The Mourne Mountains- day 2

Thank you very much for the positive feedback I got about my last post. I have to tell you that I`ve just got over a thousand hits (in two months) and I`m very happy about it. I`m thrilled to know that someone enjoys my blog and there are people who read it regularly.

Today I`m going to tell you about day 2 in the Mournes.
As you know, the first day was exhausting and at the end of it all of us were wrecked! We walked about 12 km in the mountains. That`s why Stephen suggested that on Sunday we go to the Bloody Bridge quarry, because it doesn`t involve so much walking, "I can remember up to an hour walking at slow pace"- he said. All right! Sounds good! Klaudia`s boots were soaking wet and she had blisters on her feet, so she had to wear regular snickers, but as it was supposed to be an easy walk it was not much of a problem. Off we go!
Walking, walking... half an hour... Still walking though, an hour... And walking, `n walkin even more...
To make the story short, it was about 11 km both ways! You can imagine what we looked and felt like when we eventually got down... ;)

There are three quarries at the Bloody Bridge (from what I noticed)- the lower quarry, where we found nothing (just a broken base of at least a few cm long smoky quartz crystal), a quarry on the left on a steep slope, where we didn`t go, and a quarry on the right where we found only one, but REALLY NICE thing. If not that, we would be going down with empty hands.

At the start of the walk- Stephen taking pictures

Nice views

The lower quarry

Martin, me and Klaudia- the Isle of Man visible on the horizon. The lower quarry on the right. Klaudia wearing rain throusers, but it didn`t rain that day...

 And here it is! Our finding of the day! It was lying there, right on the path, waiting for Martin (oh! lucky him!) to discover it! He was very excited about his finding and I was very proud!!! :)

A severly weathered granite boulder with MANY aquamarine/beryl crystals filling small veins. Some smoky quartz on it, too

Working to take it out

Here it is!

On the way back

The lower quarry on the left and the upper, right quarry- top, right

And here is a close-up on the best pieces, although the other parts of the stone were also not bad!

I think I will go back to the Mournes one day to check two other localities. One involves twice as much walking, so we need to be prepared and maybe even sleep in a tent in the mountains, the other is quite well-known and has produced good minerals. But there are so many places on my list that I don`t think I`ll be able to go there for the next two years.

Thanks for reading!