Dublin

Frank in the Guinness brewery, old dock yard building where U2 has recorded all but 1 of their albums, our Vikings in training and cows in the early morning block our road!We think he is the same one that blocked us hiking :)

More adventures

The bull who wouldn't let us pass, the boys atop the ancient fort in the Burren, Bridget tries her hand at sheep-herding, and the boys will never miss a chance to jump in freezing cold water!

More Ireland

Matthew braves Dingle Bay, Frank and Bridget on their mighty steeds and 2 signs that really sum up driving in Ireland!

Bike trip to Inishmoor

Bridget's feet on the Cliff edge


The ferry ride from Doolin and the crazy biking maze through ancient rocks

ireland

Everywhere..cows

Bridget on the Cliffs of Moher

views from our cottage

Ireland

OK, I have been lax in my blogging. Things are getting busy here as we had out last 1/2 term break and we are now in our month of visitors. I would just like to say where were all you people in the the dark cold days of February when we couldn't get the house warm huh??? Seriously, it is very exciting to have so many friends and family visit and the weather is cooperating by being warm and sunny. I promised nuclear power plants and rapeseed and will add those pictures, but suffice to say, another hike, another discovery..this time past an old nuclear power plant that Frank tried to get us into...no luck and fields upon fields of these yellow flowers....turns out it is rapeseed used for cooking. The real adventure was our recent trip to Ireland.

Well, most of you know of my family's Irish heritage and their epic trip many years ago now. But it has always been on my short list of places to visit. We ended up renting a cottage on the West coast in County Clare in the small town of Fanore(just out side the 'big town" of Doolin..home of pub fiddle music). We drove from New Malden up to Northern Wales, then took a ferry over to Dublin then drove on the "new Motorway"..our poor GPS didn't know it existed so we had to turn her off, it seemed cruel to have her keep trying to correct us! Anyway the area we were staying is called "The Burren". It is spectacularly beautiful, barren, wind swept lime stone ending in death defying cliffs down to the greenest ocean I have ever seen. The view from our house was out to see and the Aran Islands(home of the "fisherman knit sweaters"). Our house was right up from O'Donohugh's pub...which is marked on the map as it is the ONLY landmark in Fanore. We became regulars. There was 1 tiny store run by Tom O'Toole which really ended up having all the essentials we needed. He even loaned us maps and books to help us get around for the week. There was no ATM, no gas, no grocery store. We took a ferry over to Inishmoor(1 of the 3 Aran Islands) and biked to the ruins of an ancient fort(B.C.). The whole landscape is lunar. There are ancient hand-built stone walls creating a maze of paths for miles and miles. There are no signs, and it is early in the tourist season so no other people, so you just bike along looking out to the horizon to see if you can see where you are heading. The cliffs near the fort are terrifyingly beautiful with crashing waves swirling down below.

The rest of the week included riding the famed Connemara ponies, hiking and swimming throughout Dingle peninsula, more hikes to ancient forts and trying to catch the kids as the scrambled to be the first to the top. one of our new cover pictures, shows Frank and Bridget having been blown over at the top of our of our hikes. The wind just took you down. It was either fall, or get blown off the cliffs! We tried our hand at sheep-herding. Well, when the road is full of sheep and you can't drive. There is nothing for it, but to get our of your car and walk about a mile with the farmer and his dogs and help get the sheep down the road to their new field! We had a go with some cows as well...they were much less obliging than the sheep. On 1 hike, we had a stare down with a rather large bull. Again, not being up on my animal behavior strategies, we decided to hop the stone wall and sneak past him. Clever bunch we are :)

We ended our week with a day in Dublin becoming Vikings on our tour hunting for unsuspecting Celts and roaring loudly when we saw them(particularly the infamous cappuccino Celts), we all became brew-masters on the Guinness tour and ended collapsed in exhaustion ordering pizza from our hotel room....there is only so much sight-seeing one can do.

My take away on Ireland is it is truly a land of terrible beauty. The small little section we saw was filled with wonders, not the least of which were the people. Everyone, from Tom the shop keeper, to Willie our pony master whose book I bought, to Nigel our viking tour guide , to the young lad who took us down an old tin and lead mine who regaled us with Irish history and the bitterness that still lies just under the surface. This is a special place with uniquely strong people who will share their time with you for just a smile and a pint never hurts either!!