making money, not the welfare of animals, the Nagle mountains remains a wonderful place for animals. I hope it can remain that way for many years to come.
It’s also great for insect life. On my last trip there, I had my first sighting of a water cricket. And on this trip, there were loads of dragonflies flying around, much like the previous trip. I didn’t even realize they were still around as we move further and further into Autumn, but they’re still up in the Nagle mountains. Alas on both trips they were too fast for me. Only once and once only did I ever get a photograph of a dragonfly. One just sat on a plant for a good ninety seconds without moving, and I seized a chance I knew I might never get again. They’re amazingly fast creatures.
But, on this trip, I did manage to get a load of wonderful insect photos as I journeyed down the mountain towards my bike.
A hoverfly.
Hello insects!
Flies have cute eyes. You will not persuade me otherwise.
Bees, one of the best animals on Earth!
BEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another wonderful bee.
Also present at this time was a wonderful large Earth bumblebee, or bombus terrestris. But my camera decided to have a hissy fit at that exact moment. But hopefully there’s more of them around that I’ll see before we hit Winter.
I reached the base of the mountain. After checking my bag to make sure I had everything, I hopped on the bike and started peddling. It wasn’t an easy ride. I checked the weather beforehand and tried to pick a day when I wouldn’t have a cruel wind pushing against me, and I thought yesterday was the day for that, but it wasn’t. So for much of the journey I just, set my bike to a low gear, took in the scenery, and just relaxed.
And because of this I took in more of the scenery then I usually do. And I saw, about two hundred meters from the road I was on, some of the most beautiful trees I’ve ever seen. In fact I regret not stopping for a photo. But, given the world we live in, I dread the questions that are being asked about them. They are just majestic. They are just breathtaking. They are just awe inspiring. That’s all. Where’s the money to be made off of that?I hope there is a reversal of this horrible way of thinking. I don’t want my whole country to be carpeted in trees who’s only function is to make money. We live in a beautiful country, and unless we all learn to appreciate that, we’re going to wake up to find that everything that used to make this country so beautiful has been cruelly destroyed in the name of profit.
The wind continued to push against me. I was forced to go slowly even when going downhill. And there were very few opportunities, as there usually is on this trip, to set my bike to a high gear and just tear down the road, the elation of the speed I’m going at giving me an amazing feeling of euphoria. So I went slow, took plenty of rests, and finally, despite the headwind’s best efforts, I made it home.
So, it’s been ten years, ten years of this wonderful place called the Nagle mountains being in my life. During that time I’ve explored many parts of it, the Western parts of the mountain range are breathtaking, but in recent years I’ve stuck with the familiar, and usually just go straight to the Northern Cairn. Sometimes, I feel like I’ve been transported to another world, the fact that you can’t hear the sounds of a city, or even a suburban area, means you can, really hear the sound of the wind, and I mean really hear it. You can hear the wind near you, and the wind that is further away from you, and it just produces an amazing sonic landscape. And when there’s no wind, the silence is simply breathtaking.
And the colours. From the pink soil, to the green of the trees (and yes, sadly, many of these are the Coilte trees, but even these trees look nice despite the horrible reason they are there), and the heather that simply glows, it is truly a feast for the eyes.
And you can see so far into the distance up there. On the clearest days you’ll see the Galtee mountains with ease, and you’ll see field after field after field of green, miles and miles into the distance.
Only this year did I become a wildlife enthusiast, but my last two trips to the Nagles were amazing in that regard. From the amazing wildlife in the puddles, to the super fast dragonflies, to the amazing variety of bees I saw on this trip, it’s an insect’s paradise. And the sight and sound of the wonderful birds will take your breath away.
For ten years the Nagle mountains has been a wonderful part of my life. And I hope I will be writing a reflection on how amazing it is, ten, twenty, thirty, hopefully forty years from now.
Ponderings Of An Autist 