Blogs from County Leitrim, Ireland, Europe
A Trip well travelled
Published: August 16th 2008Europe » Ireland » County Leitrim » Carrick-on-Shannon
August 16th 2008
Hello avid blogsters, Well, I am safely back in my dear ole muggy North Carolina. I hope you have all enjoyed keeping up with my traveling adventures. The tail end of the trip was a series of buses, hitched lifts, characters, and tea. Let me fill you in on some last tidbits, stories, and maybe pseudo deep thoughts with Jack ANDY (saturday night live anyone?). Since I did get to do a lot of reflection on this trip (happens when you are alone on a bus), I feel myself inevitably going into some final reflection here. But first the stories: So I finally made a trip up to Northern Ireland where there was this legend of a fiddler that I had secured an interview with for my project. The rain was brutal and only made things ... read more
August 8th 2008
Friday was another slower-paced day in anticipation of our busy Saturday. We head out early tomorrow morning toward Dublin with as many as four stops along the way to see and experience a few more stellar Irish sights. We decided to head back into deep O'Rourke country today to find one or two things we overlooked when we visited earlier in the week. We learned that just across the River Bonet (pronounced "Bonnet") from the ruins of the Breffni castle in Dormahair lies the Creevelea Abbey. Founded in 1508 by Margaret O'Brien, the wife of Owen O'Rourke, this served as the family chapel for the O'Rourkes of Breffni. It was the last Franciscan friary to be built before the suppression of the monasteries by English king Henry VIII in the middle of the 16th century. Like ... read more
August 6th 2008
After four straight days of touring at break-neck pace, we decided it was wise to take it a bit easier for one day. Wednesday was deemed the day to take a more leisurely pace. We slept in to a very Irish-like 9:00 a.m. We lounged around the cottage past lunchtime, then headed out to Drumshanbo for some horseback riding! Kelly had a horse named Caesar (who she named "Little Caesar" because of his smaller size), and Ryan had Rusty, a big, strong and more insubordinate beast. Both were just as pretty as can be. After 30-minutes of instruction on the English-style riding, we went out for a 30-minute walk in the countryside. A great experience. This was Ryan's first time on horseback, unless you count the time he was entered into a pageant when he was ... read more
August 5th 2008
Hello avid blog enthusiasts If you are reading this installment I am impressed, because that means that you have not gotten bored yet with my tales. I want you all to be here and experience it for yourself but since all 110 of us can't be here together, then the best I can do is try and capture one american kid's experience of it so that you may get an inkling to hop on the next aer lingus flight and see this place for youselves. It really is a fantastic country in many ways. Last night I was up until 2 in the morning playing tunes, trading stories, swapping jokes and enjoying a bit of "craic" (yea it means "fun," it's an Irish word that gets a lot of good use confusing tourists about people's relationships ... read more
August 4th 2008
We spent an amazing day in the former kingdom of the O'Rourke clan (Ryan's ancestors). Everywhere we went there were sites named after the O'Rourkes! We started in Dromahair (The Ridge of the Two Demons) where we could only see the ruins of the first O'Rourke castle through a gate (which Ryan tried unsuccessfully to break down). We did manage to climb around in the ruins of O'Rourke's Hall, an attached building, which was built by later inhabitants. From Dromahair we headed out to the other O'Rourke castle site which is now called Parke's Castle. Tiernan O'Rourke, King of Breifne, built this castle in the 1100's. In the 1600s, when Tiernan's descendant, Brian O'Rourke was hanged for treason against Britain, Queen Elizabeth gave the castle to an Englishman named Robert Parke. Brian was the last hold ... read more
August 2nd 2008
We have arrived in the storied land of the mighty O'Rourke clan! And since you're reading this, you can probably deduce that we do indeed have internet access....high speed wireless even!! After a few hours of driving from Belfast where we picked up our rental car, we pulled into our self-catering cottage -- which sits on a real working dairy farm. This will be our home for the next seven days, and we couldn't be happier! We stopped along the way in the resort town of Enniskillen (right on the Northern Ireland / Republic of Ireland border. We had lunch and stopped by the famous Marble Arch Caves, which is on the exclusive list of European GeoParks. Very cool. One thing we can say for sure is that navigating these roads is very tricky. Once you ... read more
Ireland..keepin' it tidy
Published: July 15th 2008Europe » Ireland » County Leitrim » Carrick-on-ShannonJuly 15th 2008
Greetings all and failte (Welcome)! You are reading the first installment of my adventures....Version Ireland 3.0. More than anything I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm safe and sound in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim. I got in sunday unprecedentedly on-time at Shannon airport. After my friend picked me up, we sped off to see the aftermath of Willie Week....for those of yous unfamiliar: Willie Clancy was a piping phenom and every year the pipers, musicians, and hawkers come in droves to cause musical mayhem in this little Clare town. By the time we arrived, everyone in the street had a sunken look, as if the festival had just sucked 5 years out of their lives. We had our greasy Irish breakfast and made our merry way on. Last night some musician friends and I went to ... read more
