Most residents and visitors to Glandore Harbour & Village know this view. It's an unmissable sight not least because of it being on such a tight bend that any driver will get a quick glimpse of it as they turn the steering wheel tightly. During the summer months when many are following the Wild Atlantic Way it's not uncommon to find someone standing beside an open car door, motor running, holding up an iphone or other camera out toward this view.
It’s not surprising really; there's something innately fascinating about the receding line of a distant horizon, seen from from within the comforting and protecting embrace of the land. Storms may race outside but inside the waters stay calm and we feel safe.
The picture is a great example of how things often come to be by pure luck, and when you are not looking for them; in this case I was returning from getting groceries from the local village stores in Union Hall. The sun was setting and casting its last rays of light which you can see striking the highest parts of the hill on the left hand side. As I returned home driving south along the bay I could see the view opening up and I could see the colours changing by the second, and all reflected in the quick silvered surface of an oily sea.
The day had been a perfect balmy late summer day the like of which you would wish for your summer holidays here. There had been very little wind and this had extended into the evening resulting in the dead calm conditions. I parked the car on a nearby drive way and with my Samsung phone in hand I positioned myself on a low wall between the road and foreshore. Out to sea was a wonderful warm glow of red where the sun was striking a cloud far far away and above it a turquoise sky. This was being reflected in the glassy sea. The yachts and boats , that had been gathering for the forthcoming sailing regatta were by now filling the entire allocated mooring buoys. Each one as still as you can possibly get and facing in different directions. Suggesting the tide was on the turn when the picture was taken.