Here are some of my favourite images from 2014:

(1) Early January and a walk in the snow to the summit of Slieve Croob.  In the background the clear summits of the Mourne Mountains provide a wonderful backdrop.

(2)  A sunny day in early March allowed for a trip to South Down, taking in Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor and then this stop off on the road back at Narrow Water, just outside Warrenpoint.

(3)  Nuala with the Hoola.  On a photographic walkabout of Belfast I captured this image of “Nuala” as she attempted to capture a nearby lamp post.

(4)  In May, the Giro d’Italia arrived amidst great buzz and excitement.  Whilst not of the cyclists, I think this image really captures the great occasion, and how people really got involved in making it such a wonderful event.

(5)  In early summer (although it doesn’t look like it) I found myself along the North Coast, and in this instance on Whiterocks Beach just outside Portrush.

(6)  On the same day, I also visited Portbradden and Whitepark Bay, where I came across this herd of cows – don’t know if they were grazing or sun bathing.

(7)  During possibly the best part of the of summer I was lucky enough to have been visiting the lovely Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry.  One of the evenings, I was captured this wonderful sunset over Dingle Bay.

(8)  Although I was lucky with the weather during my time in Dingle, the one day I decided to visit the Great Blasket Island, just off the Kerry coast, the sea mist decided to come in from the Atlantic.  The b/w effect on this image of Dunquin Harbour (as I waited on my boat) just adds to the eerie feeling of the foggy Atlantic.

(9)  My last image of my time in Dingle, is off Fungi the Dolphin, who decided to make an appearance after near an hours boat trip looking for him.

(10)  This image is of the Seven Sisters, the chalk cliffs that are located on the south east coast of England (Sussex)

(11)  This is also from my visit to Sussex.  This time I am along part of the South Downs Way.

(12)  Whilst in Sussex, I took a day trip to Brighton.  Must have been a quiet day for Brighton as this photo was taken in the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of August.

(13)  This posing goat is from a trip I had to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in September.

(14)  This is from the pond at Victoria Park in Belfast.  The gulls were on the lookout for some food.

(15)  My final image is of Mussenden Temple.  On the same day I captured a magnificent sunset over the Temple, but this is another favourite showing the Temple in  good light and showing off some of the wonderful coastline.

So, 10 weeks after I got back from this year’s summer holidays, I have finally managed to get my photos sorted out.  This years trip brought me over the water to travel through Wales and then onto the South of England.

The first few days of the trip was spent travelling the length of Wales to our base in Ebbw Vale. From here I visited Cardiff, seen a lot of the old coal mines in “The Valley” and day trip to Gloucester visiting some old family friends returning to Ebbw Vale via the Forest of Dean.

The next part of the holiday was to set off on the long journey from South Wales to our new base close to Haywards Heath in the very South East of England (South Downs / Sussex / Brighton area).  From here we explored the local area including villages and towns such as Lewes and Brighton. Parts of the South East coast was also explored such as the Seven Sisters, onto the coastal town of Hastings before heading inland to the village of Battle – where the Battle of Hastings took place.

Also fitted in was a day trip on the train to London – seeing  attractions such as the Emirates; Tower of London; Westminister; Buckingham Palace and Harrods.

Some of the photos from the trip can be seen below.  The full collection is on my flickr page – click here.

Wales –  (Including Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch; Snowdonai National Park; Brecon Beacons National Park; and Cardiff)

South Downs (Sussex) – Including Borde Hill Gardens; Sheffield Park Gardens; Devils Dyke and Ditchling Beacon

Brighton and South East Coast (Including Seven Sisters and Battle)

London

Journey Home – Snowdonia National Park and Sunset on the Irish Sea

Full photo collection can be found on flickr – clicking here

Saturday 18th October 2014, and I took a flying visit to that great city of London.

It really was a flying visit – a day trip at its very best.  A 7.40am flight out of Dublin into Gatwick allowed me to make it into “The City”,  standing at Westminister Bridge and it wasn’t even 10.30am.

First real stop of the day was a trip on the iconic London Eye.  Perched right at the top of it, overlooking the metropolis of London at a time that I might only be getting up on a Saturday morning had a good, if not surreal feel to it.

Back down to solid ground and I had time to take in the sights and buzz that was happening along the Thames and around Westminster – between street hawkers taking bets of people at £20 and £40 a go (the American tourists were appalled at this, and one was even heard to say that he would be writing to Boris to complain – there was no place for this along the streets of London) to those that were beginning to gather in their thousands to start their protest march against Government cuts along the Embarkment.

It was now time to negotiate my way through the underground network and to make my way back via Victoria and onto Finsbury Park.  The Underground itself is a must do attraction when visiting London (maybe that’s just me that finds it exciting – all those coloured lines and different layers of railway tracks..).

Now I was in the heart of North London, making my way to the splendid Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal FC along with 60,000 others.  I’ve been to the Emirates several times before and I have seen Arsenal play before – albeit in Glasgow, but this was my first ever time seeing Arsenal play at home.

Whilst the Gunners did not win, there was plenty of excitement in the 2-2 draw against Hull, including a last minute equaliser from Danny Welback, deep into injury time to save the day for Arsenal.  I was actually surprised with the passion shown by the Arsenal supporters, for some reason I wasn’t expecting this.

The game was now over and the return journey home had to begin starting with the walk back to Finsbury Park station with the thousands of others each going their own different direction; onto the tube back to Victoria and then onto the Gatwick Express getting me back to Gatwick airport in time for the 9.20pm flight back to Dublin.  All in all, it was a good day.

In what is normally a quiet month, especially with post summer blues, this September ended up being anything but.  The following photos will give you a flavour of what I was at…

For the week that’s in it, I thought I would share my own Scottish related story,  that I only learned about this year.

Most people are familiar with the story of Robert the Bruce and the Battle of Bannockburn (William Wallace, Braveheart and all that), where the Scots defeated the English, in what was the First War of Scottish Independence – 2014 was the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Robert Bruce had a younger brother, by the name of Edward Bruce.  Following the success at Bannockburn, Robert Bruce continued his war against the English, but this time in Ireland as part of an invasion led by his younger brother, Edward.

Edward and his army (supported by the O’Neills of Tyrone) landed close to Larne in 1315.  On arrival at Carrickfergus in June that year, Edward Bruce was pronounced as King of Ireland by the O’Neills.  Many parts of Ulster and Leinster were conquered over the next number of years.

After several years of war, failure to hold on to conquered land, and a diminishing army, Edward Bruce was defeated at the Battle of Faughart at the end of 1318.

Faughart is located just off the M1 outside Dundalk, close to the Ballymacscanlon roundabout.  In an ancient graveyard on a hill above the townland – overlooking the South Armagh / North Louth countryside, the grave of Edward Bruce can still be seen.

2014 All-Ireland Hurling Final – Kilkenny 3-22 (31)  Tipperary 1-28 (31)

Sunday 7th September, Croke Park Dublin.

Unbelievably, for the third successive year, the All-Ireland Hurling Final ended in a draw.  After going 53 years without a draw, the three most recent finals have all went to a replay.

After the Kilkenny / Tipperary battles of recent years, and last year’s Clare / Cork epic, it was thought that hurling couldn’t get much better.  Yesterdays game however, will go down as one of the best games ever played.  The game had everything – 62 scores – 44 of which came from play –  with only 9 wides; cracking goals; missed penalties; and of course hawkeye – making that final call which sent the game to a replay.

Both sides could have won the game, but after the effort that went into yesterdays classic, no-one deserved to lose.  The skill and fitness levels of these amateur players is actually frightening, they would put most professional sports participants to shame.

It was a privilege to be at the game yesterday.  How it didn’t sell out initially is strange, but following the release of unsold tickets late Friday afternoon, these were quickly snapped up and the 82,179 that were in attendance were treated to a classic.

Its less than three weeks until the replay.  Can Tipperary surprise Kilkenny again or will the legendary manager Brian Cody and one of the greatest players of all time, Henry Shefflin, finally get their hands on a tenth title.

The search for tickets begins now.

GAA.ie Match Report – Click Here.

In an entertaining curtain raiser, the All-Ireland Minor final was won by Kilkenny, who defeated Limerick on a score line of 2-17 (23) to 0-19.

An important part of All-Ireland final day is the presentation to the crowd of the 25 year jubilee team.  This year was the turn of the Tipperary Hurling team that defeated Antrim in the 1989 Hurling Final.

Some more images of the day can be seen on my flickr page –click here 

(and if you know of any tickets for the replay, or even the football final, give me a shout…) 

Towards the end of July, I ended up one day along Northern Ireland’s North Coast, and in particular the stretch of coastline between Portrush and Ballintoy.

It was meant to be the middle of summer, but instead of the blazing sun hitting off the water, it ended up being probably the dullest day of July.

Still, that didn’t stop me from exploring some of the lesser known sights along this stretch of the Causeway Coastal Route – no Giant’s Causeway, Carrick a Rede or Bushmills on this visit, they will just have to wait for another time.

Instead, for the first time ever I ended up on Whiterocks Beach just outside Portrush and then Portbradden (passing the wonderful Dunluce Castle along the way).  Portbradden is a wonderful small village/harbour located on the edge of White Park Bay – famous itself for the resident cows that enjoy bathing on the beach – sunny or not.  Portbradden is also home to St. Gobban’s Church, believed to be Ireland’s smallest church.

My final stop along this 13 mile stretch of coastline was to Ballintoy Harbour – a picturesque harbour, now made famous by its appearance in hit TV series, Game of Thrones.  Alongside the harbour, is a great walk along the shoreline that is part of the Causeway Coastal path.

Some more photos of the day can be seen on my flickr page – clicking here.

During the last week of May 2014, I took a week long road trip down through the Shannon Region (from Athlone to Limerick) and then onto Co Kerry and to the Dingle Peninsula.

Day One

The Shannon region is one area I have never explored before and coming off the motorway close to Athlone, I took a lot of the back roads, cutting across many counties and the three provinces of Leinster, Connaught, and Munster, discovering along the way many historic sites.

First stop was the ancient Monastery of Clonmacnoise, an ancient settlement founded in the year 546. Passing through places such as Shannon Bridge and Shannon Harbour, my next stop was at Clonfert Cathedral, the resting place of St. Brendan and famous for its doorway with its amazing stone work and features.  Leaving Clonfert Cathedral, I made my way to Portumna before following the shoreline of Lough Derg, passing through Mountshannon, the busy harbour town of Killaloe before finishing up in Limerick.

Day Two

The first part of Day Two was spent in Limerick City.  Limerick is the current Irish City of Culture and recently a European City of Sport.

My two main visits in Limerick, is to the recently renovated King John’s Castle and Thomond Park – the home of Munster Rugby.

Leaving Limerick, I travelled along the Shannon Estuary and Wild Atlantic Way, before reaching County Kerry, travelling through towns and villages such as Foynes, Ballybunion, the wonderful beach at Banna Strand before hitting Tralee, passing the famous Blennerville Windmill and then reaching Dingle Peninsula, crossing over the Conor Pass, before arriving in the town of Dingle.

Day Three

What a sight to waken up to the blue skies and blazing sun which really showed off Dingle at its best.  Day three started with a nice walk along the Dingle Bay shore and harbour.  I then took off on the Slea Head drive, one of the nicest drives on the Island of Ireland and now part of the Wild Atlantic Way, passing through Ventry, and Dunquin before reaching the Blasket Visitor Centre. 

After driving for the best part of two days, I decided to leave the car here and go trekking, walking along one of the looped walks that forms part of the Dingle Way.  The Lúb na Cille walk starts off at the Blasket Centre before going up into the hills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Blasket Islands, as well other parts of the Dingle Peninsula such as the Three Sisters. 

This walking loop also took in many of the places that was used during the filming of Ryan’s Daughter.

The day finished off back in Dingle, in time for a wonderful sunset.

Day Four

Day four consisted of the short drive around Slea Head to Dunquin Harbour to get the boat onto the Great Blasket Island.  The boat trip took about 40 mins from the harbour and unfortunately after the wonderful weather up to this point, the sea fog was in.  The island was inhabited up to 1953, and with the fog settled over the island, the whole place had that eerie feel to it.

However waiting for the boat back to the mainland, the sun broke through and showed off the island in a different light.

Day Five

My final day in Dingle before heading home and once again the sun was shining.

I spent the morning walking around the town before getting a boat trip around Dingle Bay in search of Fungi the friendly dolphin.  After an hour of looking for him, (along with the numerous other boats all full of tourists) he decided to appear, before playing hide and seek with everyone.

The last part of my trip around Dingle, was to complete the Slea Head drive.  Setting off from the town I once again made my way through Ventry and Dunquin, before continuing around this wonderful coastal drive.  Passing the three sisters, I made my way to the Gallarus Oratory, one of the earliest settlements on the Island of Ireland. 

Leaving the Gallarus Oratory, I completed the Slea Head drive, arriving back in Dingle, before heading my way back over the Conor Pass to commence the long journey north.

The complete photo album of my trip to Dingle and the Shannon region can be seen on my flickr page – clicking here.

On Sunday past (27th July), I found myself visiting Glasgow, this year’s host city of the Commonwealth Games (thanks to Stena Line for the £10 day return ticket for boat and coach from Belfast).

There was a great buzz throughout the city, with so much going on besides the sport with street entertainment, large screens, markets and interactive games in areas such as Merchant City and Glasgow Green.  If you get a chance before the games are over go and visit – it’s worth the early start.

The full album of photos can be viewed my flickr webpage – clicking here