A few days ago I was on the way to visit a friend when I decided to take a detour by Lough Gara. It was a day of very low cloud which meant everything was very still and quiet.
It was hard to tell where the sky ended and the water began.
Apart from an occasional car passing by and a few ducks quacking as they flew away the silence was beautiful. How often do we immerse ourselves in total silence these days. So soothing…
Seeing a little lane off the car parking area I decided to explore a bit further.
Soon my little adventure turned into a disturbing discovery. As I walked… an old TV…
beer bottles and cans littered the lovely Hazel and Birch woodland.
It saddens me to see our places of beauty ruined like this. Sad that people who are drawn here cannot take away their rubbish. They come for the solitude and beauty and destroy it with remnants of their enjoyment. Thoughtless!
The sad thing about this is that we now have plentiful recycling centres throughout the country. All electrical goods can be recycled free as can glass. Metal and other reusables can be taken to recycling centres where for the small sum of €3.50 one can get rid of a car load. Sometimes I despair of people…
Before leaving I walked again by the lakeside just to lift my mood and reabsorb the positive vibes of the place. Next time I shall bring a bag and take away some of the rubbish.
fromacountrycottage 
The rubbish people dump around places of beauty really angers me. It’s awful.
Beautiful photos, apart from seeing the rubbish left from the few lazy, disrespectful idiots! I totally agree with you, it takes very little effort to remove and dispose of rubbish in the proper way. Great post!
Far too frequent. There’s a lovely spot by Lough Key, forget its name for now, but its where families go to bathe on hot sunny days and next to it is a beautiful native wood. Go inside that wood and there is a picnic table in the middle, a very pretty spot though, no real path to it, but surrounding it are heaps and heap of empty cans and bottles. Very sinister and wondered about the story of it. Seems a bit dark … but i am thinking of a Sunday there to clean up and bring back the peace of the spot.
We’d be up for that. Cannot understand this attitude to our lovely beauty spots.
Lovely place, Bridget! I’m with Melissa, though – doesn’t make me sad…makes me angry. I’m afraid the thoughtless rubbish-leavers were not raised correctly! We have beautiful lakes here in Oklahoma, but inevitably we find the same thing! However, when we get together and clean it up, we get cheers! :O)
Seems like these problems are the same the world over.
Thanks for your post. It’s a sad tale that’s repeated everywhere. People have lost a connection to the land, lost it’s sacredness and therefore feel nothing when they litter like this. As you say, there is no excuse as facilities are available to dispose of this stuff properly, but people are too lazy.
The pictures are breath taking I can feel the quietness and beauty through them. It makes me angry that people take Mother Earth for granted but education is the key and you and I are doing it through our blogs. Keep up the good work.
I have been thinking about the water in your area and hoping your home and property are okay. We have the same issues with trash thrown about here in my SW Michigan community. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and have come to the conclusion this is about “dis-ease” with life. Unhappiness, poverty, lack of caring about our earth, lack of values and training in school and the home and generally unhappiness overall. Living life from scarcity instead of abundance. Here in my community I was so saddened an frustrated with the amount of roadside trash I started the “Pullman Clean Team.” We go out and collect roadside trash once a month and take to the local transfer station. There has also been a lot of education/reeducation taking place at the same time. It’s been 6 years and finally the roads are looking better/cleaner. I have seen a difference. Is the problem gone, no but I have seen improvements. I made up my mind to turn frustration into action. We too travel with boxes and bags in our trunk and pick up everywhere we drive. It’s just a small action but it starts at home and fans out from there. By now the folks at the transfer station know us when we pull in with a truck full of junk-and no longer charge us!
The area near our place does’nt have a rubbish problem and the water supply is from our own well so that’s ok. We are definitely going back there to do a clean up…maybe get the Council to supply a skip to take it all away. Fair play to you for doing something. Most people just tut tut but do nothing.
That is so sad Humans hey. Up the mountain behind our cottage in Geevagh there is huge dumping ground and although i reported was tole council knows about it but nothing is done. In such a lovely place with views over the whole countryside but spoilt by all manner rubbish electrical to nappies old matresses. Talk about shitting on ones own door step. Sorry get very wound up about it.
That is just so crap. I’m going to get in touch with Sligo Council over this area. Probably banging my head against a stone wall but one’s gotta try.
such a beautiful spot, before one sees all the destruction by thoughtless people.
It’s called ‘Lack of Respect’. No respect for the beauty around them. No respect for people who wish to enjoy the beauty, and certainly No respect for themselves.There is NO excuse in Ireland, as you say Bridget, there are plenty of re-cycling facilities around, and it is cheap enough to get rid of a whole van load of rubbish in the proper place. I’m sure that wherever these people have traveled from it has cost them at least 3.50 in fuel to dump in beauty spots.
Yes, it makes me very angry.
Some people are just so thoughtless and spoil a beautiful place for everyone else – your pictures of the mist and the stillness are sort of spooky but lovely.
It is disturbing to see all the trash and how lazy people are…I get disgusted by all the cigarette butts people throw out and poison the land with.
The first couple of photos are stunning and remind me of Niall Williams’ novel “The Fall of Light”.
I just don’t get it either. We have the same in our hedgerows here given we’re off the beaten track and it makes me so mad that the majority if it is recyclable – bottles, tins and electronics! Our local council have an environmental department ie a couple of men with a van who will comes to collect it once reported and sift through to try and locate the dumpers. Sometimes they’re successful. It’s just plain ignorance.