Wandering Socks – Ballaghsheen Pass

I’d just finished the Knit Circus Socks and had a ball of Opal Beachcombing in Message in a Bottle colour 8734 nestled in my bag just in case I needed to cast on a new project while we were out. I cast on the new sock while parked in a car park in Waterville beside the road to Glencar that we were going to drive along. It was late in the day, and I wanted to have the cuff cast on so that I could knit on our way back to the cottage on the Gap of Dunloe.

We’d decided to take a narrow road through the mountains. After looking at the map, we noticed that it went pretty much through the mountains (as the crow flies) towards where we were staying. As we drove, we passed an old graveyard with a ruined church in it. Deciding to stop, we wandered through the graveyard looking at the hundreds of marker stones. There were a few almost beehive shaped rock burial mounds.

The roof on the old church had long since fallen down. Inside the church ruin were many more graves and marker stones.

An old abandoned cottage was across the field next to the graveyard. There are many of these abandoned homes scattered throughout the Irish countryside. Some are there because the owners have built a nice new house or bungalow so they can live in more comfort with modern amenities like indoor bathrooms and central heating. Other ruined houses, date back to a more difficult period in Irish history during the famine years when many people died of starvation because the potato crops were blighted causing other people to leave Ireland looking for a better life for their families. Some of the graveyards in the West of Ireland have mass graves, others like this one, have small marker stones.

On narrow back roads like this you needed to be aware as you turned every bend as you could easily meet a ewe wandering along the middle of it followed by her lamb.

It would always take a few minutes for them to move into the verge so you could safely pass them.

The view looking back from Beenkeragh Gap along the road we had just driven along from Waterville. We were driving along the Ballaghsheen Pass.

Looking towards the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in the distance which was our destination. We were staying on the Gap of Dunloe on the other side of those mountains.

The early evening light was beautiful. The mountains were clearly visible. We were driving though marshy bogland which just had a few sheep dotted around.

I couldn’t resist stopping to photograph the progress on my first sock. The only thing I could see around to set my sock and yarn on were the fence posts with some rusty barbed wire at the top.

I looked around and found a newer section of barbed wire. I decided not to try to balance my knitting on top of the post. I thought if it fell into the field on the other side it would be very difficult trying to retrieve it. So I carefully draped my ball of Message in a Bottle and my sock from one of the barbs on the barbed wire. I loved the view of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in the far distance.

I really love the colours the muted purples, mauves, soft silver green and silver beige in this sock yarn. It was gorgeous. Truly beautiful! Opal Beachcombing is one of my favourite of the Opal sock yarn ranges. All of the colour combinations in this collection are amazing.