Carlingford

Yesterday my camera club had a day out to Carlingford, just south of the border. I tagged along with Jess. On the way there we stopped at Victoria Lock - a very picturesque place indeed.

By the time we arrived in Carlingford the beautiful blue skies were gone to be replaced by flat, grey clouds. It did nothing to dampen the character of this town. This alley had paintings of sheep in it.

Jess is sad here because we didn't get any ice cream in front of Taaffe's Castle.

The flowers growing on these ancient walls were lovely.

Beside the water.

The town itself is wonderfully colourful.

At the Priory - it was only after I'd taken some photos there that I saw the No Dogs Allowed sign. Oops.

We met a man called Bobby who told us to head for the hills for a great walk. Before we set off, however, he kindly gave Jess a sausage. Jess took rather a liking to him and even rolled over for a tummy tickle. Following Bobby's advice we headed for the church, where we were to turn right. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this old tractor.

We took a lovely path behind the church. It was at this point I realized Jess's bandana combined with the lush spring foliage created the classic Irish colours!

There was a half marathon on and runners were periodically running down this slope. I nearly fell walking up it, so I do hope nobody fell running down it.

At the top of the slippery slope we bumped into a professional photographer who was taking pictures of the runners as they turned the corner. I had Jess on the wall and Gerry took a break from runners to take pictures of Jess and I.

Photo by GC Photography.

Photo by GC Photography.

After our run-in with the paparazzi we continued our walk. It soon became apparent we were in picture-postcard Ireland.

Just like at home there were plenty of walls for Jess to pose on.

And sheep! Sheep everywhere, mostly of the horned variety, down from the mountains for lambing.

This is an idea I've had before but never executed - sheep as lawnmowers! Great to see it works.

Jess sitting at the base of a gate through which you could look down at Carlingford town.

A little farther on there was this wall, perfect for posing with its stunning view.

We were stilling climbing steadily and the road surface had deteriorated somewhat.

We met a beautiful, bouncy Border Collie called Cookie. Such a sweetie.

This lucky flock of sheep had a particularly nice view.

What was once a concrete road became a track with the occasional muddy puddle to lift Jess over. There was a trail to go up the mountain, but Jess and I turned right to head downhill again.

Through the woods...

And finally there was this path to follow which took us right back to town.

This walk was spectacular and Jess and I had so much fun!