LONDON : SUNDAY : 08th MAY 2011

After the suspect weather over the last few days we woke this morning to a lovely sunny day. We enjoyed our last ‘Irish Breakfast’ looking out at the wonderful view over the water. Our hosts are both artists so we are surrounded by their works both on the walls and by the sculptures in the gardens. It is a fantastic setting and a great way end our Irish adventure.

Unfortunately we couldn’t dwell too long as we had a ferry to catch. After queuing the appropriate time, we shuffled on board behind the stream of people disgorged by the on board tour buses, and found seats that they chose to leave for us. The seats we had overlooked the polished dance floor, which was thankfully barricaded off, we didn’t think now was the time to be dealing with the synchronised displaced hips of the elders around us. We were pleased that shortly after leaving the port they started playing a movie on the screens around the dance floor. This created a scurry by the elderly, moving chairs, attempting to move bolted down tables, pulling down blinds, and stealing seats with gay abandon. It was worth the circus though, the movie was ‘The Kings Speech’ a movie we have been meaning to see.

It was a fairly smooth crossing, and after three and a half hours (12:30pm), we drove off at the other end. This proved rather interesting, we thought we were disembarking at Pembroke (South), however we discovered after a few minutes that we were in fact in Fishguard (North).

FISHGARD : Wales : Population 3,300

The town of Fishguard is divided into two parts, Lower Fishguard and Upper Fishguard. Lower Fishguard is situated where the River Gwaun meets the sea in a deep valley. It is a typical fishing village with a short tidal quay. Upper Fishguard contains the parish church, the High Street and most of the modern development. The coasts of Wales were increasingly subject to Norse raids during the Viking Era, and in the latter part of the 10th century Norse trading posts and settlements emerged within Dyfed, with Fishguard established sometime between 950 and 1000 AD. The town was originally surrounded by secure castle walls and the name Fishguard derives from old Norse fiskigarðr meaning ‘fish catching enclosure’.

After escaping the clutches of Fishguard and the ferry related traffic (the ferry terminal seems to be the sole feature of this town), we headed out into the Welsh countryside towards home. In some ways it seems very much like New Zealand rural countryside with the tidy green fields, boundary fences, shelter belts, sparse habitation, and lots of sheep. The biggest giveaway that we weren’t in ‘The Land of the Long White Cloud’ was the unpronounceable place names. We have no idea how we are supposed to get our tongues around those puppies.

We stopped at a few places along the way for various reasons, until we finally reached the bridge of no return, the border between Wales and England. We suddenly remembered that we didn’t have the money for the toll to cross the bridge. Firstly we have been cutting it fine as we have been swapping backwards and forwards between Pounds and Euros over the last few weeks, Secondly we spent the last few pounds in our pockets buying ourselves a Magnum each (a very noble cause). We were just considering the consequences of offering an ice cream stick as payment when we saw the sign that told us that the toll only applies to those entering Wales, and not those leaving as we were. It does raise the question … why? Are they doing their best to keep the English out?

From here on it was Mother England all the way, and the change in landscape was remarkable. There was a distinct change once we crossed the river border. A little less green, and a lot more of the long straight motorway driving experience. Five hours driving time since leaving the ferry, we arrived home at 7:30pm. After doing the compulsory unpacking, reorganizing, washing, and trying to mentally prepare ourselves for a working day tomorrow, we sat down and reflected on our time away.

It has been an amazing experience that we will not forget, there were some surprises along the way. It wasn’t the ‘Emerald Isles’ of green that we have been led to believe, there is a lot of brown and rock as well. The land was far more varied with amazing clashes and contrasts of landscape around every corner. One of the things that impressed us was the age and the history of this island, going back thousands of years. We hope that we gained a small insight into why the Irish are the way they are and to understand them a little better, however we also appreciate it would take years to fully know or understand their complex history. We were impressed with the number of ruins of old buildings, cottages, churches and Abbeys. They are everywhere, those that weren’t destroyed and razed by Cromwell and his band of not so merry men, were vacated by people unable to feed themselves in a barely inhabitable environment. We were interested to hear the perspective of the Irish people on everything ranging from the ‘Troubles’ to the ‘Celtic Tiger’. Most of all we will miss the people, their sense of humour, their Guinness and Soda bread, their positive attitude, and their love of the Craic. Ireland is a place to watch, the ‘Troubles’ are behind them, they have had their Celtic Tiger years, they have immersed themselves in the economic down turn, they have had a roller coaster ride throughout the centuries, who knows what is going to happen next. As Oscar Wilde once said “The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last.”

ROSSLARE : SATURDAY : 07th MAY 2011

After along and interesting discussion with a group of our fellow guests we headed out onto the road again. Our fellow guests were a group of elderly, well traveled, American academia, who are doing a road trip similar to ourselves, although considerably more organized than we have been. A very interesting trio, who are very interested in everything around them, and seem to have a real contribution to conversations as well.

KELLS PRIORY : County Kilkenny : Republic of Ireland

The Augustine priory is situated alongside King's River beside the village of Kells. One of its most striking features is a collection of medieval tower houses spaced at intervals along and within walls which enclose a site of just over 3 acres. These give the priory the appearance more of a fortress than of a place of worship and from them comes its local name of 'Seven Castles'. During its first century and a half the priory was attacked and burned on three occasions, firstly by Lord William de Bermingham in 1252, by the Scots army of Edward Bruce on Palm Sunday 1326, and by a second William de Bermingham in 1327. It seems likely then that the walls and fortifications date back to this period of unrest.

Our first stop for the day was Kells Priory. Getting there we had the sense that we were really getting into the heartland of rural Ireland, especially when we had to pull off the road and stop the engine so that a couple of farmers could lead their young skittish horses down the road.

What is impressive about Kells Priory is firstly the size of the place, and this is quickly followed by the absence of tour buses, tour guides, souvenir shops, and admission fees. This is the ruin of a 12^th century priory covering a large area of a farmers land, whose sole occupants (in fact the only sign of life) are the sheep and lambs. Unfortunately the sheep and lambs are rather prolific, so we spent much of our time watching where we were putting our feet. However it was a pleasure to have the freedom of roaming from room to room through this site without the usual visual pollution.

As we left here we spotted a sign directing us towards a ‘Round Tower’ in Kilree, the only indigenous building style of Ireland. After driving through more of rural Ireland, we found the site. Beside the stile leading towards the tower was a bright yellow warning sign stating ‘Bull in Field’. We have to say that it made us think twice and have a good look around before progressing across the self same field to the tower and the ruin of the little church with its graveyard. We didn’t get to see the bull, and so we aren’t sure if it was put there as a deterrent or as a bit of Irish humour. Just a few meters from the graveyard (in the bull paddock) is an early high cross, which marks the resting place of one of a 9^th century Irish high king, who drowned in the nearby river trying to save one of his servants.

BENNETTSBRIDGE : County Kilkenny : Republic of Ireland : Population 685

Situated on the river Nore, it has become a craft centre in recent years, with several pottery and craft producers located at the old mill beside the weir.

From here it was on to Bennettsbridge, to check out the pottery at Nicholas Mosse Irish Country Shop. The pottery was very nice, although the prices not so nice. It seems they are going for the Provonce look with sponged designs along the lines of Laura Ashley. Not really what we were looking for and so we moved on. However it was an interesting place starting off as a flour mill and then converting to pottery. They have a small hydro generator running off the river outside and so they are completely self sufficient.

INISTIOGE : County Kilkenny : Republic of Ireland : Population 263

The earliest recorded reference to Inistioge refers to a battle between the kingdom of Osraighi and an army of Norse, recorded as taking place in the year 962 AD in the Annals of the Four Masters.

We stopped at Inisitioge for lunch, and despite what the guidebooks say, the most impressive feature of this town is the ten arch stone bridge over the river. What this town inspired from us were the questions how, why and where? How do people survive in a place like this, why do they stay here, where do they go to for work? This was the first in a series of ghost towns that we went through that seemed to have the majority of houses empty, no one on the streets, and no signs of life at all. It makes us wonder if they are always like this, or whether they come to life over summer. Has this been the result of the economic downturn, and the collapse of the Celtic Tiger, or have they always been like this?

WATERFORD : County Waterford : Republic of Ireland : Population 45,750

Founded in 914 AD by the Vikings, it is the country's oldest city. The city motto Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia ("Waterford remains the untaken city") was granted by King Henry VII of England in 1497 after Waterford refused to recognise the claims of the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck to the English throne. Today, Waterford is known for Waterford Crystal, a legacy of the city's former glass making industry.

Our reason for going to Waterford was to go to the Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre. What we found there was a lot of crystal that our grandmothers would have liked to own, but not really to our taste. However they seem to cater very well to the American tourists and seem to be doing their best to milk them for their dollars. A lot of the pieces are obviously directed at them and the Irish-American connections. There were large crystal centerpieces with cowboys and western themes, there were crystal gridiron helmets, there were large ostentatious pieces that no one in their right mind would be attracted to this side of the Mississippi. I was a little disappointed that in the toilets they didn’t have a crystal urinal. Perhaps the receivers took that when they moved in a few years ago.

Once we headed out of the visitor centre we found the rest of the city very quiet. Very much in keeping with the smaller ghost towns that we have been passing through, rather surprising for a city this size.

ROSSLARE : County Wexford : Republic of Ireland : Population 1000

The village of Rosslare grew up to serve the needs of the harbour, first developed in 1906 by the Great Western Railway and the Great Southern and Western Railway to accommodate steam ferry traffic between Great Britain and Ireland.

From here we headed back out onto the back roads and byways, around the coast to our destination for this evening, Rosslare. This is the ferry terminal, the ferry that we will be taking tomorrow morning to head back to the UK. It is sad to think that our holiday is over, sad to think that we are leaving these shores. The last few weeks have gone way too fast, although it also seems like so long ago that we arrived in Dublin at the commencement of this journey. Along the way we have seen so much, experienced so much, and met so many wonderful people. It really has been an adventure. We have learned so much about this island, about the history, we think we have come some way to understanding a little bit more the people that live here.

KILKENNY : FRIDAY : 06th MAY 2011

We had an international breakfast this morning sharing the table with couples from Minnesota - USA, Victoria - Canada, Zurich - Switzerland, and ourselves. The American couple were as you would expect (well he was anyway) full of himself and attention seeking, the Canadian couple were as you would expect … nice, and the Swiss couple … well they were different to what we experienced when we were there … they were very pleasant. Maybe the nicest of the Swiss people leave Switzerland, or perhaps being on holiday brings out the best in them. This particular couple however we suspect dabbled on the fringes of ‘Alternative’. After some very interesting discussions over ‘Irish’ breakfast – with the compulsory black and white puddings – we waved a fond farewell to Kinsale, but not before having one more spin around this cute little village.

ROCK OF CASHEL : County Tipperary : Republic of Ireland

Known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock. Built in the 12^th Century, the Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. According to local mythology, the Rock of Cashel originated in the Devil's Bit, a mountain 30 km north of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the Rock's landing in Cashel.

After spending the morning on the motorway looking at the green pasture land all around us – so different to what we became accustomed to down the West coast – we arrived in Cashel to have a look at a certain rock. Sitting above the town is a huge rock, the home of a clutch of imposing religious buildings, which collectively can be looked upon as a castle. For over 1000 years this castle has been a symbol of power, being the seat of the Munster king before being handed over to the church in a very clever political move. As a church this ‘Rock’ has changed hands between Catholic and Protestant more times than we have had hot dinners. One man in particular had affiliations both ways and changed his robes according to his whim at the time. This ‘Rock’ has more history than we can comprehend, this ‘Rock’ is a justified icon of Irish history, this ‘Rock’ is currently going through a major preservation process to prevent it from tumbling down. After 1000 years of rain and weather being absorbed by the sandstone blocks of which it is built, they are in process of trying to dry her out. In the first year of this process they extracted 250, 000 litres of water out of this rock upon a rock. This place has an amazing story, it has an amazing atmosphere and they are doing an amazing job in trying to retain that for future generations. We have been told that the Irish government directs its efforts towards preservation rather than restoration for their ancient sites, an approach that we think works well.

After heading down the hill for lunch, we were captivated by the locals who it seems just like to talk. One woman was talking to us about the weather, and when we commented on the rain she said that it was normal here, what isn’t normal is the sunshine that they have had for the last month. Every time they get a day of sunshine they get excited and go out and buy bikinis for her daughters, paddling pool, a BBQ, etc etc and then … the next day it will be raining again, so everything gets put away again for another six months.

KILKENNY : County Kilkenny : Republic of Ireland : Population 8600

Kilkenny began with an early sixth century ecclesiastical foundation. In 1609 King James I of England granted Kilkenny a Royal Charter giving it the status of a city.

The limerick : There once were two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they hit
And they scratched and they bit
Till (excepting their nails
And the tips of their tails)
Instead of two cats there weren't any!

We meandered our way through the back roads and byways to our destination for the night, Kilkenny. It is still raining which does take the shine off things a little, although we can still see through the damp mist thrown up by the passing cars that this is a very pretty town with plenty of character. With a tangle of narrow streets with brightly coloured shop fronts and little alleyways connecting them together. In the centre of town is the large imposing castle with a complex of design stores on the opposite side of the street.

After unloading our growing pile of baggage into our wonderful accommodation we decided to go for a walk, however the continuing rain changed that plan, so we drove into town and walked from there around the network of little streets before settling into the pub suggested to us by our host for dinner. It wasn’t so much a pub as a bar that serviced the hotels nearby, however the food was very good as was the live music that accompanied it.

During our meandering around the town we did our best to seek out the souvenir shops for some mementos. We have to say though that the items on offer during the later part of our visit here have been less than impressive with each town offering the same uninspiring claptrap. This has meant that we have turned our eyes elsewhere for things to remember these places by, unfortunately this means that we have bought more things than we intended to and have been left discussing whether we have enough wall space left at home to buy another picture (hence the increasing baggage).

KINSALE : THURSDAY : 05th MAY 2011

We were greeted today with an overcast sky, but with the hope of a brighter day, unfortunately as we headed out of Kinsale the weather turned the other way. We were heading towards Cobh. Cobh has quite a sad history, it was from this port that 2.5 million left these shores after the famine

COBH : County Cork : Republic of Ireland : Population 6800

Cobh was renamed Queenstown in 1849 to commemorate a visit by Queen Victoria and so remained until the name Cobh was restored in 1920 with the foundation of the Irish Free State.

Our first reference point in Cobh was the huge spire of St Colman’s Cathedral dominating the town. The cathedral really is very impressive in size, emphasized by the fact that it seemed disproportionate to the size of the town. Inside is just as impressive with the fantastically sculpted walls and alter. While we were there, there were groups of school kids being put through their catholic paces. It seemed as if they were running practice sessions for the region in preparation for their Holy Communion. It was quite sweet to see and hear them, it was a little disconcerting to see so many large American tourists pushing through and taking flash photography of them. That was a little disrespectful we felt.

Before going into the main cathedral we decided to have a look at the little chapel on the side, unfortunately we got sprung poking our nose in by some devout souls saying their prayers. We felt the only right thing to do would be to go in and join them for a few minutes of respectful silence. We did feel like complete imposters though, especially as we neglected to cross ourselves as we left.

While we were in there the heavens opened, we came out to torrential rain, however we were prepared, we had raincoats. After half an hour of walking through the town we discovered the shortcomings of wearing a raincoat rather than a full waterproof body suit. We had the rain running down our legs … inside our jeans. Raincoat down, we were drenched through. It was shortly after this that we decided to head back to the comfort, and the heaters, of our car, but not before checking out a couple of the sites here. We found the memorial to those that lost their lives on the Lusitania, a ship that was torpedoed not far offshore from here in 1915, an event that brought America into the First World War and many of the survivors and dead were brought ashore here. Evidently some of those that died in this disaster are buried in the cemetery. Not far from the first memorial is the memorial to the Titanic. This was her last port of call on 11 April 1912 (to pick up the last 136 passengers) before her fateful journey.

Unfortunately we didn’t see Cobh at her best today, poring with rain and the steep streets turned into rivers of water to be navigated as we fought our way back up hill. We are glad that we got to see the cathedral though. Of course as luck would have it once we left town the rain started to ease, leaving us with that damp feeling, car heaters working overtime to try and dry ourselves out before the next stop.

BARRYSCOURT CASTLE : County Cork : Republic of Ireland

The site on which Barryscourt castle now stands has been occupied for over a thousand years- there is evidence of a wooden watermill having been built at the site sometime in the 7th century. The Barrys destroyed or severely damaged the family castles to prevent English forces from capturing them, including Barryscourt, which was threatened by an army led by Sir Walter Raleigh. Barryscourt ceased to be the main residence of the Barry family in 1617.

Our next stop was Barryscourt Castle, a great looking castle silhouetted against the recently developed blue sky. We have been told that this is a much finer looking castle than the Blarney variety not far away and with less crowds, however the real attraction was the ‘Free Entry’. Unfortunately we didn’t read the fine print which stated that it was free entry between June and September. So inside we did not get, however we can say with some authority that the outside is very fine indeed.

CORK : County Cork : Republic of Ireland : Population 120,000

The second largest city in the Republic of Ireland. County Cork has earned the nickname of "the Rebel County", while Corkonians often refer to the city as the "real capital of Ireland", and themselves as the "Rebels". A description of Cork written in 1577 speaks of the city as, "the fourth city of Ireland" that is, "so encumbered with evil neighbours, the Irish outlaws, that they are fayne to watch their gates hourly ... they trust not the country adjoining [and only marry within the town] so that the whole city is linked to each other in affinity".

Our next stop today was Cork city. After spending some time here we were left wondering whether we were in the wrong part of town, as we found it to be singularly unimpressive. It didn’t seem to have the spirit and atmosphere of every other place within Ireland that we visited, an atmosphere that we have come to expect. Maybe there is a historic reason for this. Cork seems to have spent much of its time under English rule, however they haven’t been particularly happy about it. They did manage to keep out of Cromwell’s grasp only to fall to William of Orange (hence the Protestant Cathedral). During the ‘Black and Tan’ era, the English were the most brutal and repressive within Cork City, much of the central city was burned to the ground. This city was also heavily involved in the Irish Civil War (1922-23).

We did go for a walk around the city and found one of the grand churches, St Finbarre’s Cathedral. Once again a fantastic example of architecture … from the outside. We decided against paying an entrance fee as we had already had our full of churches for the day. We do wonder what the deal is though. In Europe the churches are free and you have to pay to go to a gallery, in the UK the churches cost and the galleries are free, in Ireland the majority of churches are locked so that you couldn’t go in even if you wanted to.

As we were walking down the street heading towards our leaving point, we came across a team of Council men and Garda (Police), walking down the street lifting up every manhole, and service point on the pavement, after which they bolted them down and sealed them. Then we realized that they were probably doing security service in preparation for the visit of the Queen and Obama shortly afterwards. The Queen’s visit has received quite a bit of publicity lately as it is the first visit of a Reigning British Royal since this island was made a Republic.

After the disappointment of Cork we decided to head home to Kinsale and have a look around the town. We mooched around the little narrow winding streets in its centre looking at little art galleries, wondering whether we have wall space at home for our latest purchases. At the ended the day by heading into an ‘off license’ for some Irish Whiskey to be greeted with a “Kia Ora”. The duty manager has a Maori mate living here from “Palmy”. His wife visited NZ 12 years ago and “brought back a souvenir”. After talking about NZ and our chances with the World Cup, we headed across the road for a wonderful dinner finished off with live traditional music. Another wonderful day on our travels, everyday brings another surprise in the most unexpected way.

KINSALE : WEDNESDAY : 04th MAY 2011

After having a wonderful chat with our hostess this morning we headed out to discover this town. She told us that she had been running the B&B for eleven years and that her husband ran a salmon smoking business. He smokes salmon the traditional way and supplies small gourmet shops throughout the country, which explains the excellent smoked salmon we received for breakfast. He is also into rallying which was evident in the cabinet full of crystal ware.

In the township there was a market going on selling fresh produce, fish, cakes, cheeses, unfortunately there was nothing that was very travel friendly. On continuing through the town we found signs pointing towards a ‘Stone Circle’ right within the town. What we found was just that … a circle of stones. Maybe we have become used to them now, every village and every town on this island seems to boast a 5000 year old something. These stone circles are everywhere.

MIZEN HEAD : County Cork : Republic of Ireland

Located at the western extremity of a peninsula in the south-westernmost point of Ireland, it is one of the extreme points of the island of Ireland. Located on the promontory are an old signalling station, a weather station, and a lighthouse. Geography books have long measured the length of Ireland ‘from Malin Head to Mizen Head’.

After leaving town we headed West towards Mizen Head, Ireland’s most South Westerly point. Getting there was a familiar story of the roads becoming more winding and narrow until they became not much more that a farm track. These tracks form an interconnecting network that can easily become confusing, and perhaps they were built with that in mind, to confuse the tourists. The scenery was wonderful, green grass, white beaches, and lots of sheep. As we got nearer to the Head the landscape became more rugged, until by the time we got there we were looking down on spectacular rocks with the Atlantic slamming hard against them and shooting it’s energy straight up into the air. However what this place is probably best known for is the old signal station. We walked along a path, and over an arched bridge looking down immense cliffs of solid rock with anticlines and synclines twisting and turning in unbelievable patterns, evidence of the geographical forces that created this landscape. On the other side, hanging on for grim life in this howling gale (and today is a calm day) is the signal station, the site that was built over 100 years ago to help warn ships off the rocks. When the haze cleared a little we could see Fastnet Rock Lighthouse 9 miles out to sea, another amazing piece of engineering. Built entirely out of granite rock, built like a 3D jigsaw puzzle with each piece shaped like a cube with interlocking shapes on five of its six faces. Each block numbered and dropped into place. Amazing.

FASTNET ROCK LIGHTHOUSE : County Cork : Republic of Ireland

Old Norse Name : Hvasstann-ey meaning "sharp-tooth isle"

Irish Name : Carraig Aonair, meaning "solitary rock / lone rock"

Due to its location, Fastnet was known as 'Ireland's Teardrop' because it was the last part of the country that Irish emigrants would see as they sailed to the United States in the 19th century. Fastnet Rock is used as the midpoint of one of the world's classic offshore yachting races, the Fastnet Race, a 979 kilometres (608 mi) round trip from Cowes, UK round the rock and back to Plymouth. Construction of the first lighthouse started in 1853, but was soon proven to be too weak. The construction of the second (and current) stone lighthouse started in 1897. The masonry tower is 44.5 m high, with the focal point of the light 48.5 m above high water mark. Using granite blocks, weighing 4300 tons in total and with a volume of 1645 cubic metres. In 1985, the lighthouse was struck by a rogue wave measuring about 48m in height.

Our next stop was Baltimore, a small town that was reputed to have its sailing cap ‘set at a jaunty angle’. We suspect that the sailors hat only comes out during summer time. We saw a small fishing village, with a regular ferry service over to the Islands, set amongst a setting of drinking establishments plying their wares to those wanting to watch the boats come and go.

TIMOLEAGUE ABBEY : County Cork : Republic of Ireland

Timoleague Friary is a Franciscan friary. It dates from about 1300.

From here we thought that we would head straight to our destination of Kinsale for the night, however we got distracted along the way. Driving through one of the many little villages we found that we had come face to face with the ruins of an Abbey in the middle of town. We stopped for a peruse through the ruins of Timoleague Abbey (this one isn’t in the guide books). It would have been a grand Abbey in its time. We came to appreciate how big it was as we wandered through the ruins from one room to the next and on to the next, going from the Nave to the Chapel, from the now uncovered Cloisters to the Chapter Room, from the Transept to the Sacristy through the Choir Hall. In amongst the array of rooms and passageways, there were graves both ancient and present, buried both outside its walls and also within the confines of the Abbey, covering every piece of available ground. Quite an incredible place.

KINSALE : County Cork : Republic of Ireland : Population 2200

The population increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and when the boating fraternity arrive in large numbers.

We arrived in Kinsale at an unusual time, it was deserted. We found out later that this was largely due to a major football game being on. We decided to join the locals in a bar, watch the game, and get some dinner at the same time. The locals were more interested in the game, the game didn’t feature any local teams anyway, and the food was decidedly dodgy. We made a bad choice tonight.

KENMARE : TUESDAY : 03rd MAY 2011

We decided over breakfast this morning that our planed trip out to the Skellig Islands was not going to be a good idea. We don’t have rain just yet but with the blustery winds it is doubtful that they will be sailing, and even if they do it will be an uncomfortable ride and make for a miserable time on the unsheltered island. Our host told us that the ferry only runs 50% of the time due the weather, and as she said, it gives us a good reason to come back to this part of the world.

SKELLIG ISLANDS : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland

Once known as the Skellocks, are two small, steep and rocky islands, famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With our plans changed we continued around the ‘Ring of Kerry’. During the first part of the trip we weren’t particularly impressed. With the grey weather, roads that were more like motorways than we had expected, way to may tour buses, villages that have become very kitsch due to the oppressive tourist trade, and a landscape that is way too luxuriant compared to what we had become used to. As the journey wore on we became more impressed and began to see the merit of a loop like this. The ‘Ring of Kerry’ is touted as one of the ‘must do’s’ of Ireland, hence all the tour buses, and as such we could see that this peninsula is really a compressed version of Ireland for those that don’t have much time. It has the green, it had the dry, it has the bogs, it has the impressive rock forms. Unfortunately there is no escaping the plethora of kitsch souvenir shops selling all the same things at over inflated prices, and there is no escaping the bad pies and cold chips for lunch.

DERRYNANE NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland

Derrynane House is the ancestral home of Daniel O'Connell, lawyer, politician and statesman. Situated on 120 hectares of parklands.

During the later part of this loop we headed in the direction of a sign towards a beach. Not because we wanted a swim (much too cold for that), but just to get off the main road. We ended up at Derrynane National Historic Park, but not before passing an Ogham Stone. Ogham stones aren’t much to look at however they are historically very significant, displaying an early form of communication by the early Irish people. It was a standing stone with a series of diagonal and horizontal scores signifying words and letters. This particular one is thought to represent the name of a local chieftain.

Further on we came to the family home of Daniel O’Connell, who was the campaigner for the Catholic emancipation (we’re not entirely sure what that means, however it seems to be important locally). We didn’t go through the house, instead we headed down to the beach for a walk, although beach seems an extravagant term in this situation. Most of the area is taken up by huge slabs of rock which make for a very dramatic landscape. What sand there is, is protected by signs warning against swimming in the dangerous currents.

AT the far end of the beach we saw the ruins of an Abbey on an elevated piece of ground, surrounded by grave stones. When we arrived there we found that there were graves and gravestones surrounding and within the ruined Abbey walls. It is the first time that we have seen this, and wonder if being buried within the walls indicated an elevated social standing. Looking back along the beach we discovered that this is actually an island (known as Abbey Island, funny that) only accessible at low tide (when we happened to arrive), and the tide was coming back in, so we beat a hasty retreat back along the sand. This is a very cool location, one of those surprise finds that we discover on our travels.

KENMARE : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland : Population 2500

The historic Irish name is ‘An Neidín’, meaning ‘the little nest’. Located near the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Mangerton Mountain and Caha Mountains it is a popular hillwalking destination.

We continued our journey to Kenmare and checked into our accommodation. A fantastic B&B with a big room, big bed, and face clothes provided (that’s a real treat). We then hopped back into the car and headed towards Killarney, not because we wanted to see Killarney but because we wanted to see the Killarney National Park on the way there. As we headed into the park it was very dramatic with high twisted rocks and heather, cumulating when we headed through Moll’s Gap at the top of the pass. Our first stop on the other side was the Torc Waterfall, a cascading affair that was quite impressive amongst the trees, foliage, and moss. Quite an ethereal to it, and certainly nice to be surrounded by trees again, we haven’t seen any for quite some time.

MUCKROSS ABBEY : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland

Located in the Killarney National Park. Founded in 1448 as a Franciscan friary for the Observantine Franciscans. It has had a violent history and has been damaged and reconstructed many times. The friars were often persecuted and subjected to raids by marauding groups.

Our next stop was the Muckross Abbey (today is an Abbey day), founded in 1448 and burned by Cromwell in 1652. Once again this is a ruin, but very cool with huge Yew tree growing out from it’s centre. They are in the process of restoring her, and currently you can climb all over her, through little doors, up spiral staircases, stride down the nave to what was once the alter. All the while surrounded by ancient tombs and memorial slabs that are so weathered they are often barely readable. Next it was on to Ross Castle. It was closed for the day by the time we got there, however it was enough to walk around her and look out over the water towards the islands. This castle was the last one to fall to Cromwell due to a cunning little feature. Every step in the spiral staircases were built with uneven treads and depths, the simple reason being to upset the stride of any attacking soldier trying to fight their way up the stairs. Thereby the castle was never overthrown by land but by superstition. When they thought a prophesy was about to be fulfilled, they surrendered without a fight to Cromwell.

KILLARNEY : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland : Population 13,500

Tourism is by far the largest industry in Killarney. With the exception of Dublin, there are more hotel beds in Killarney than in any other Irish town or city.

There are a lot more things to see here, however for us it was time to press on first to Killarney and then via a different route home to Kenmare, dinner in a pub to the sounds of a ‘trad’ band.

CAHIRSIVEEN : SPRING BANK HOLIDAY : MONDAY : 02nd MAY 2011

We woke up this morning to a grey and drizzly day, which is a shame as today we heading up the Dingle peninsula (one of the prettiest areas of the country evidently), however we can’t complain as we have had fine weather until now. After packing up and saying goodbye to our host, we headed through North Kerry. It is quite a contrast here to what we have been seeing lately. It has elements of green amongst the tussock grass. In comparison to the last few days it looks positively luxuriant.

TRALEE : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland : Population 22,700

The town is situated on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County Kerry. Notable people include : St Brendan the monastic saint and navigator and Sean O'Callaghan the Provisional IRA member.

We passed through Tralee towards the Dingle Peninsula. We didn’t stop until we got to Dingle as the weather was quite miserable, with high winds to drive the cold drizzle right through you.

DINGLE : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland : Population 1900

One of Irelands largest Gaeltacht towns. It is the only town on the Dingle Peninsula and it sits on the Atlantic coast.

As we came into Dingle the sun came out, however that wasn’t to last very long. We spent a few hours wandering around the town admiring the brightly coloured shops, perusing the craft shops and art shops. Most things are closed due to it being a Bank Holiday. So we spent most of our time imagining what it must be like mid summer when the sun comes out and the crowds arrive (as they do). After a final ‘Hit and Run’ around the harbour area we took refuge in Murphy’s Pub for a nice seafood chowder to warm us up. We have found that a lot of the stores hedge their opportunities, with a pub also serving as a hardware store or perhaps a souvenir as well. It makes for an interesting experience drinking a pint amongst the screw and nuts. It seems to be quite an arty little town, a cross between Coromandel and Nelson. As we emerged the sun came out again to welcome us, although once again it didn’t smile for very long.

From Dingle we took the loop road around the end of the peninsula via Connor Pass (the highest Pass in Ireland), along steep, winding, narrow roads, small stone walls protecting us from the sheer drop to the valley below. One advantage was that there were no large trucks or tour buses (they would fit around here). It was quite a dramatic coast, although we weren’t able to maximize on the scenery due to the weather.

BLASKET ISLANDS : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland

The six principle islands are : Great Blasket Island, Beginish, Inishnabro, Inishvickillane, Inishtooskert, Tearaght Island. They were inhabited until 1953 by a completely Irish-speaking population. The inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland on 17 November 1953.

From the end of the point we were able to look out at the Blasket Islands only 5kms away and the most westerly islands off Ireland. Being so close it is hard to believe that they are so isolated. There is evidence of them being inhabited during the Iron age. In their more resent history they were in habited until 1953, when the inhabitants agreed that it was no longer feasible to live in such isolated and harsh conditions.

After continuing the loop back to Dingle, we passed through Inch and through Castlemaine. We then turned right and commenced the first part of the Ring of Kerry on the Kerry Peninsula. As we started along the coast passing through cute little villages and wonderfully green farmland, with the hills rising around us, we looked back across at the Dingle Peninsula to find that it was now swathed in sunshine (where we had been just a few hours ago)

CAHIRSIVEEN : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland : Population 1300

Pre-Famine population 30,000. Birthplace of Daniel O’Connell

We arrived in Cahirsiveen and found our accommodation just out town, another wonderful B&B with another very welcoming and friendly hostess. After settling in we went into town to find ourselves some dinner. When we looked at the shop we had parked in front of, we found that it was another one of those multifunctional shops. This one was half top shop, and half headstones and memorial plaques. An interesting mix we thought. In the window were the Hallmark cards of the Plaque world, stone slabs with lovely verses interjected with ‘insert name here’, ‘insert photo here’. We have noticed before that the funeral business seems to be big business in this country.

We moved on down the road and had dinner at a wonderful seafood restaurant that guarantees the fish on your plate to be less than two hours out of the water (they have their own fishing boats). They also have an obvious passion for sailing with the whole restaurant in a nautical theme with some fantastic sailing photos all around the walls. Justine was right in her element.

CARRIG ISLAND : SUNDAY : 01st May 2011

The alarm went off way too early this morning, or so it seemed. After breakfast we hit the road again. Our first stop was in Kinvara. A little village with a harbour. Justine was wanting to sate her daily desire for photos of some boats. Boat wise it was unimpressive today, however it is another fine example of a small Irish Fishing village. As we were walking around the harbour Justine kept attracting the attention of a small round Irish man of obvious Viking descent. Every time I turned around this guy was talking to her, and every time I wandered over to join them, he would disappear. He did tell us that they had their Cuckoo Festival here yesterday, which sounds like it doesn’t have so much to do with cuckoos as it seems to be more about a gypsy fair. This guy seemed to be more obsessed about a particular event that took place last night, than anything else through the day. He told Justine that there was a ‘Girl Fight’ induced by alcohol. He wanted to know if Justine had ever seen one. No matter what the topic, he seemed to veer back to the ‘Girl Fight’. Strange chap.

BALLYVAUGHAN : County Clare : Republic of Ireland : Population 224

Situated in the northwest corner of The Burren, an area of great rocky expanse, considered by many to be a unique landscape. It has been tagged Ireland's 'Gold Coast' as a result of the huge boom in property prices in the area. Demand for holiday homes has seen the average house price in the town rise from €45,000 in 1995 to €480,000 in 2005.

We stopped at Ballyvaughan for morning tea (we needed it after our late night). A pretty little village with brightly coloured stores and thatched roofed houses.

From here we drove through the edge of the Burren National Park which is more of the stone fields, like what we saw on Inishmor yesterday, and indeed part of the same field. Our guess is that this has been made a National Park, as there is absolutely nothing that you could do with it. It is 99.5% stone and rock. The 0.5% is the minute amount of moss and lichen that manages to gain a grip on some parts of the rocks.

POULNABRONE DOLMEN : County Clare : Republic of Ireland

The dolmen consists of a twelve-foot, thin, slab-like, tabular capstone supported by two slender portal stones, which lift the capstone 1.8m from the ground. During excavations they found that between 16 and 22 adults and 6 children were buried under the monument.

We stopped at the Poulnabrone Megalithic Tomb, after saying that we weren’t going to stop at any more for a while, however this one was on our way (well almost). Another vast expanse of stone and placed in the middle was a small dolmen. It doesn’t sound much, but it was very cool.

We were heading in the direction of the Cliffs of Moher, with every intent of going to see them, but we didn’t. We arrived at the entrance to be greeted by lines of tour buses, and throngs of people. We had also read recently that they had put up walls that were too high, and too far back from the cliff edge to enable seeing them properly. The entrance fee was the clincher. We decided that since we had seen Slieve League recently we would give it a miss. Instead we proceeded on to Spanish Point where we stopped for a clamber over some big slabs of rock tilting over and running down into the ocean. It was a very cool spot, and hardly anyone there.

We have been told, and read, that there are some white sand beaches around here, so our next mission was to find one and go for a walk. As it transpired it was more of a mission than we anticipated. We drove along parallel with the coast, diving in along any road that looked like it held the promise of a beach at its end (we can’t always rely on the road signs). Time and time again we ended up going down roads that petered out into farm track lanes and still no sight of the water that we desired. We progressed along the coast as far as Kilkee before we gave up.

We headed back on the southern edge of the peninsula towards Killimer, where we were to catch the car ferry to Tarbert. This was uneventful, a twenty minute ferry ride that saved us two hours of driving time. The alternative was to drive to Limerick (we had no desire to go there) and then back along the other side.

CARRIG ISLAND : County Kerry : Republic of Ireland : Population : 10

More cows than people and overshadowed by the ruins of a castle built in1490 and destroyed by Cromwell in 1649.

From Tarbert we drove the short distance to our destination for the night, Carrig Island, at a B&B ‘Castle View House’. A fantastic B&B situated on a small Island accessible via a small causeway. It was one of those places where they make you feel at home. After dinner (which they offered) our host sat and talked to us about everything from the price of cattle, EU subsidies, to the Irish economy. He is also the key holder to the nearby castle. One of the many castles that Cromwell destroyed. The more we hear about Cromwell, the more he sounds like a right royal bastard. We read tonight that he instructed his men here in Ireland to destroy every harp that they found. What a way to win hearts and minds. Then there was the case that heard about the other day where he found the 100 villagers hiding in the caves, and he killed each one that he found. Yet again we have found that the hero of one nation is the villain of another, it’s all a matter of perspective.

GALWAY : SATURDAY : 30th April 2011

After breakfast we headed for our destination for today, the Aran Islands, one island in particular, Inishmor. To get there we had to drive 35 minutes up the coast towards Rossaveal, where the ferry leaves from (another 40 minute ferry ride).

The ferry trip alone was entertaining. The name of the vessel was ‘Ceol na Farraige’ which we interpreted to mean ‘count yourself lucky if you get a seat’. The ferry was packed mostly with a large group of kids on a school trip. Like kids the world over they consider modesty to be over-rated, and communication is rated by who manages to shout the loudest. The noise going on brought back memories for us of being on a bus in Southern Italy.

Once we got going there enough chop to throw the boat around a bit, whereupon the braver kids (or perhaps the louder ones) developed a game of running through the aisles the length of the ferry without holding on. We had the impression that these kids hadn’t been on a boat before. In the midst of this mayhem, the barman was sitting in a chair with his feet up on the bar reading a book. We wondered if he was preparing us for the Island way of doing things.

INISHMOR : County Galway : Republic of Ireland : Population 800 : Size - 14.5 km long, 4 km wide at its widest point.

The island is famous for its strong Irish culture, loyalty to the Irish language, and a wealth of Pre-Christian and Christian ancient sites including Dún Aengus, described as 'the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe'.

INISHMAAN : County Galway : Republic of Ireland : Population 160

One of the most important strongholds of traditional Irish culture. The island is predominantly Irish-speaking and is part of the Gaeltacht.

INISHEER : County Galway : Republic of Ireland : Population 300

The smallest and most eastern of the three Aran Islands. The island gained some television exposure in the 1990s when it appeared in the opening credits of the sitcom Father Ted masquerading as the fictional Craggy Island.

Once we landed on Inishmor we ran the gauntlet of tour operators along the pier touting for business. Their modes ranged from hiring bikes, to tour vans and buses, to horse-drawn carts (some of which looked like jacooze on wheels). Some of the operators looked decidedly dodgy, others offered what seemed like a professional operation, but most had their patter down pat. When we saw the number of people touting for this business we wondered how they all got on, whether there was enough business for all, or whether perhaps there was a bit of turf warfare and animosity. We found out later in the day that there was a certain amount of the later.

The tour diver that we chose told us that 25 years ago when he had started in the business there were only three operators, and now there are 35, with not enough business to go around. It made us wonder why, if there are 30 operators already why would you choose to get into it as well. However when the economy of the island is based on fishing and tourism, perhaps that explains why.

Our tour operator was a wealth of information and full of humour to boot. He has only lived on the Island for the last 35 years, since he “Married a queer one” (an Island girl), and according to island lore we were under the impression that he was still considered an ‘outsider’, only tolerated because of his wife.

Other facts that we were regaled with was the fact that the island has 3 churches, 3 graveyards, 3 schools, 1 priest, and 6 pubs. They have a bank which is open every Wednesday. A woman comes over from the mainland, the bank opens at 10am, closes at 2:30pm and she has an hour for lunch, so you need to be quick.

Until recently they had a ‘Flying Priest’, he was responsible for Mass on the three islands, fortunately he had his own private plane and so he flew himself between the islands at the appropriate times.

The island is very flat and comprised mostly of rock. The only vegetation that grows is because of the four to five inches of top soil created by their forebears dragging up seaweed onto the rocks in days of old, to try and create farms. There are no sheep here these days, all the wool for the Aran Sweaters is brought over from the mainland and spun and knitted into wool and sweaters as a cottage industry. The land that they do have is just littered with stone, rock and rock walls. They say that there is 1600 kms of stone walls on this little island.

One of our stops on the island was to the ancient semi circular stone fort of Dun Aengus. We say semi circular because its three non-concentric circles of wall run up to and finish abruptly at the edge of the vertical cliff that falls straight down to the ocean below. The inner circle has a large, flat stone plateau running up to the same cliff edge. It isn’t hard to imagine this space being used in ancient times as a theatre, from which the sea and sky were addressed. Add to this the howling gale that was blowing up there today, we got a real sense of the power of the place. There are four ancient forts on the island, no is entirely sure why they are there, Dun Aengus is the best preserved of them.

We also visited the seven churches, ruins of an old church complex that was in fact two churches and their out buildings. In the corner of the grave yard was a small collection of graves of Romans, from when they were in this part of the world. We were also told that some of the graves on this island only lie a few inches below the surface, as the rock is too hard to dig. We did see the smallest church in the world, measuring a staggering 3.6 x 1.8 metres, not much bigger than a cupboard really.

On our drive around the island we saw many stone cross memorials, memorials to fishermen lost at sea. These served as a reminder to just how hard life can be here on this island. Judging by what the weather is like here today (a fine day), we can only imagine how harsh it must be in winter.

After a full and busy day, we headed back to the mainland, and back to Galway. After freshening up we headed into the city. We had been told that this city is famous for its food, drink and its hen/stag dos. After wandering a round for a while looking for the sights without success we came to understand why. It is easier to find a bar with good food, good wine, and good music, than it is to find Lynch’s Castle walls which is noted in the guidebooks as Ireland’s finest town castle. We will have to take their word for it as we didn’t manage to find it, even with prescriptive directions.

Instead of the culture we were looking for we headed into a bar for some food. We were about to leave when we noticed that they were setting up for a band. We thought a night of Irish music might be in order and so we hung around. As it transpired, they didn’t start up until 10:30pm, and played right through until 2am without a break. If we were wanting to see Irish Traditional we didn’t get it, this was retro rock covers, and pub anthems, however it was great. The whole place was rocking. The most interesting part was the people watching. Boys watching girls, girls watching boys, and girls that know they are being watched. There was a ‘Stag do’ group near us that were participating in some decidedly dodgy activities in the name of male bonding. It was a good crowd of mixed ages, however we reached the decision that women above a certain age should not flick their hair every few minutes and wave their arms in the air, that should be left to the under 25s. We got home about 3am having enjoyed a varied and very full day.

GALWAY : ROYAL WEDDING : FRIDAY : 29th April 2011

We left Westport this morning, but not before having a quick look around the town. A pretty little town, with every corner offering some commemorative icon to St Patrick, after all this was his stomping ground. Our next stop just down the road, Croagh Patrick, is where St Patrick not only spent 40 days and nights fasting on its summit, but is also the place from which he is reputed to have banished the snakes from Ireland from. Although if actual history is anything to go by, there were never any snakes here in the first place. There is now a well worn track leading to its summit, well populated by those doing the pilgrimage, and also those looking for a fabulous view.

CROAGH PATRICK : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland : Height 764 metres

On ‘Reek’ Sunday, the last Sunday in July, 15,000 pilgrims climb it.

Across the road from the start of the climb, is the National Famine Memorial. A large sculpted three-masted ship (representing the ‘coffin-ships’) with skeletons in the rigging. commemorating the lives lost in the famine of 1845-51. There is nothing here apart from this sculpture, which surprised us as we would have liked to have had more information offered.

DOOLOUGH TRAGEDY : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland

Famine Walk - Friday 30 March 1849

From here we took the route around the coast via Louisburg, Cregganbaun, and Leenane. It was on this route that we saw the memorials to the ‘Famine Walk’. During the famine a destitute and starving village set off in mid-winter and walked 40 miles to their landlords house to ask for food. When they arrived they were refused food and turned back to where they came from. These memorials are to those that died on that ill fated journey, a stark reminder as to why that dark period is still strong in the Irish mind.

The journey through here was very pretty in many ways, but extremely barren in others. There were no fences, the sheep ran free across the tussock landscape, stopping wherever they could find nourishment. This was the first time that we rounded the corner to find a flock of sheep blocking the road in front of us. Unlike the sheep that we are used to, these specimens have no inclination whatsoever to move out of our way, and the farmer behind had no inclination to hurry them either.

We may not have mentioned before but this is bog country. At this time of year there are long rows of bog lying out to dry for there winter fires. Where we are today they are being cut by hand, we guess because the mechanised versions can’t cut between the rocks.

KYLEMORE ABBEY : Connemara : County Galway : Republic of Ireland

Built in 1867 as a castle for the family of Mitchell Henry. Covers 40,000 3700m2, 70 rooms, principal walls are 3 feet thick, the façade is 43metres in length and is made of granite. 33 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 sitting rooms, ballroom, billard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room, and various offices and rooms for the butler, cook, housekeeper and other servants. Became an Abbey in 1920.

Our next stop for the day was at Kylemore Abbey, situated on the shores of the lake, this is a relatively new castle built in the 19^th century by a wealthy businessman. After the original owners died, it passed through several hands before being bought by a group of Benedictine Nuns having escaped Ypres during WWI. We did a short but interesting tour of the castle, had a look at the Church, situated 20 minutes walk away through the trees, before heading up to the walled gardens (an area of 6 acres). It was whilst walking through the trees that we heard our first Cuckoo’s, and they sound just like the clocks.

After leaving Kylemore we proceeded around the coast road. The landscape has changed dramatically, the ground is just absolutely covered with rocks. There are rock walls going in all directions, not dividing up paddocks, but more in keeping with the size of large pens. We have no idea how they manage to farm this land, although there are a lot of sheep around. We suspect that the majority of their livelihood comes from the sea around them. We have never seen anything like this landscape before. The coastline itself is very rugged with the rocks dipping and diving, lattice patterns of little lakes, bogs, open sea, and little fingers of land binding them all together. We have also noticed all the way down this western side of the island that there an awful lot of ruins of houses. There are just bare stone frames of what were once homes. We have been told that the majority of these are from famine times when the occupants just walked off the land never to return, and their houses deteriorated behind them.

It was whilst navigating these small narrow roads that we suddenly realised that the sea was now on our left rather than our right. We discovered shortly afterwards that we had completed an extended circle that wasn’t part of our original plans. We hadn’t missed the turn off as such, we had just misinterpreted them.

GALWAY: County Galway : Republic of Ireland : Population 72,700

Has the nickname ‘City of the Tribes’ because 14 tribes led the city. The Claddagh Ring is associated with the Claddagh, a fishing village located just outside the old walls of the Galway city. A "Galway Hooker" is a traditional boat native to Galway. Is also the name of a new local micro-brewed beer.

Shortly afterwards we got back onto the main road and headed into Galway for the night. Finding our accommodation was a little more difficult than usual, as the street we were looking for wasn’t on the map. After knocking on the door of a competing B&B, we asked directions. They were very helpful and even gave us an extended map to help us on our way. Such is the Irish way. We have found on number of times that we have been approached by complete strangers if they think we are lost or confused. They have all been very kind and very helpful, particularly so in the North.

Tomorrow we are heading back onto the coastal road, so more on that to come. Regarding the weather we are still getting temperatures of 20 and 21, so we have been spoilt with fantastic spring weather. After everything that we had been told we weren’t expecting this at all.

WESTPORT : THURSDAY : 28th April 2011

We shared the hostel last night with a couple of very weird French families who all seemed to sport concert T-shirts of which Neil Young was the headline act. Enough said. The breakfast period was played out like a pantomime. They all sat in different areas of the dining area and proceeded to walk over to each other and whisper in each others ears on a frequent basis. There was a whole lot of conversation going on, but it was all one on one and all whispered. Not a single word was said in an audible tone, however much of it seemed rather agitated. It was like musical chairs watching them go around and around. They were either up to something dodgy, or they were just weird.

Leaving Sligo we found that there was a nice part of town, unfortunately we didn’t get to experience it. We did a bit of a drive by Strandhill Beach which seemed very nice, but at that time of the morning the surfing crowd were just arriving and getting kitted up. Brave souls that they must be, it looks very cold out there.

CARROWMORE : County Sligo : Republic of Ireland

One of the four major passage tomb sites in Ireland

Our first real destination today was Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. Reputedly the largest Stone Age Cemetery in Ireland, and the second biggest in Europe. However we all know that size isn’t everything. As you look around this site, everywhere you look you will see small circles of stones, dolmens and mounds, there are about 60 within the immediate area and many many more beyond. What is nice about this site is that it isn’t over commercialized. Some may say that it is a little under whelming, others might say that it is better because it has largely been left alone. The exception is a large passage tomb that has been refurbished and reconstructed, giving a cutaway/cross section access to the tomb with the small stone dolmen in its centre, within which the original cremated human remains were found. These tombs and remains have been dated at about 4200 BC, that in itself is impressive. As you look around at the surrounding farm and notice the very large rocks in the stone walls, you can’t help but wonder how many more of these tombs have ended up unknowingly within stone walls and as building materials.

ERREW ABBEY : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland

Franciscan monastery. There are 22 brothers buried in the cemetery.

Our next stop was Errew Abbey. It was another interesting search taking us down a variety of roads that could be more accurately described as farm roads. They were narrow, winding, impregnable hedges down each side, a couple of ruts with grass growing down the middle. We eventually found the place, having accidentally driven through a couple of farm gates, and found the farmer strolling after us to tell us we were on private property. Evidently the only reason the gates were open was because he was herding some horses through. I don’t think our white car bouncing over the ruts did anything to calm the nerves of the horses. After extracting ourselves an appropriate distance and apologizing profusely to the farmer (which he accepted with a repeated ‘No problem’), we walked over his farm, past the self same horses, the 800 metres to the ruins of the abbey. It was a beautifully serene spot, surrounded on three sides by Lough Conn. We can understand the 13^th century monks wanting to settle here. Back to the present, imagine being a kid growing up on a farm that has a 13^th century Abbey sitting in its back paddock. ‘I’m the King of the castle …’ would take on a whole new meaning in those childhood games.

ACHILL ISLAND : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland : Population 2,700 : Area 148km2

A bridge connecting it to the mainland was built in 1887, The island is 87% peat bog. Manus Sweeney from Achill was hanged by the British in Newport for his part in the 1798 rebellion.

It was then on to Achill Island, once again connected by a main road. On crossing the bridge the first thing that catches your eye is that every shop and business seems to have the name Sweeney attached, ‘Sweeney Super Valu’, ‘Sweeney Hardware’, ‘Sweeney Engineers’, ‘Sweeney …’. My ancestors must have really liked it around here. We’re not sure why because the landscape around here is pretty rough and rugged. It would be a hard land to farm. Some paddocks seem to sprout nothing but rocks and in others their only competition is the heather.

Achill Island is quite a big Island, it has a population of 960 and is Ireland’s largest offshore Island. It has that remote other worldly feel to it with huge areas of blanket bog, large cliffs and even on a beautiful day like today the mists were rolling in. It is what the moorlands of our imaginations is like, cold, lonely and desolate.

We came here for one reason though, we came to see the Slievemore Deserted Village. This was really three villages whose occupants were driven out by starvation by the potato famine. This place serves as a reminded of what a dark blot that time was in Irish history. There were about 65 families living here at that time, and now there are rows of the empty husks of stone houses, the evidence of streets coated in wet bog, the desolation and sadness of what this place represents heightened by the cold mist rolling down the hill, and the graveyard nearby.

From here we headed to our home for the night via the Atlantic Coastal Drive along the Northern edge of the Curraun Penninsula. It is a very rugged coastline with a landscape no less forgiving than what we had seen on Achill Island, only without the mist.

WESTPORT : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland : Population 5200

It was a residence of the pirate chief, Grace O’Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille), in the mid-to-late 16th century.

It has won the ‘Tidy Town’ status three years out of the last ten years, and is very proud of it.

When we arrived at our Westport accommodation we were impressed by what a difference 24 hours can make. Our Hostess was welcoming, chatty, and more than helpful in every way possible. After settling in we went for a walk down around the quay before heading to a seafood restaurant for dinner. Once again eating fish within sight of the sea.

SLIGO : WEDNESDAY : 27th April 2011

We left Donegal this morning with fond memories. It is a nice town with some very nice people and we were well looked after. After breakfast we spent a few minutes re-orgainising our wallets as we had now left the pounds of Northern Ireland behind and would be back to using the Euros of the Republic. However we should have conserved our efforts, as we spent most of the day back in Northern Ireland.

BELLEEK : County Fermanagh : Northern Ireland : Population 836

Whilst most of the town lies in County Fermanagh, some of the town crosses over into County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Most famous for its china that comes out of Belleek Pottery, the oldest pottery in Ireland

Our first destination for the day was the Belleek factory, mainly to look at their pottery. Inside the shop we stood aside and watch whilst tour buses of old biddies jostled their way between bargain bins dragging their husbands behind them. One old dear who was a bit of a character asked me where we thought she could find something for 1.99. This was while we were standing beside an atrocity with the going price of 6,500. We saw her later where she informed us that she had managed to escape with 18.50 and her hubby didn’t look too pleased about that. However there were some beautiful pieces there, and we didn’t manage to escape as lightly as that particular elderly friend.

BOA ISLAND : County Fermanagh : Northern Ireland

8kms long the A47 goes through the length of the island.

Our next stop had a completely different theme. We headed to Boa Island, an Island connected at both ends by the road passing through. We were there for a particular purpose, we were looking for a graveyard. It took some finding, however we weren’t disappointed. It contains the ‘Janus Stone’, an ancient pagan stone carved with two bodies back to back. Nearby is the smaller carved stone known as the ‘Lusty Man’ , not for the reasons that you may think, but because it was brought here from the nearby Lusty More Island. Both stones are over 2000 years old. This little graveyard is situated in the middle of a farm, next to the cow yards, and despite our difficulty in finding it we obviously weren’t the first here, the Americans had left their trademark piles of coins behind.

ENNISKILLEN : County Fermanagh : Northern Island : Population 13,500

MARBLE ARCH CAVES : County Fermanagh : Northern Island

Depth - 94 metres : Length - 11.5 km : Discovered - 1895 : Notable Feature - Giant’s Hall – a large chamber 60 m long, 15m high, 30m high.

We had a quick lunch in Enniskillen, before heading on to the Marble Arch Caves. Evidently this area is riddled with caves, however the largest of them are the Marble Arch Caves, and they are open to the public. After a short walk, we were led down into the caves, herded onto a couple of flat bottom boats and ferried to the starting point on the subterranean stream. From here it was walking all the way, at about 65 metres below the surface. The caves themselves were pretty cool, wandering and weaving, with some very cool rock forms and shapes. There were some Calcite formations, but not as impressive as what we have seen elsewhere. We finished climbing the 150 steps or so back to the surface. These caves are only accessible during the summer months as during the winter the caverns and tunnels fill up to the ceiling with water.

SLIGO : County Sligo : Republic of Ireland : Population 19,400

The population triples each day as residents from the region converge on it for work and shopping. It was in County Sligo that W.B.Yeats was mostly inspired.

Our destination today was Sligo. Our first impression of the place was pretty dire. Our hostel for the night seemed to be in the middle of a disused industrial area. We thought that it could only get better from here. We walked into town to have a look around and found that although the vast majority of the centre was comprised of Bars and Nightclubs, there didn’t seem to be anyone around. The busiest place in town tonight was Tesco. We joined the queue at Tesco, bought ourselves some provisions for a self-catered dinner and headed back home.

DONEGAL TOWN : TUESDAY : 26th April 2011

We started the day with a large cooked breakfast (full Irish) before heading out to explore. Donegal itself is quite small with a few shops, a castle which is less than impressive, and more churches than the population justifies. It has a reputation for its tweed and linen however we didn’t see any evidence of either of these trades, the mainstay of this town seems to be tourism, of which there seems to be an endless supply. We went to the Abbey graveyard later in the day and it seemed as if a tour bus had off loaded a bunch of Americans on their genealogy trail.

It was very cool graveyard surrounding the remains of an old abbey destroyed, accidentally blown up in 1601. Four of the resident Friars about that time, fearing that the arrival of the English meant the end of Celtic culture, chronicled the whole of known Celtic history and mythology from 40 years before the Flood to 1618 ad in ‘The Annuls of the Four Masters’, still one of the most important sources of early Irish history. The graveyard around these ruins displays a inclination towards the Celtic cross, and boasts a plethora of old Irish family names (a few Sweeney’s included).

Back to the start of the day, our first stop was to the Donegal Craft Market, this wasn’t quite up to what we were expecting. Rather than a craft market it was a venue for resident artists to occupy a studio and sell their wares. Unfortunately only a few of the units were occupied, however those that were displayed some very cool work, although a little rich for what we had in mind spending today. These are artists, not craft shops.

KILLYBEGS : County Donegal : Republic of Ireland : Population 2000

In 1588, Killybegs was the last port of call for the Spanish vessel La Girona, which had dropped anchor in the harbour when the Spanish Armada arrived in Ireland during Spain's war with England. With the assistance of a Killybegs chieftain, MacSweeney Bannagh, the Girona's rudder was repaired and she set sail for Scotland. Killybegs is a natural deepwater harbour with a minimum of 12 meters of water at all times

Today we are heading West to a place called Slieve League, but on our way we stopped at a place called Killybegs. This seems to be a small fishing village. This may not convey the image of what it is really like. This is a commercial port filled with very large modern looking commercial fishing boats. Apart from that there doesn’t seem to be much that goes on in this town.

Whilst in Killybegs there was a certain church that we wanted to find, as we had been told that there was a particular stone slab there that might be of interest to me. When we found the church up on the hill, we were greeted by a procession of trucks, and a chain of men loading them up with the long wooden pews from out of the church. It looked like they were emptying it out ready for a refit. Beside the outside of the door was the stone slab that we had come to see. It was the grave slab of Niall Mor McSwyne (or McSweeney) who died in 1524. The slab depicts a warlike figure in chain mail and with battleaxe. The story is that he was the head of the clan of one of the ruling families in Donegal, he was a gallowglass, which was a Scottish mercenary who came to these parts in the 13^th Century. He was evidently an ancestor of mine. The same ancestors that owned Doe Castle to the North of the County, a 16^th Century stronghold of the MacSweeney’s until it fell to the English in the 17^th Century.

SLIEVE LEAGUE : County Donegal : Republic of Ireland

Ireland’s highest sea cliffs at 601 metres, three times higher than the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare

Once we arrived at Slieve League, we parked at the bottom car park as we had been advised, but in retrospect we aren’t sure why, except that it gave us a good excuse to get the exercise of walking the 2 kms up the steep incline to the top carpark. Once we got there, there was no reason that we couldn’t have driven up except that perhaps it fills up on busy days, but today it wasn’t. So with heart pumping and heavy breath we then proceeded to commence the rest of the climb to see the cliffs. These polychrome cliffs rise 600 metres above the sea which crash incessantly against its base. These are the highest marine cliffs in Europe and as such are very impressive. But if you are expecting vertical cliffs rising straight up 600m from base to top, they aren’t. It is more like the look and feel of Cape Kidnappers, with very high hills with vertical facets dropping down to the sea. Very cool nonetheless, with multi-coloured faces, huge rocks and heather and other flora clinging wherever it could find traction. Down in the cove at its base the wash of waves is ceaseless, with the blue water rushing in, two large islets/rocks sit in the middle of the cove that are known as the ‘School Desk and Chair’ for obvious reasons.

MAGHERY : County Armagh : Republic of Ireland : Population 201

Maghery is the shortening of its older name Magherygreenan

From here we headed Northward via a convoluted route to a beach called Maghery, on the Northern edge of the peninsula. The beach is a wide open expanse of the finest and whitest sand that we have seen in a very long time. Looking out there are big continuous sets of waves rolling in, and even on a calm day like today, their white caps are being whipped up into distended horse manes by the wind. The full force of the waves were kept off the beach by the series of sand bars that were visible from the waters edge.

This is a wild and wooly, and sparsely populated part of the country borne out to us by what we have been traveling through. Winding single lane roads (which are made more interesting when you meet large articulated trucks on the corners – in one instance we had to reverse 150 metres back down the road to find somewhere where we could squeeze past each other), huge rock faces, rough scraggly looking sheep, and vegetation that would make a camel give up. However they seem to have plenty of sheep, evidently they are a Scottish highland breed that are used to doing it tough.

Back to the beach, looking behind us we can see the high knarled hills, to our front we see the wide expanse of sand and the wild and crazy looking sea leading out to the beautifully blue water, and to our left there are the most amazing jumbled collection of huge slabs of rock. It was amongst these rocks that a group of 100 villagers lived in caves trying to escape the destruction of Cromwell in the 17^th Century. All but one of them were eventually found and massacred. We have the feeling that this wasn’t on the minds of the small group of swimmers that we saw braving the waters. They seemed to be putting on a brave face though. As they emerged we asked them how it was, and they responded with the unanimous “Bloody cold, don’t do it.”

We finished the day back in Killybegs, having fish and chips by the water. We have managed to uphold our promise that we will only eat fish when we are within sight of the water.