Finally getting back to the blog after a few weeks holiday break. Spent just under 4 weeks over in Ireland, and had a great time despite the weather being fairly rubbish for a lot of the trip. I reckon out of the 25 days we were away we saw at least some rain on 22 of them.
From Cambridge we 1st headed for Liverpool to meet the guy in the diocese who is responsible for helping to place me in the right curacy role for when I leave Ridley next summer. He had some interesting things to say, but not going to say any more about that for now - watch this space! We then spent the night with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew before carrying on the next morning to Holyhead for the ferry. Arrived at Lisa's parents near Dublin that evening, before heading over to Roscommon the next day for a friends wedding. Then had a couple of days back in Dublin with Lisa's family, but also managed to catch up with various friends of Lisa's as well as my 97 year old Great Aunt and my cousin and his wife. I also managed to get with my father-in-law to 2 of the All Ireland Gaelic football quarter finals: Cork vs Sligo and Meath vs Tyrone at the massive Croke Park stadium which was a real bonus (though not quite up to the enjoyment and entertainment levels of my last visit there - for U2 on the Vertigo tour in June'05!!).
Lisa and I then headed off down to what was my grandparents house near
Schull in West Cork - fortunatley we've been able to keep the house in the family. It's an amazing spot right on the Atlantic Ocean on the Mizen Head peninsula (Ireland's equivalent of Lands End). I've spent all of my childhood summer holidays down there, and visited regularly in more recent years as well - though this trip was my 1st time since my Grans funeral 3 years ago. I'd forgotten how much I love it down there! Great views, great beaches, great pubs, great beer, great food! Lisa's parents joined us down there for most of the week, and having left Dublin in miserable drizzle we arrived down and had 3 days of amazing sunshine (though still the odd quick shower). We met up with friends, visited
Mizen Head, went out to
Cape Clear - an island off the coast, BBQ'd, I swam in the Atlantic etc. We also caught up with my Aunt and 3 of my cousins at their place down there, and the undoubted highlight of those few days was getting out with my cousins in the speedboat and going 'jetbobbing' - basically meant I got dragged round at what felt like high speeds on an inflatable thing tied to the back of the boat trying to hold on to it for as long as I could. Very cool! I didn't do too bad on it, but it was all I could do just to hold and try and stay on the thing - unlike my cousins who were standing on it, letting go with their hands without coming off etc! Unfortunately the weather turned then and our last 3 days there were wet and windy - I still swam once in the rain at
Barleycove beach, but it was a pity after the good weather.
From Schull Lisa and I then headed off on a camping trip up the West coast of Ireland. We camped for a couple of nights near a place called Caherciveen in Kerry - enjoying touring parts of the
Ring of Kerry and
Valentia Island. Amazing views, and the weather wasn't too bad apart from the odd heavy shower - enjoyed a swim and some time in sunshine on the beach at Ballinskelligs. Next stop was a place called
Doolin in Co. Clare. This was quite a touristy spot - lots of Americans and continental Europeans, near the famous
Cliffs of Moher and reknowned as a centre of Irish folk music. Arrived at the campsite in amazing sunshine - and had plenty of plans for beaches, swimming, pitch and putt, visiting the Cliffs of Moher etc. the next day. Had a great evening in 1 of the pubs with good music. But unfortunately woke up to rain, and more rain and more rain... Long time since I remember seeing more rain in 1 day than we did that day - so beaches, pitch and putt etc. all went out the window. Spent the day driving round part of the
Burren - famous area of amazing limestone formations etc. feeling a bit sorry for ourselves. Went to the Cliffs of Moher as well - still spectacular despite the weather! Enjoyed another pub music session in the evening and then spent quite a disturbed night in the tent in the wind - felt like the tent was going to take off at times! From there, (having managed to get the tent pretty much dried out before packing it only for it to suddenly downpour and get all wet again right at the last minute!) we headed round the Burren coast road which was spectacular and into Co Galway. Then had an amazing drive through the Maam valley in
Connemara to a campsite near Clifden on Galway's west coast. Again spent 2 nights there, and enjoyed touring Connemara and visiting
Westport Co Mayo - more time in the car than wanted again though because of the weather. So 6 nights of camping completed we packed up a wet and muddy tent to head for
Galway town and the treat of a B&B, some shopping and a night out on the town. Really liked Galway town, and had a great meal and night out - but unfortunately (as you can probably guess by now!) it hardly stopped raining the whole time we were there!
From Galway we headed back to Lisa's parents and enjoyed a few days back around Dublin area. Again we spent some time with friends, and I visited my Great Aunt. Also had a few Guinness's with Lisa's brother, spent some time in Dublin city - including a
Guinness brewery shop visit, and in a bit of decent weather finally played a round of golf as well as getting for a drive down to Co Wicklow to visit some fave spots of mine -
The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland where I lived and worked as a volunteer for 3 months in 1997, and
Glendalough.
Then it was back to Dublin port for the ferry home (which included a complimentary cabin, breakfast and visit to the bridge - meeting the Captain and seeing how it all works etc. - very cool!). While we'd been away my sister-in-law had given birth to our niece Amy, so we went to visit them and meet her for the 1st time on our way back to Cambridge - she was just over a week old, very cute!
Anyway, more than enough waffle about it - here's a few photo's of the trip, including our newly arrived niece at the end:
Arriving into Dublin Bay
Looking a bit smarter than normal! (At Damien and Anne-Marie's wedding)
With my Great Aunt Alison
'Fresh Springs': the house near Schull in West Cork.
View from the front of 'Fresh Springs' out over the Atlantic and islands.
At a favourite spot of mine at the back of a harbour just over the road from 'Fresh Springs'
Michael (Lisa's Dad) and my cousin Benjamin on the boat, myself and my cousin Daniel on the jetbob.
Mizen Head - Ireland's 'Lands End'
Even managed to get Lisa in the speedboat for the 1st time!
Swimming at South Harbour, Cape Clear
Kind of sums up a lot of the trip!
1 of the many amazing views from Valentia Island, Co. Kerry
Evening light at our Kerry campsite
Innovative tent drying!!
Cliffs of Moher in the rain
'Session' in Doolin
On the Burren coast road
Relaxing at our last camping stop near Clifden Co. Galway
Connemara view - on borders of counties Galway and Mayo.
Galway town centre in the rain
Back at Lisa's parents trying to get the tent clean
Portmarnock beach - 5 mins walk from Lisa's parents
Amy Lorraine Elliott - our gorgeous new niece!
Lisa with Amy and big brother Benjamin
Not posted anything about the new football season yet with being on holiday. But so far so good for Liverpool - in fact I almost feel like I'm tempting fate by posting about it in case it all goes pear-shaped. Hopefully not though, Benitez has spent a lot of money on new players and re-couped a small percentage by letting a few players go, and so far the signs are promising that his choices have been good this time around. Still a long way to go though - will be interesting to see how the season progresses...
