Leave our world behind

Backpacking around Europe with my wife for six months.

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 24 - 7/5

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 24 - 7/5

Started the day today being very traditional, and got a taste of the Gaelic Games. Only a handful of us went so was very intimate. The Gaelic games are Hurling and Gaelic football - both of which Ireland is fanatical about. Sport is very community oriented in Ireland, you don't pick a team to play for, you play for the area you were born. It's a common thing for people who have moved away to travel three hours each way on a weekend to play with their team rather than quit. Very scenic day today as we drove along the southern coastline of Ireland, very rocky and rugged. The road is similar to the Great Ocean Road back home, but a lot higher! We stopped at a random little beach, towering cliffs most of the way around it and at the base of some a beautiful swimming area - though the water was about 7 degrees so we didn't jump in! We also saw some stone huts hundreds of years old that were built by the ancient celts, they look like simple domes, built by stacking bits of stone on top of each other. Eventually we arrived at our stop for the night in Killarney. We had a few drinks then went to the entertainment for the night, to watch a storyteller called Pa at the pub. He is a very enigmatic bloke, and loves his Guinness (as do most Irishmen), he bid us all welcome and proceeded to finish a full pint in three gulps. He told us a few stories, repeated himself a few times, drank another four pints and yelled at random intervals. A strange but fun night! Traditional Irish stories to be on with, then some dirty Irish jokes at the end.

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 23 - 6/5

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 23 - 6/5

Lots of scenery today as we travelled through the Burren, which is a national park of sorts. It's a very barren area, with not much soil covering limestone just beneath the surface, so not much grows there in the way of trees and bushes, but there are more different varieties of wildflower concentrated in this area than anywhere else in the world. It's a desolate and beautiful area all in one.  There is still a belief in fairy's in some parts of  Ireland, and this belief is actually written into some of their laws. There are remains of ancient villages scattered around the south, the inhabitants dig a big round ditch and used the dirt from the ditch to build a wall just inside of it, resulting in a basic defensive perimeter for the inhabitants. Now when I say village, these circles are no more than 100m in diameter, so there were very small. A common belief is that once the ancient tribes left and these circles become uninhabited, the fairy's moved in. There was such a strong pagan belief in this in the past that it was decreed that you should never destroy one of these fairy rings or you will be cursed with bad luck. This belief was so strong that it is even against the law today to damage these rings, entire highways have been built with curves to avoid these rings. Next stop was the Cliffs of Moher, not as high as on Innishmor, but a lot longer and lots of little coves. Our stop for the night was in Ennis, went to a pub at our guide suggestion where he had some friends playing, another amazing night of Irish music. A guitar, concertina and a violin, just the basics but beautiful music.

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Day 22 5/5

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 22 - 5/5

Today we went to Inishmor, the largest of the Arran Islands. This had to be my favourite day of the trip so far. We took a bus then a ferry to the island, the we all jumped on bikes to get around. First bit of physical activity for the trip apart from walking and it was great to be off our feet. The island is sparsely populated, with only a few hundred living on it is the largest of the Arran Islands, even though it is maybe 15km from tip to tip! The island gently slopes up to the highest point so it was a very nice relaxing and scenic ride. It is a very rocky island, and for the inhabitants to be eligible for help from the monarchy they had to work, so they literally started picking up rocks and building fences. There are soo many paddocks, even though there was hardly any livestock. The highlight was the Black Fort at the highest point of the island. Centuries old and built to defend against the Vikings. The fort is at the top of some massive granite cliffs, the ground just keeps sloping up and then stops. It's very daunting looking over the edge, as soon as your head goes over you feel massive blasts of air coming up from the wind, and the noise of the waves from far below gets really loud. It is so unexpected you get a shock and it can be really scary! All downhill on the way back to the ferry, then a relaxing trip back to the hostel.

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 21 - 4/5

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 21 - 4/5

Headed south to County Mayo today, seeing some amazing landscapes. Ireland is a beautiful country, but I do see a few similarities with Australia as well. Stopped for a break at the grave of Yeates (don't know any of his work but I know some of my more cultured friends will) and we stopped later in the day for a hot Irish beverage, Irish coffees and Baileys hot chocolate. I had the hot choc and it was amazing! Need to get the recipie! The place we stopped was beautiful, it was a huge fjord where a glacier used to be, very scenic. Our stop for the night was in Galway, the home of Irish music. Rely nice town, and what better way to explore the nightlife than a pub crawl! Was a great night (what I remember of it anyway), all the pubs look really nice and had great music. Of course being in Galway they played the song Galway Girl, and we heard it at least once at every pub! It has quickly become the theme song for our tour.

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Day 20 - 3/5

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 20 - 3/5

Ballintoy is right near the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, a precarious bridge that has been around (and subsequently upgraded) for over 100 years, fishermen used to use it to haul their catch from the clifftop fishing point to the secure beach to unload. Was a nice walk there and back to start the day, a very brisk walk because it was pretty cold again!  Our main stop today was the Giants Causeway. An amazing place, a really funny folk story that explains why it's there (google it) and fascinating rock formations. Along the way to our stop for the night we went to the dark hedges where some scenes in the Kings Road in Game of Thrones was filmed, and also went to the castle that was used for Castle Greyjoy. Our stop for the night was Derry, and we had a fantastic walking tour with one of the most passionate guides I've ever met, Garvin. He is a man that absolutely loves his city and the chance to showcase it to the tourists, a lot of information and jokes to take in!

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 19 2/5

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 19 - 2/5

Shamrocker tour starts today! First stop, Belfast. We went on a Black Cab tour, with the driver teaching us about the troubles in Ireland and showing us key areas in the conflict, as well as the murals that commemorated significant events and memorials. We drove to a stop, got out while the driver told us something’s then moved on. After the first few stops though we decided to not get out and just look through the windows, it was freezing! We had come from around 15 degrees in Dublin to below 10 and rain in Belfast, very chilly! Being crammed in a cab with some strangers from the bus was a good way to get to meet people. 

From Belfast we travelled to our first overnight stop at Ballintoy, a beautiful tiny village on the northern coast. We settled into our rooms then all went to the local pub (of which there were only two) for some drinks and Irish music. I had a fantastic time. Once the beer started flowing so did the chatter, we had a really good group and we all got on really well. I had a sing along to most of the tunes, a couple of people got up and sang some songs, I even got up and sang for a tune as well. It was just so friendly! The musician just talked to people throughout the night, he was just set up in a corner with his guitar, no stage or anything. Anybody could just get up and have a go. There were about 20 locals there (all over 65) and they had a sing and a dance to the songs and chatted with anyone who was next to them, they even pulled out cake and sandwiches at about 11pm, food they had made at home and brought along to share. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed it, the music, the locals, the bus mates, the Smithwicks and the town. An amazing first day.

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 18 - 1/5

Very uneventful day today, Rach isn't feeling well so only went to one museum of a collection of books from throughout the ages, including bible pages from antiquity. Rach spent the rest of the day sleeping, I went and saw Fast and Furious 7 and pottered around getting things done (like catching up on the blog)!

[leave-our-world-behind]

30/4

[leave-our-world-behind]

Day 17 - 30/4

First full day in Dublin today. Went on a walking tour of the main sights with a very enigmatic guide. Saw where Dublin Castle used to sit, learned about the Viking heritage and the English rule, also saw the cathedral and had lunch in Temple Bar (that's the name of the district).

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Day 16 - 29/4

Our plans have changed fairly dramatically. We were supposed to stay in Cambridge for another couple of days, but when I went to organise our flights to Dublin for Saturday I saw that they would cost £150 each!!! Turns out the weekend we were flying was a long weekend so prices had gone through the roof, £66 for flying on Friday and £44 for Thursday (usually about £20). So unfortunately had to say an early goodbye to our hosts and leg it to the airport. Easy flight, got there checked in and hit the sack.

[leave-our-world-behind]

28/4