Blogs from County Kilkenny, Ireland, Europe

If John would have asked me if I wanted to get up at 6AM, catch a ferry to cross the North Atlantic, drive halfway across Ireland stopping to climb around and through two castle ruins, and then drive the rest of the way across Ireland to visit friends, I probably would have said no. However, this is vacation and travelling time--it is a time warp. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Day 11 Sunday: We were up early and organized for departure from Cappa Veagh in Salthill, Galway. Catherine and Pat made sure that we would not miss the ferry and we arrived in time to board and settle for the 40 minute crossing to Inish More. I was only uneasy because the bulk of the travelers were 18 to 30ish years old and carrying ... read more

In order to get to the Ireland part of this blog I have to take everyone backwards a few days in order to fully appreciate the circumstances of our trip. I have had dysentary in Nepal, food poisoning in Costa Rica, a contaminated lassi in Thailand, and too much crappy wine in Morocco, all of which make one feel pretty awful. What could be safer than a trip to Ireland? Getting to Ireland meant a Christmas visit to New York where my mom and her husband had bravely volunteered to watch my two kids and my brother's daughter for the week while we went wandering. The first step was getting to New York. It started out with low expectations and downright dread, a red-eye flight with a three year old who, during her best moments, still ... read more

Day 4: Kinsale It is sunny! And it is really, really, really windy. Great day for a brisk walk we think. After a good sturdy breakfast, lots of chat with our B&B mates, and our host Donie to keep the joking up as Margo comes in to shoo him away which starts the joking all over again, we set out with a map and the best of intentions for a trip to Charles Fort. After the plane and car trips it feels good to stretch our legs even if it is wildly windy, and keeps getting windier. We walk on and on along the river on narrow sidewalks on the motorway. We walk on and on and on. Suddenly we hear "Kennedy!" It is Donie out on his morning run to the Salt Marsh ... read more

We’ve just visited four places – two stunningly scenic, two disturbingly urban. From Westport we drove out to Achill Island, Ireland’s largest offshore island (although not far offshore, as the bridge to it is only about 50 metres long). We drove along Atlantic Drive, another winding, undulating, potholed goat track, complete with wandering sheep, stones marking out the most dangerous of the drops off the side of the road and –amazingly – a lone jogger out in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and spectacular views of the Atlantic coast as well. Heading up toward Derry, through country that becomes less green and picturesque and more stony and rugged as you travel north, we stopped at Donegal for a look around, then Slieve League to see the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Slieve League is fantastic, although ... read more

Kilkenny is a medieval town south of Dublin. There was supposed to be an interesting castle to explore…we had a lot of trouble finding it. There were a lot of churches, however, each one we thought was the castle! We basically wandered aimlessly around the town looking for this castle…we did finally find it…looks a bit like Buckingham Palace, but don’t tell the locals that. Had a terrific lunch at this small café…mushroom soup, irish brown bread, and a blueberry muffin with fresh cream. It started to rain so we left Kilkenny to find Ennis, the starting point of our first day of biking tomorrow. We chose to take the scenic route…took three hours! Geoff drove, Brian navigated, and I napped in the back seat and snapped an occasional photo. The sky became gloomy and it ... read more