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!

The Mournes, day 1

Saturday, August 29th, 5 in the morning. Getting up. We are going to the Mournes!!! Yeeeeey!
We need to drive through Dublin to grab Stephen on the way. Everyone sleepy, but moods are good!

We caught a glimpse of a beautiful rainbow on the way

Having Stephen collected, we stopped at Starbuck`s to load on some carbs and caffeine. We welcomed the Mournes at 11am.

In the centre- a quarry. On the left- a gap leading to the Diamond Rocks, our destination point.

At the gap. The Mourne Wall serving as a great orientation point. From here it`s only a 15 minute walk to the Diamond Rocks.

Breaking granite, hard but fun!

Beautiful views from the Diamond Rocks and the result of collectors`work in the foreground

Note the cavities visible on the big rock chunks- this is where you find the goodies ;)

I have people working for me ;) Martin (red jacket) trying to trim rocks for me :) Klaudia studying her samples, and Stephen acting as a teacher for all of us

What can I possibly find here?

On the way back

We caught heavy rain on day one that lasted only half an hour but left us soaking wet. Except for this short weather breakdown, the weather was acceptable, even though we didn`t have much sun and it was a bit cold.

On our way back we checked the quarry, but found nothing there. It was getting late, and we were tired and hungry, and craved beer badly, so we rushed down to the car, drove to the hostel/B&B (call it whatever, but it wasn`t a dream place to be), checked in and headed to the nearby Kilkeel to eat the worst chicken kebab ever! The whole town was celebrating some protestant/national day and driving our car with Irish reg. no felt... uncertain...

Kilkeel, Northern Ireland

Kilkeel, main street, Northern Ireland

Police Station in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland

Best findings of the day:

Mica flakes, orthoclase, albite, smoky quartz

Beautiful, intact crystal of smoky quartz

Almost in the centre- a mysterious bright red, microscopic dot, almost invisible on albite. Smoky quartz, mica, orthoclase

Top right- clear topaz. Albite, orthoclase, smoky quartz, mica

Very nice orthoclase, albite, smoky quartz

Beautiful smoky quartz crystals on orthoclase; albite, and mica

And now a few poor microscope photos. Taking pictures through the scope is harder than I thought but I`ll get there! Just give me time!

My best topaz sample, found loose, about a cm long, gem quality

Small, beautiful topaz

Here is the mysterious dot :P Plus topaz, albite, orthoclase and smoky quartz

Oh! And I almost forgot this buddy! A badly fractured green beryl sample. We also found some aquamarines, but mostly small and of poor quality.

We finished the day relaxing over beer cans, laughing at basically everything, as we were so tired. It was a very nice day, and I learned a lot (from Stephen and through experience).
The next day we woke up early and went back to the mountains, but what we found you will see in the next post...

Thomas and a microscope

One day I received an e-mail from a man from Germany, Thomas, in which he offered me help and advice concerning cleaning my personally collected specimens. We went on exchanging e-mails on a regular basis and after a few weeks Thomas became my mentor :)
Thomas has been collecting for the last 50 years or so, and has amazingly wide knowledge in the field, especially when it comes to chemistry. He gives me homeworks to do and guides me, feeds me with tonnes of useful and digestive information, he tells me things that would be very hard or impossible to find in books. Sometimes when I work with him (via WhatsApp) I feel like a detective trying to find the correct answer or the right solution. It doesn`t only broaden my knowledge, but it is also super fun to do!!!

One day Thomas told me that he found a nice, used microscope for a reasonable price. I didn`t want to buy a scope at that time as I felt my knowledge was still too poor and I thought that instead of buying a scope I should just study more, but he convinced me that this is a great offer and I should definitely go for it! So I agreed. The microscope was sent to Thomas and he thought he could fill in empty spaces in the box with samples. He bought some stuff for me at a local mineral show, and added some of his stones. The package weighted almost 20 kgs!!! ;)

It arrived 2 days ago

It felt like Christmas! Unpacking dozens of stones, each of them a surprise!!!!

My sister`s bed was a mess! About 40 specimens wrapped in newspaper. Now I know the prices of meat and beer in Germany and I`m up to date with current affairs, too ;)

Here are a few of my new specimens, most of them from Germany, of course!!!

Unfortunately, 3 specimens arrived broken :(

And the last one... calcite that I had fallen in love with. Thomas was looking for it at the show but couldn`t find it and eventually... sent me his own specimen!!!!

Absolutely beautiful and very precious for me

My first photo taken through the scope. Oh yes!!! - I realize it`s far from being perfect!!!!! ;)

 

 Tomorrow, together with Klaudia, my boyfriend and Stephen from Dublin we are going to the Mourne Mountains in the Northern Ireland to collect aquamarine, topaz, smoky quartz and other granite/pegmatite minerals! Wish us luck and good weather! Hurraaaayyyyyyy!!!!

Rainbow Aura Quartz

Today I`d like to show you my Rainbow Aura Quartz, which I got from my sister as a Xmas gift.

Such specimens are natural crystals coated with some sort of metal (titanium, gold, silver, ...).

About 4cm long, 3 cm wide and 2.5-3 cm high Rainbow Aura Quartz

" Flame or rainbow aura quartz have been enhanced with a combination of titanium and niobium. Titanium molecules are bonded to the quartz by the natural electrostatic charge of the crystal in a process known as magnetron ionization. The brilliant color of flame aura is the result of optical interference effects produced by layers of titanium. Since only electricity is used to deposit the titanium layers and create these colors, very little heat is involved and the integrity of the crystal is maintained. The crystal does not become brittle or prone to breakage as with other enhancements."- source: Wikipedia

Photos of Rainbow Aura Quartz from the Internet: