Happy Travels

Wet, Tuesday 22 January.

So what you ask is new? Is it always wet? Well I am told that it is, all over Ireland, all the time. The bus trip took 5 hours or so, lots and lots of water lying around in the fields, streams and rivers very fast flowing and gushy, and the other attraction was that as in Ireland all the fields are divided not by fences but by hedges in the land where there are no rocks, but rocks in the areas that there are. They still divide fields with rock walls, call it dry stone walling. So whereas in Germany and Austria the view is not interrupted constantly with fences and the place looks great, rolling hills and fields, here all the land is divided into small fields – consequently lots and lots and more fences. Must admit I like the rock wall fences.

Back later today to tell my thoughts and impressions of this part of Ireland which from anybody who has commented, I have been told it is lovely. Not sure that I will have too much time to go out and see too much out of town, but will get back to you.

Dublin to Cork.

Sunday 20 January.

Up this morning to catch the bus to Cork at 10am. What an interesting trip. As usual, grass is very green, lots of pooled water and rushing rivers and streams, only a few sheep and half a dozen cattle and a few bedraggled horses too out in the paddocks. One very unique and brilliant modern thing – the buses are fitted with cameras at front which project onto the normally-used-for-movie screen at the front of the bus exactly what the driver sees. So even if one sits at the back of the bus or their view is interrupted by a tall person, one can see what\’s happening in front – brilliant. I first saw this on the way from Belfast.

The driver was pleasant, played decent 70s-80s music, buses not equipped with wcs so we had a pit stop after 2 hours, the trip was 4 hours. But the few stops in these little and not so little towns – pretty and wonderful places – and into Cork in the rain – so again, what\’s new. I found the hostel easily enough, very clean, friendly etc. and got info on what to do in the very limited time available to me. Was off to kiss the blarney stone today but the bus back from there was too late so will go tomorrow arvo and stay another night in Cork. Tuesday morn off early in bus to Galway. I find to go to a place in the dark doesn\’t pay as one has to get up and spend the morning anyhow finding out where one is! Went looking for a few things I must buy and spent a few hours doing that – not impressed when I have to go looking in shops and malls etc. But I found a very much cheaper inet cafe – the hostels charge €1 per 15 or 20 mins and the inet cafes €1 per hour.

Place Names.

Went through a place called Fermoy (interesting and unusual name – did Fermoy Avenue in Lismore come from this?) and a few kms from LISMORE! And what\’s more, there\’s a place on way to Lismore called Tallow! Shan\’t have time to visit this area but am intending to go through BALLINA after I leave Galway or is it on the way to Galway? Other place names are Belgooly, and the Irish for Cork Corcaigh, Clonakilty and Oifigan Phoist Irish for Post Office,  and Ringsaskiddy – what great names. Then there\’s the surnames  Dwyer, O\’Flaherty, Murphy, Callaghan, Dooley, O\’Shea etc.
Cork to Kinsale

Monday 21 January

Did I mention it is wet here?? One bus driver told me the wet season in Ireland starts on 1 Sept and ends 31 August. There doesn\’t look to be the damaging run-off from the amount of rain that we have even the local flooding looks organised.

Kinsale

is about 25 kms from Cork in County Cork Ireland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsale. And one disadvantage of travelling in the winter lots of places of interest, castles, museums, houses of interest, even cafes are not open and if they are then limited times. Even applies to bus routes. So consequently I miss opportunities to see but my timing is limited anyhow – a couple of nights in a town means about 4 hours at least travel, then booking in, then getting my bearings and finding out what\’s to see etc. And of cours finding internet connection generally away from the hostels which are four times more expensive than town places – generally.

I saw the old Desmond Castle which is in town and now used as a wine museum and for drinking lots of. It is about 1600s and varied uses including a prison. The streets are narrow as are the buildings and it is quite pretty with hills around and a bay which when I arrived was at low tide – not so pretty as not sand – and then at high a different and more attractive picture. Walked about a bit, got wet as it was raining, so what\’s different about that? Saw a fellow going from the bank to his hotel with bags of coins in hand! I approached him and spoke of my surprise to which he added it can only be done in Kinsale. No security and no one accompanying him. After a good coffee in that sit-down hotel I caught the bus back to Cork.

Cork to Castle Blarney

Yes, the blarney stone! Whereas Kinsale was about 50 mins away, with many stops, Blarney was about 30 mins. Managed to pick up a v cheap umbrella (which is useless when it is windy) because it generally rains a lot. Today it rained then stopped then rained, then sun came out, then rain, stop, little more sun, more rain etc. Got off the bus at Blarney and walked about 5 minutes to the castle, that\’s where the stone is. This castle http://www.iol.ie/~discover/blarney.htm is privately owned, great to climb in but one has to watch one\’s step and hang on as it could be disastrous to fall, and to be able to climb in such an old structure, so well preserved, is a gift. The stairs were all stone, limestone, very steep and for little feet, circular and off these went lots of small rooms even the room for the king was small as far as today\’s expectations for one so important but the view he had was almost 360 degrees. The Blarney river flows through the grounds and was certainly fast-flowing today and crossed by a few bridges – a beautiful park surrounds the castle. I managed to get right up to the top where is the stone and kiss it – now I could be blessed with eloquence.

BLARNEY STONE

before it began to rain heavily and so have photos. One has to sit down with back to the wall, up in amongst the turrets, a person holds on, and lean over backwards so one is upside down-what a feat for me. Then the rain became pretty heavy and I headed back to the bus stop and back into Cork very wet. I went to the hostel and changed clothes and then came to internet to tell the story.

Cork to Galway

Tuesday 22 January 2008. And booked to fly from Belfast on Thursday 24 to Glasgow and then either train or bus to Oban. But more later…bye

Now this is an interesting and pretty city!

Belfast had nothing going for it. Unfortunate that the ferry and road entrances to the city were through commercial areas so it looked messy and most unattractive. There were a few things of interest about, but i didn\’t see any of them.

Dublin – well feels exciting. Just like Sydney in that it is filled with other nationalities – went into Burger King and serving was Eva, Fei and Liang. The centre of the city where the bus comes in and then walking along to the hostel was westie looking, and remarkably few heavier people. But lots of different languages and people. One street paper seller advised me to keep a hand on my bag. I attach the camera and my purse to and inside my shoulder bag.

The streets are wide, there are trams, double decker buses which is the UK and old UK style, and even though the rain / mist is falling, I enjoy the place. Was a bit put out by the hostel\’s directions and thought maybe I booked the wrong place, but inside it is very clean, ordered and organised – a surprise. Right near a pub though and from what I hear Fri and Sat nights are noisy. Well just about anywhere in the UK, no wonder they are like what they are around Sydney. A lot of the hostels I looked at were already unavailable and I had decided to always have at least the first night\’s accom booked which makes it so much easier hitting a new town. But I spend a lot of time checking out banks, inet cafes, and reading on what to do while there. So am thinking I may pay for a 3 hour bus tour of surrounding areas for a change. Usually just do the walking thang, or public transport thang, which i can still do here with special passes.

The people are friendly, most helpful, in most cases altho there is a system in a lot of cities, European or other, where at these transport terminals to access the wcs one has to go down stairs and pay to enter through a turnstile. Incredibly inconvenient. Before i continue with this story let me tell you about the currency over here.

England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland use the british pound, republic the euro. Some of the southern parts of England will not accept the scottish currency, and neither will Northern Ireland eg the scottish £1 note (which i was told is pretty rare but I was actually given a note the other day but had to exchange for the £ coin instead). Then when one crosses the border (the garda hopped on the bus and checked all passports) south they do not accept any british currency at all. Thank goodness someone mentioned it. Also to withdraw out an ATM in Nthn Ireland, will give the british pound on Irish Bank notes so one takes that to the post office in Nthn Ireland to change to euros and they exchange it for no commission . However come into Dublin and one will be charged commission to exchange as the post offices here do not exchange. Complicated eh? So i have euros and british currency only in scottish notes for my return.

The other thing the Republic measures in metric! Northern Ireland in old measure of pounds, miles.

So we arrive off a 3-hour bus from Belfast and head to the wcs which only accept 20c€ so up the stairs again with all luggage to a ticket office to get some currency changed and return via the same procedure. All in all took us about 20 minutes and a lot of lugging. We = another woman and I on the same bus, she from Glasgow. This same system applied in Bucharest, Glasgow, Edinburgh and some Austrian places. \’Welcome to Our City Friends\’.

There looks to be a lot of interesting statues and buildings here, there\’s also a good tourist map with lots of detail so will set off on the morrow to learn some history. Will get back to you then.

SATURDAY – 19 January

So tomorrow is today. Quite spontaneously I decided to take a 9am bus tour out and around Dublin. Had gone to bed about 8.15p and slept until 7am. Brek here provided between 8-10am. So grabbed my bag, scarf, beanie and big jacket and camera of course, and away I went. Very fortunately the tour guide was exceptionally good, the tour limit was 14 people, think there was 15, small bus, and Paul was a storyteller. He is Irish from Dublin and gave tons of history, stories of battles (yet again), all about St Patrick and more. It eventually rained but I have got used to that now and getting a little wet on the trousers, shoes, head etc is part of the deal. People on the bus were from Hungary, USA, Finland, Australia (2), Spain and Belfast. One of the yanks was an airline pilot with US Airlines out of Philadelphia.  What did I learn? St Patrick is not a canonised saint by the pope, he was not even roman catholic. He lived with his family in the  UK on the coast and his family and home was raided by pirates who collared young men, took them to Ireland as slaves. He was enslaved for 7 years until he had worked out just how to get out, learned their history, their religion, their language. And so, won\’t write the story, he got free. etc. He was instrumental in bringing catholicism to Ireland. Good story there.  Halloween is not an american thing but straight out of Ireland. Ireland was a country of about 200 clans/families and warring and conquering their quest – it ensured they became the boss of all the clans/families then. O\’Neills became so big and strong they actually were classed as a dynasty, followed by the O\’Connors who were only a clan. There could only be one boss.  We were taken to a 5000 year old tomb at FourKnocks; a celtic cross from 900AD, and Hill of Slane, built to memory of St Patrick. Lots of stories.

SUNDAY – 20 January

Off to Cork by bus for maybe a couple of nights, then to Galway which I believe is worth every minute of a stay, then Belfast. Will get back to you soon as I find a computer.

BELFAST

So here it is, Wednesday 16 January 2008. While pouring over the map the other night saw how easy it would be to go to Ireland. And I could do this in lieu of the eastern coast of Scotland – not expecting to have time to sightsee later in April – just a quick visit to Carnarvon Wales in April before I leave the UK. Every place is just so close to everywhere else and so accessible over here in the UK and of course Europe. So when I left Lockerbie took the bus west from Dumfries to Stranraer, right on the coast and from there caught a whizz bang ferry to Belfast. All of this took a whole less than 4 hours of travel with waiting in between. I had read nothing about the country and what there is to see and had no literature on Ireland, just knew that it was divided into a part that is still within the UK, and the other bit, the Republic the south of the country. And I have been using the libraries of the various towns I\’ve passed through for internet access. Maybe the same system applies in Belfast but the aussie said she hasn\’t been able to find the library yet.

And I booked into the YHA which was pretty easy to get to from the ferry – even caught a free bus from the terminal to the city and then walked about 10 mins and was there. And they put me in a 4bed dorm room sharing with an aussie from Cessnock working in the Lakes District of England. Around the corner of the hostel is an internet cafe, very well run and managed and giving a better costing deal to long term computer use. Even turns out great coffees. I will get a little more on my blog in the next day or two, how long I think I will stay in Belfast, and tell you about Ireland and my travel plans. Dublin is recommended to be a wonderful place, so probably a visit there. There\’s about a week to enjoy this island so why not a clockwise tour and maybe will get to pop into Lismore AND Ballina which are both in the Republic.

Haven\’t seen anything yet of this city except the arrival into port which is a busy and dirty looking place but it was a dark dusk when we arrived. Will keep you posted so check in again soon.

A day later today I spent checking out hostels open on the northern coast. A lot are closed for the winter except for group bookings. So a decision will have to be made tonight as to where to go tomorrow and then onwards. Have decided to catch a ferry from Larne rather than Belfast back to mainland Scotland when I return which will allow me to see a little more of Ireland but in Scotland it still travels the same road to Glasgow.

Went and saw \’The Kite Runner\’ today – it has been a long while since I\’ve read the book and since I\’ve been to any cinema, can\’t remember the last time. Movie well worth seeing and very true to the book. I got all h\’xcited as it looked like the scenery of Afghanistan particularly showing market places, streets, mountains topped with snow and village buildings, (no, not that I have been there) and from the credits I think I read it was set in Xianjing, China and San Francisco. It is well worth time to see.

Belfast – walked about a bit today and can\’t say much, a few lovely large old buildings always a delight to the eyes and that\’s about it. The hostel good and am finding a lot of the newer or renovated YHAs are all set with the same features – a lift, restaurant, a kitchen for guest use, laundry, tv room etc etc. Quite pleasant. So many hostels have no lift and are old buildings needing a lot of repairs and cleaning.

All for the moment.

This has been wet and cold and sometimes windy – seems to be Scotland in winter. I arrived the day after it was truly cold, the lake in the paddock froze over and they\’d been \’skating\’ on it. Also the water in the pond in the rabbits\’ pen froze, as did the water barrels for the shetland ponies.

I live in a mobile home which has only been on site about a week or so the older one being replaced by this donated van. It is most comfortable although as you can imagine in the main bedroom one couldn\’t swing anything and there is a small small 2nd room with 2 bunks in it, and there\’s even less room there. There is a couple coming for 3 nights to share the MH with me and will use that room. The kitchen is large and well and fully equipped, a small shower/wc room with basin, and a large living room with a gas heater. There are wall heaters in all the rooms though and the van is quite comfortable when it warms up. I overlook the yard and a paddock and the parking area where the ferret and chinchilla and degu cages are. I had never seen a chinchilla nor degu, both related, and the former is the softest animal fur I have felt, ever. I shall describe them as I can – sort of half big rat/small rabbit but that\’s not a good description and the degu, well it looks similar, grey or brown, with a tail that looks as if it has been long and half chopped off. According to wikipedia .. Chinchillas are rabbit-sized, crepuscular rodents native to the Andes mountains in South America . Along with their relatives, viscachas , they belong to the family Chinchillidae – also has photos .. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinchilla. I realise now why those longhaired cats are called so.

This farm looks after animals that have been abused, tortured, abandoned, lost, strayed and just given away and is a registered charity so is continually looking for funding and donations – maybe you could check out their site. [By the way when you look at the front page there is a photo of a goose, Henry who thinks he is a sheep as he is penned each evening with 3 of them but I don\’t know the names of the two sheep shown except I think the black one is no longer here.]

Other animals are: tortoise x2 who live in the house and have free run even though it is  hibernation time; two iguanas, Ignatius who just had half his tail removed by the vet because of infection and gangrene – they think it could have been bitten by the female who resides with him – can\’t recall her name; 6 horses including 1 mule; those 2 shetland ponies mentioned above; 6 cows all breeds and all lovely -Annie a very old jersey, Victoria a very large Fresian, Joker a wooly highland looking browny cow, Solo a large red cow who has trouble with her back legs, Blue a black/greyish young bull, Levi his brother but larger black and white (both terrible twins really who get into mischief if they are given the opportunity); sheep; 4 geese, very noisy they are and very good watch geese Henry, Emma, Angeline and ?; chickens and rooster/s; rabbits with names including Dash; guinea pigs; one raccoon,Bonnie who lost her mate about 9 months ago and is given a dinner of fine foods such as bread with honey or spread, nuts, chockie biscuits, dried fruit [seen her a few times awake and she looked up with that beautiful face – you know the banded mask-she sleeps a lot and has her own v large pen]; goats and lots of; turkeys called silver and ranger (as in the Lone Ranger and hi ho Silver for those of you old enough to remember); and two Emus! called Rose and Jim who happen to be both Jims. Wonder if I have left any out – oh yes, pigs, I am not a pig person and don\’t find them near as pretty as the clean pink Landrace and Large Whites Australia breeds. But there are a couple of breeds, and mix of breeds, one called Potbelly. Looking on the inet to check them out I see there is a sanctuary for pigs in Philadelphia – there would be a work challenge for me! If I\’ve forgotten an animal will get back to you. Work begins for me at 7.30a by 5dpw and goes until the cleaning of the boxes is completed – that\’s a.m. – or lunchtime then work begins at 2pm again and this goes until 4.30p if lucky or until it is completed and the animals are well bedded down for the night. Each box is cleaned out, straw replaced if necessary, water buckets washed and replaced, feeding twice a day, and the pigs have enough straw to burrow under. There is a sheep who lives with the goats and chickens who live in same box as pigs. It is soo interesting. Some animals tame and friendly some not so and some with rough backgrounds – so this is their deserved comfort now. Consequently, a lot of the animals are old and not too sure on their feet – so they are given a lot of comfort with very nutritious food and comfortable homes. Other than the ferrets which eat some tinned cat food (yuk and smelly – like ferrets) – any human could eat the small animal foods, well looks so. And probably the grain and peas and corn that other animals eat too. Yes, the ferrets\’ cage smells badly. Yes, it is a beautiful place, well kept, clean, and open to the public every day. A wonderful idea.

My 6 allowable months in the UK are up at end April and I will have to spend some time pouring over maps and timetables and accommodation sites to book for when I leave Erraid. Would love to see more of this area – Scotland, did I happen to tell you earlier, is the most beautiful country…this part not quite so intriguing as the Hebridean Isles however still beautiful. It may be that this is the season I prefer – very green fields, some stone fences, narrow roads, misty rains which make the trees look ghostly and still and very comforting.

Back sometime soon.