Sos beag

I am taking a little break in my trip report. When I return from a trip I am always keen to tell everyone about what happened. Even when I see people's eyes glaze over I still go on about it, lol. I like travelling, I like seeing new places, I like meeting new people, I like tasting new food but I also know it can be very boring to listen to such things. Good night dear reader.

Memories

Words of advice

Exploring

Ballycotton

Ballycotton fishing port is like most small Irish fishing ports. The fish quota has been filled and the boats are floating idle in the harbour. The famous Ballycotton lifeboat, distinct in it’s red livery, bobbing up and down in the midst of the other boats. The masts now just providing perches for the sea birds. Our next stop was Barry’s Court Castle for a brief stop before the main attraction of the day, Fota Island. Fota Island is an island!!!!! It is also a sort of open zoo where many animals are allowed to mingle with each other and with visitors. It is in many ways an example of how a zoo should be. I would have liked to have stayed longer but there was a long drive ahead. We moved on to Cork city. It is many years since I was in Cork. To say that the place has changed would be an understatement. When I knew it first it was felt like a town, now it is a city. Even the pretty little village of Ballincollig is bypassed. We drove on towards Killarney, my two companions taking the opportunity to get some sleep on the way. We passed by the Paps and arrived in the effective tourist headquaters of Ireland, Killarney. The Torc waterfall and the Upper Lake were visited in the evening. For a while it looked like the boatman would not be there to take us around the lake, but he turned up eventually. He told us the legends about the lake and surrounding area. The journey out was tranquil but on the way back the wind picked up and conversation was impossible. We got off the boat at Five Mile Bridge. After dinner Cosmin and Gabriela retired for the night. I went for a walk back into Killarney. I saw the hotel my parents stayed in on their honeymoon almost 50 years ago. I will tell you a story about that. My parents were married in the month of January. When they arrived at the hotel there were not many guests nor were there many staff working there. Bathrooms adjoining bedrooms were a thing of the future, at least for this hotel. A basin, a jug of water and a chamber pot provided all the required conveniences. Unfortunately my parents room had not been fully cleaned after the last guest . The chamber pot required to be emptied. In the evening my parents came down stairs for tea. My Dad told a waitress that the previous guest in his room had left something behind. The waitress went to check the room expecting to find shoes, clothes or maybe a wallet.. For the duration of my parents stay anytime my parents met this waitress, she could hardly keep from laughing. That is about it for this evening. Good night dear reader.

Sunny South east

New frontier

Christianity arrives in Ireland

Examining specimens

One of the places we visited on the Wexford coast was Lady Island. It is a popular pilgrimage site from August to September. It was considered a sacred place long before Christianity arrived on these shores. It is also a good area for bird watching. We also went to a Heritage Park where we saw the types of dwellings used in Ireland from the earliest known to about 800 years ago.
There is something refreshing about the sea air. I am not sure if it is the ozone or the salt but it seems so fresh and invigorating. It was also very curious to see the effect of waves compressing air on the rocky seashore at Hook Head. As the waves rushed in to fill the rocky crevices, the air was forced out in a spray of foam, water and air. On the more sandy shores Gabriela and Cosmin were fascinated by the variety of sea shells on the beach. We went on a short ferry ride,very short, from Arthurstown to Passage East. I did not even have time to get out of the car when we arrived at the other shore!!! We managed to take in most of the coast road to Ballycotton. We stopped for dinner in Youghal. I was exhausted when we arrived at the B&B in Ballycotton. The B&B was probably the worst we stayed in during the trip but I was happy to get to bed.

Trip continued

View from Glenmaonass waterfall

View in the Wicklow mountains

We moved on to Glendalough (in English, the valley of the two lakes). It is the site of an old monastery founded by St Kevin in about the 5th century. Here is a link if you are interested in more information.
http://www.glendalough.connect.ie/pages/monastic/monastic.html
Even with lots of people around it still has an air of serenity about it. It is easy to see why St Kevin choose it. It now also forms part of Wicklow National Park. We were “attacked” by swarms of midges, small biting flies, which seemed particularly keen on sampling us!!!!. After a brief stop we continued on to Kilkenny via Leighlinbridge. The route we took was the same road my grandfather took over a hundred years ago from his home in Coan to where he worked as a carpenter in Wicklow county. Of course he did not walk it every day but every month or so he walked home and back. We stopped at a garden centre in Leighlinbridge to get some flowers for my mother and Gabriela helped me with the selection. She also bought some seeds of Irish flowers. Next stop was Kilkenny city. I had hoped to see my nephew as it was his second birthday but his Dad said he was too exhausted after a morning birthday party so we visited Kilkenny castle. It is one of the best preserved castles in Ireland but I have to admit it was only my second visit there and I have never seen the inside of it. We had dinner in Kilkenny city and went up into the hills to Coan where we would spend the night at my parents house.
My mother and father were at the door to welcome us as we arrived. The yellow roses were in bloom in the garden. They are the first of the roses to flower and I think they look more beautiful just before the flower opens as they have very pretty red streaks on the outside of the petals. I made tea as is traditional in Irish houses when visitors call. It also gave me an excuse to have some Jaffa cakes but don’t tell anyone :) . Later we went for a short walk. I intended to show Cosmin and Gabriela the river and waterfall at the back of the house but the fading light and challenging terrain conspired against it.
The next morning I made an Irish breakfast a la Gerry. Mom and Dad said goodbye and wished us well on our journey. The next destination was Rosslare on the County Wexford coast

Irish exploration

Glenmaonass waterfall

Eu

Jeanie Johnston

For the past two weeks my friend Gabriela, her boyfriend Cosmin and I have been travelling around Ireland. It was Gabriela’s second visit and Cosmin’s first. They arrived in the early hours of Friday morning June 6.We went for a drive through the Phoenix Park around 1am to see the Fallow deer. At night they venture out on the main road through the Park and graze the grass along the side The first day was not too busy as both Cosmin and Gabriela had to recover from the flight and the very poor customer service from Aer Lingus. We started in Dublin where we visited the Phoenix Park and the zoo. Afterwards we spent some time along the River Liffey from the city centre out along the quays.Both Gabriela and Cosmin are photographers so they were keen to get photos of Ireland . Cosmin is also a Biologist and knows much more about Irish flora and fauna than I ever will. We saw a sailing ship called the Jeanie Johnston coming into dock along the quay side. It was great to see a ship I had heard so much about.

Here is a link to the website about her http://www.jeaniejohnston.ie/history.html
On Saturday we set out for the Wicklow mountains. It should be noted here that Irish mountains only go to a maximum height of about 1000 metres!! On the way Gabriela spotted a wild deer but it got camera shy when Cosmin got out to take a photo and went back into the forest. We stopped at Loch Bray Upper. It was a perfect day for a walk in the mountains and I was a little surprised that so few people were around. Cosmin got a bit too close to a Furze bush and got first hand knowledge on how sharp the needle-like leaves are. We drove on past the Sally Gap and stopped again at the Glenmaonass river waterfall. It is not a steep waterfall more like a rapids but still a beautiful sight.

Pause

Ok this is my third attempt at writing this. I love my father. He is the kindest, most gentle, most loving person anyone could wish for. He spent most of his life working not for himself but for his family. I hope he will be around for many years to come.
Good night dear reader.

Equus caballus

In our village my father was the second last farmer to use a horse for everyday farmwork. I did some work with the mare or pony as we called her. She was the most gentle pony anyone ever worked. She lost an eye as a foal, due to a kick from another horse. When my Dad bought her she was skin and bone but she soon put on some weight. Some of our neighbours still had horse ploughs etc and borrowed her from time to time. One neighbour got his daughter to collect the pony as she was walking home from school. She loved riding the pony home. I remember Dad saying how happy the girl looked when on returning the pony, he told the girl to keep her for another few days as he did not need her yet. It seems like all my cousins have been photographed on the pony’s back at one time or another.
My Uncle also had a mare. It was huge. I remember Dad lifting me up on her back. I must have been about 4 or 5 at the time. I could only sit on her back, it was too wide for me to hang my legs down each side. I was not scared because Dad kept a grip of my leg as I sat on what seemed like a living mountain.
I never used a saddle until last year. I was in Romania in July and got the chance to ride a horse there, thanks to my friend Gabi. I was keeping the horse back as she was trying to walk too close to the one in front. The guy in charge kept telling me to let the horse do what it wanted to do. He joked about having a race. It was obvious that I had not been on a horse for a very long time but I loved it.
We kept the pony long after she was unable to do any work. She finished her days in the company of an equally aged donkey. For me she was more than just another farm animal, but she was not a pet. She worked for her living and helped us earn ours.
Good night dear reader. Sleep well.