Blarney Castle

Travelling continued today starting with another fantastic breakfast
at the previous nights accomodation. The B&B was in walking distance
to Blarney Castle (I still decided to drive though) famous for the
Blarney stone. This would have to be the first "castle" I have seen in
my travels that actually looks like a real Castle. The stone was good
but being able to walk around the medieval building was much more
interesting.

Another off my list of things to do before I die.

Trudy and myself spend about 3 hours on the castle grounds before
making our way towards the West coast and finding somewhere to spend
the night on "The Ring of Kerry".

Still in Ireland

Seven days left in ireland. Melissa goes back home this afternoon
after a 2 week holiday. We have had lots of fun travelling throughout
the country.
Trudy arrived yesterday 7 hours late after delays in the flight from
London. We went for a coffee to a small place close to the Hard Rock
Cafe but ended up having more than coffee, as can be seen in the
picture. It will be sad to see Mel leave but only 5 weeks of Jason's
amazing European adventure to go.

Travels through Ireland continued...

Still in Ireland and on the South West coast. We stopped in on a town
called "Salthill" just oloutside of Galway. The first thing we did
after finding a B&B with rooms to our satisfaction was to walk along
the water front to the local aquarium. This is where we found a
travelling friend for Gecko. Her name is "Gecko the second".

The sat navigation proved worth the extra €5 hire fee taking us to the
"Cylemore Abbey" towards the Western coast. The Abbey is a working
Abbey with gardens, a large chapel (in the picture) and a big lake.

Derry to Belfast

The morning on day 2 started well with a late breakfast at Faulty
towers. But once on board, we set off finally at about 9.30. We set
off from Derry traveling North. The first stop was "Duncluce castle".
This castle is famous for being the place where the kitchen fell into
the sea in 1639 during a storm taking the cooks, servants and the
dinner with it. We continued on to a rope bridge originally placed
between the island and the coast and was used by local fishermen. This
was ok. But it was just a bridge really..... But, the next stop was
much more interesting.

The Giants Causeway. A rock formation which
looks to be man made but intact was formed by volcanic eruptions
millions of years ago. Then we went to Belfast. Nothing to report there.

Derry

The tour booked for Northern Ireland set off at about 8.15 from
Dublin. It was somewhat surprising to see that the tour company had
combined two tour groups together. My group which was on a 3 day tour
and another which was on a 6 day tour. So we set off on what was going
to be a very lone drive as it worked out with one or two stops along
the way to attractions of one sort or another. The end destination for
the night was the city of Derry on Northern Island. We were taken on a
surprise walking tour of the town (surprise because we all were
looking forward to getting to our rooms for the night). The B&B for
the night was nice as was the owner although somewhat unusual in his
distribution and allocation of rooms. Overall, the first day was
fine but did give us an indication of the disorganized manner in which
the tour company, Paddy's Wagon was going to run the remainder of the
few days.

We meet a Melbourne Cup winner

Mel and I fed him.

Tomorrow Melissa and I will be starting a 3 day bus tour through
Northern Ireland. But before that we have spent the last two days just
driving around with no particular place to go. Just driving
around...... I would have to say that this "no planning travel" has
been amongst the best couple of days of this holiday. Equal to the day
spent on the Island of Comino in Malta.
The find of the last couple of days was "The Irish Horse Stud" in
Kildare. In there, just by chance we found an old friend "Vintage
Crop".

He even came over to say hello and get a pat and a feed of some
nice grass. This is Mel giving her a feed. She won her $20 in the 1993
Melbourne cup so wanted to say thanks with a little feed.
Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe was loud but interesting. Lots of U2
memorabilia, but the driving through the country side, through narrow
lane ways and stopping at small out of the way shops and B & B's has
been the most fun. Looking forward to the next 2 weeks.

A Castle in Dublin

This was a stop at a Castle?..... that Mel and I did. We were just walking along and saw a bus that said "Castle" and some other stuff so we got on. It was OK. Got good seats on the way back up stairs.

We were happy to see the big house though. The grounds were nice. If the rain had stayed away and the guy on the bus wasn't calling us back, we would have had a wander through. Maybe next time.

Ireland day 1

In Dublin now, arrived on Monday morning at about 9 am. Melissa meet
me at the bus station and we walked past the "Paddys Palace" original
1 star accomodation and to the new 3 star hotel (which cost us €1 each
more a night). Breakfast was good and the first place with a tv in my
room where I can actually watch the olympics....... A very important
thing. We spent the day wandering around and exploring in the rain.

A Hairy Coooooo

This is a hairy Cooo pronunced Coooo. They are good for nothing
creatures really. The Scots don't eat them, they don't get milk (as
far as I could tell) and they don't make them do any work. They are
only for show because they look cute. This one is called "Hamish". He
is on all the tourist coaches routes so people can see a Hairy Cooo up
close I would imagine. I was so lucky....... I got to see him twice.
The first time in the rain and the second in bright sunshine. I threw
him an apple..... Very exiting.

Campbells are not welcome in Glencoe

It seems that Campbells are not very popular. This sign is on the entrance to the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe. It reads "No Hawkers or Campbells.". One of the most infamous crimes in Scottish history took place in freezing weather on 13 February, 1692, when an attempt was made to wipe out the MacDonalds of Glencoe by guests who had accepted their hospitality. The MacDonalds had been rebels, but had taken the oath of allegiance to King William and felt safe when they received 120 soldiers with the usual Highland courtesy. Captain Robert Campbell and his men had been billeted with the MacDonalds for two weeks when the order arrived on 12 February "to cut off these miscreants root and branch." Campbell was told that he should "put all to the sword under seventy" in a 5am surprise attack, while his hosts were sleeping.
Campbell carried out his orders and the MacDonald chief was among the 38 men killed. Some other officers, billeted elsewhere in the glen, broke their swords rather than carry out the orders, and they allowed many MacDonalds to escape into the snowy wastes of the nearby mountains. Campbell burned their homes, however, and 40 women and children later died of exposure in the snow.
Under Scottish law there was a special category of murder, known as "murder under trust". Although the massacre order was signed by the king, Scottish law did not accept that as an excuse for murder, and the clan Campbell was blamed for the crime. There is still a sign on the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe:"No Hawkers or Campbells."

We ran into this guy who played us a wee tune on his bag pipes. He
dident say much though. I couldent resist a photo.

So, first stop today was at Eilen doune castle. Apparently "the most
amazing castle in Scptland".... Well it was ok, but not that amazing.
More like a really big house. Anyway, it was nice and interesting.
This is where they film lots of movies. Like..... One of the James
Bond films, something called "The highlander". I haven't seen them but
maybe I should now.

The amazing device

 

So this morning I discovered that, with this amazing iPhone I can publish stuff on this web site just by sending an email. What an amazing device. Designed and invented by Apple, who also make amazing computers. So now, I might just put up some extra stories.

Today we got to the Isle of Skye. A small island with a population of
about 6,000. The accomodation overnight was above a pub with the
travellers partying late into the morning. Lots of fun.

We went to another Whisky place. Had another couple of samples but
alas, still taste like poison.

Debbie our tour guide summoning Nessy..... To no avail.

>

Scotland Wednesday to Sunday tour

This is our bus for the next 5 days

and this is where we will be traveling.
When I get back, (or when I get to Dublin) i might put up some stuff about all the wonderful, spectacular stuff I saw. But you have to send some more nice comments first, OK. Bye.

Scotland day 5-8

Monday in Scotland and drizzly again. Today's activities took us out into the country side. The full day tour went through the heart of Scotland's Highlands and ended at Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The tour brochure said things like "We visit the small village of Doune, with its stunning 14th Century castle (made famous by Monty Python’s Holy Grail Film). Follow in the footsteps of the legendary Rob Roy Macgregor, stopping in the picturesque village of Killin, view the spectacular Falls of Dochart, fed by the high mountains above." Well, if you looked way off in the distance you would have been able to see the Castle "made famous by Monty Python’s Holy Grail Film" The last part of the day before travelling back home was a tour of and whisky tasting at Scotland’s oldest malt whisky distillery the Famous Grouse. Anyone who knows me well would understand I was so looking forward to this part of the tour. Anyway, it was OK, if you like going for a long driving day trip to nowhere in particular. But the Tattoo was good.

The following day was much more entertaining with a new bus, new tour guide, new people and new destinations. We were even going to get back into the mother land today, back to Old England for a wee visit.

The morning started with a visit to Roslyn Chapel. An old 13th century chapel which was used for filming in the Da vinchi Code, but the tour really was all about getting to

Hadrian's wall. The Roman built boundary between the civilised world and the uncivilised.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Spent an evening at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo on Monday night. It was a warmish and dry evening for a change in Edinburgh. The day was spent cruising across the country side up to the Highlands, through Stirling and finally to the "Famous Grouse" Scotch distilling for a tour and some tastings.
But the highlight was the evening performance of the tattoo which started at 9.00 and went for about one and a half hours. The highlight, other than the fireworks would have been the New Zealand marching group and the Norwegian Military precision display. And the bag pipes were good as well. But they always are if your not Scottish.

Scotland day 1-4

Edinburgh for the next leg of the journey and moving from temperatures of 32 degrees to 16, overcast and sometimes raining. But that's fine, because this is a really interesting city to explore. It has a very different more relaxed and slow feel to London or Athens, (need I say it).
We had a little trouble finding the accommodation after getting off the bus from the airport (which was easy to find) but we eventually worked our way up stream through the crowd just exiting the military Tattoo and got to our accommodation. The view from the front door is pretty good.

Not the best of sleeping arrangements but very cheap and situated about 15 metres form the foot of the castle. Ben, Trudy's friend arrived today as well. That's him on the left......

Over the next few days we just wandered around the city taking in the "Fringe Festival" and some of the sites. Found Dolly the sheep, had a look at where Harry Potter came from, all the usual stuff when you are in Edinburgh.

We decided that Sunday would be the day to tour the Castle. The three of us got ourselves audio guides and headed off. We got their fairly early before all the big crowds arrived which were big later in the day.

Malta Part 3

So we finally come to the end of our short stay in Malta which has taken three parts. The final full day before flying out to The U.K on Thursday was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable on the adventure so far, equal to the previous evening out to The Three Cities. It was again a very hot day. Cousin Rudolph was coming to collect Trudy and I for a day out, although where was not decided.
There was discussion about a boat cruse around the Island but we had decided not to due to the hot weather. Instead, after a few minutes discussion and options given by our new tour guide, we decided a trip to Comino would be the days adventure.

This proved to be an excellent choice as the day spent with Rudolph was fantastic. We intended to only be on the island for a couple of hours but this ended up being a full day, relaxing in the Comino Hotel for lunch and then a couple of hours swimming in the famous "Blue Lagoon"

We stopped in on Cousin Roland's farm on the way back home and then ended the evening with a meal along the water front outside the hotel. I had Rabbit. (Surprisingly it tastes like Rabbit and not Chicken).

So the Malta leg came to an end with another family gathering at the airport to see the famous and admired traveller off. Next stop, Edinburgh.

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Malta part 2

On Tuesday Trudy arrived from Athens with lots more stories from the nation of angry men and women. It was straight off the plane and into the "Charlie's amazing driving tours of Malta". We visited Valletta, St. John's Cathedral, the glass factory, The Armory and other places.

Our second last evening was spent with Anastasia and Anna Marie and their respective husbands , Bernard and Ramon who all acted as our tour guides and hosts for the evening. We started our tour to the three cities early in the evening at about 7.30 pm going through the short tunnel carved in the bastions of Bormla, were the Malta dry docks are then continuing on through the main arch way to Isla, where we came to a big church which is famous for the statue of Christ the Redeemer. A famous church for pilgrims to visit. We drove down to the Marina and then walked up to the garden at the tip of Isla peninsula, from where we could see Valletta in front, Birgu to the right and Bormla/dry dock to the left and the whole of the grand harbour.

We drove back through these two cities to get to Birgu, where the whole city was lit up in honour of St.Laurence, patron saint of Birgu. At the tip of this peninsula is the fort St. Angelo, where the Grandmaster of the order of St. John resides when in Malta. The tour was filled with interesting facts about the history of the sites and personal memories from our tour guides.

The evening ended with a most enjoyable meal at one of Malta's best water front restaurants. Fish was the choice of meals for most and this along with an exceptional bottle of Maltese wine ended what was up till this point the most enjoyable and memorable day of the "European adventure "thus far.