Gillianduggantourguide

13/04/2024

Really looking forward to these events.

Dublin Mountains Partnership presents Dublin Mountains Festival – Féile na Sléibhe 🎪

Join us all next month for a celebration of the Dublin Mountains, where you can expect a diverse range of activities including multi-disciplinary walks, educational talks, workshops, hikes, bikes, and lots of other exciting events 🚵🏾‍♀️

We're dedicated to promoting responsible mountain usage, so our emphasis will be firmly placed on sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity 🏞️

Mark your calendars and join us for the Dublin Mountains Festival - Féile na Sléibhe, a celebration of community, nature, and adventure! 🥳

Stay tuned for the full schedule, coming soon!

01/03/2024

Some pics from recent overseas hikes in reverse! in Ireland after hikes along the checking out a 2024 and walking the peaks of with my old friend aka Jutta and a .
A lovely couple of breaks in the middle of winter before the madness of the 2024 season starts again!

23/02/2024

A great week of hiking along the Levadas and terrace es of Madeira. Fascinating place and stunningly beautiful.
Checking out hikes for next year's adventures with

09/02/2024

Another lovely walk in the highlands of with

05/02/2024

A lovely day out over the highlands of La Gomera with

04/02/2024

Today's walk called The Tree. Sea level in Valle Gran Rey to 800m and a lone juniper bush.

03/02/2024

In La Gomera with a hiking group and todays 5 hour special entailed 1045m climb. Genuinely, never had a tougher hike in my life. Great views and company.

05/07/2023

A fun day on with this week. Always a pleasure to walk in Wicklow and show it off!

25/05/2023

A stunning day on Achill island today....Keem Bay and above with views from every angle then lovely lunch in . We then visited The Deserted Village which always draws a tear.

23/05/2023

Another day in Connemara, my favourite part of Ireland. Diamond Hill conquered, followed by a visit to Kylemore Abbey. The walled gardens never fail to impress and seeing the house re-instated was so interesting.

park

22/05/2023

Don't argue with me....Irish beaches are stunning!

15/03/2023

Today I was asked for my Mothers Apple and Blackberry Crumble. Served with whipped cream by her but custard or icecreams works too. Brings me back, I can tell you!

Mabel’s Apple and Blackberry Crumble

Ingredients For the filling
575g Cooking apples (3 medium apples), peeled, cored and sliced to 1cm thick
2 tbsp golden caster sugar Good handful of Blackberries (Washed)
Ingredients For the crumble

175g plain flour
110g golden caster sugar
110g cold butter
2 tbsp rolled oats
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Method
• Heat the oven to 190C/170 fan/gas 5.
• Toss 575g peeled, cored and sliced cooking apples and a good handful of blackberries with 2 tbsp golden caster sugar and put in a 23cm round baking dish at least 5cm deep, or a 20cm square dish. Flatten down with your hand to prevent too much crumble falling through.
• Put 175g plain flour and 110g golden caster sugar in a bowl with a good pinch of salt.
• Slice in 110g cold real Irish butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Shake the bowl and any big bits will come to the surface – rub them in. Alternatively, pulse in a processor until sandy (don’t over-process).
• Add the oats to the crumble mix and stir in thoroughly.
• Pour the crumb mix over the apples to form a pile in the centre, then use a fork to even out.
• Gently press the surface with the back of the fork so the crumble holds together and goes crisp.
• Sprinkle 1 tbsp demerara sugar over evenly to add to the crispy finish.
• Set on a baking tray (to catch any spills) and put in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden and the apples feel very soft when you insert a small, sharp knife. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

21/02/2023

Stunning sunny and still spring day. Walk along the with wild , and wild . Listen to , and in the gorse but also , and .

03/10/2022

A Traffic jam in the !

26/09/2022

Interesting!

25/09/2022

Carrigeen Moss makes a bland pudding unless you add some honey and whiskey!

In Ireland, a seaweed has a long culinary history, but its future lies in the hands of regular folks who enjoy a challenge.

24/09/2022

A story of emigration from Inishbofin to the US.

Fleeing the Irish Famine, some immigrants brought their islands with them to North America.

23/09/2022

I love the irish language.......Bláth bán ar gharraí an iascaire, a description of choppy sea from the county of Galway that means “white flowers on the fisherman’s garden.”

A new dictionary project aims to safeguard coastal Irish words and the unique perspectives they provide.

22/09/2022

There is a herd of deer making their home at the Monastic City in

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06/09/2022

deer visiting the visitor centre!

17/06/2022

A day trip to the Cliffs of Moher can be such a lottery. Same place, same time, April and June!

14/05/2022

Lots about the place these days. The flowers are a flavour bomb. A guest brought some onto the bus the other day and we had to open the windows and back door!

The pretty white, star-like flowers of ramsons (Allium ursinum) also known as wild garlic are currently blooming in damp woodlands and hedgerows around the country. This native plant grows from a small bulb and belongs to the daffodil family. They can often be found growing in large clumps, covering the woodland floor like a carpet.

The name ramsons is similar to that used in Germay and some Scandinavian countries – ‘rams’- and is probably derived from an older word meaning ‘rank’ referring to the strong odour and taste imparted on the milk of any cow who ate it. The scientific name ursinum is derived from the Latin word from bear ursus. Indeed some folk tales from other parts of world suggest that ramsons were the first food eaten by bears after their winter hiberanation to remove toxins from their body and help regain their strength.

In recent years, it has become popular to use wild garlic to make homemade pesto. However, before heading to your local woodland to forage its aromatic leaves, give a thought to the nature value of this particular plant. Flowering in early spring, it provides an important food source for our bees and other pollinators. Indeed, one particular species of hoverfly (Portevinia maculata) commonly known as the ramsons hoverfly, will only be found where ramsons grow!

And please remember, if you are visiting a National Park or Nature Reserve do not remove any of the plants growing there, including wild garlic. As the saying goes “Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints”.

02/05/2022

Another great review for the Wicklow Day Tour. I have such fun on this tour because it is so interactive with something for everyone.

14/04/2022

Great guide for helping identify our spring flowers.

12/04/2022

Love the Viking connections and influences.

12/04/2022

This is the BBC programme on "the Sea Stallion", the Viking longship project where they journey from Denmark to Dublin via the northern Scottish Isles. This was a typical route for the Norsemen and shows the difficulties they faced. The boat is a reconstruction of the slender Viking Longboat, the supreme military vessel built for speed and not for comfort.

The Sea Stallion from Glendalough had sailed to Dublin from Roskilde in Denmark, a reconstruction of a Viking longboat that had sailed in the opposite direction in the eleventh century. The vessel on which the Sea Stallion was based was built in or near Dublin c. 1042, using wood from Glendalough (hence the name). It was the largest of five longships scuttled near the village of Skuldalev some 30 years later in order to block Norwegian raids into Roskilde Fjord. The original, Skuldalev 2, was at the cutting edge of contemporary Viking shipbuilding, and the Sea Stallion was built using the original techniques. The project was organised by Roskilde’s Viking Ship Museum.

In 2007 a crew of 65 brave men and women set sail on a journey from Roskilde back to Dublin in a 30m (100ft) Viking longship named "Havhingsten fra Glendalou...

11/04/2022

After 5 days of hiking the Wild Atlantic Way with my Swedish group, they are now my new friends. We walked the final 8km of the ancient pilgrim road into the beautiful Clonmacnoise monastic centre yesterday and around the Glendalough Valley today. We said our goodbyes happily tired and suntanned!

10/04/2022

Another warm, sunny day on with a hike along from to (13km). Breathtaking!

It is a tough hike with heavy erosion in places so not for those who don't like heights.

10/04/2022

Stunning day on Inish Mor, the biggest of the Aran Islands. The Atlantic Ocean was calm for a change. We were blessed with the weather and Dun Aonghas was awesome.