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| Click on this image for our track in Google Maps |
At last, the penultimate group of visitors from the linear progression I have been hosting all summer have left, and I can now return to more serious matters!
These more serious matters, as it turns out, are the one activity we have yet to have much of a chance to exert this season: wild blueberry picking.
Speaking of which, if there's one piece of wisdom I shall ever want to impart upon you, it would have to be the following: Never stand between a man and his desserts!
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| The place where we collect sits at the foothold of the second peak in this picture |
Sure it may be a bit rainy these days, with the sun setting a bit earlier than we'd prefer, but the prospect of juicy blueberries, which we've been missing for a long year now, is more than enough to help us throw all caution into the wind and rush out in order to seek what we hope will be a most bountiful crop.
But before we get to the main course, and since those are also plentiful, we do make a welcome stop on our way up to hunt for some blackberries, since they are throwing their welcoming (yet thorny) arms at us, from the bottom of the valley.
Perhaps this is the place to confess that, while I don't miss many things about France, one of the few I do miss are the wild blackberries that anyone living on this part of the continent would be able to collect from all matter of hedges, towards the end of summer. Sadly, that up north, the weather is oftentimes too mild for sweetness to have had a chance to properly settle in. Not that you can't find tasty blackberries here too, but they are much harder to come by...
And the same often goes for blueberries, though, of course, you'll be hard pressed to find blueberries in France, except in the mountains. Not like here, where they really are all over the place, though, again, not always as sweet as one might like 'em to be.
Thus, to noone's big surprise, this season has indeed brought as bountiful a crop as we could hope for. Plus the short rain we've had earlier should ensured that they have been ready-washed for collection.
But first, before we get to the place where we expect the most appropriate set of conditions, we pass Lough Donnell, ever its peaceful self.
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| Lough Donnell |
From there, it's the usual path towards LoughSalt Mountain, which we only climb halfway through today, as we soon encounter exactly what we've been looking for:
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| Tada! |
Did I fail to notice the arrival of rainclouds or even the passage of time while I was feasting on juicy berries, and ended up having to climb down in the dark? Why, no, not at all...
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| "I really can't see what would ever make you think that..." |
And thus, with dessert safely stored (inside our belly) we can head back home, with just a hint of bluish-red around our lips, while making a plea to the Dagda that next year's crop might be as abundant as this year's...
Suggested Sound Track
Why oh why am I currently enjoying this little tune so much?
It's been proving to be providing your here protagonist with the same propensity for prevalent predisposition as profiting from a profusion of wild blueberries produces, which isn't a small feat!
Additional pictures
