Blogs from County Sligo, Ireland, Europe

Damn I just lost an entry i was working on ! Very annoying. Yesterday we drove out to the CLIFFS of Moher . They truly are an awesome site . The weather cooperated although the wind was freezing . Fortunately I had all my layers . I certainly am getting my walking done on this trip . A lot of it is uphill or up many stairs . It will seem tame when I return to the gym . This tour is titled the Highlights of Ireland which means we are doing quite a lot of driving . Fortunately our bus is very comfortable , has WiFi and charging docks and we make "technical stops " every 2 hours or so .The countryside is lovely . Very green in spite of this summers drought and scorching ... read more

July 20 Up at 6:30. Luggage to the bus at 7:15. Breakfast at 7:30. Bus pulls out at 8:30. This is the first time we haven’t had a buffet breakfast, but the menu was still pretty much the same, with the addition of pancakes and French toast. Today I had French toast with fresh fruit and cream cheese. Our first goal today was The Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher run along the west coast of Ireland, in County Clare, for about 8.6 miles. They reach a height of 600 feet at O’Briens Tower. It is so beautiful! I even climbed O’Briens Tower and took pictures from the top! One thing i particularly liked about this site is the way they built their gift shop, restaurant, and bathrooms. They were all built into the hillside ... read more

Ireland Thursday June 2 Breakfast at 7.30 for an early start again as rain is forecast all day, but with a slight benefit of a tail wind for most of the day. Today we are heading for the Riverside Hotel in Sligo. Luckily the forecast changed a little with rain just in the afternoon so we had a morning with a tail wind and the occasional glimpse of sun. The coast road was undulating and quite pleasant looking out to sea with little islands just offshore in the Moy estuary. There were murals of sheep at a smallholding at the roadside. I stopped to take a photo and an old lady (actually younger than me) came out and offered us a cup of tea. Lovely people. We later had a very good coffee and piece of ... read more

Il est bien 10 heures quand je me réveille. Le soleil tape fort, il fait chaud dans ma petite tente, j’ouvre pour aérer et je me fais un festin de chocapic saucisson. Non pas en même temps pour les oreilles sensibles, mais l’un d’abord et comme ma faim n’est pas encore tarie, je l’écope de bonnes rondelles de mon saucisson basque. Fort de cette expérience, je vais en fait la renouveler tous les jours jusqu’à épuisement de mes réserves. Ce sera le seul et unique menu de mes repas quotidien pendant quatre jours. Vous l’avez compris hier, je ne suis pas un homme de raison. Aujourd’hui marche sur Longford puis sur Carry on Shannon. Je croise un homme encore, à croire que les femmes se cachent ou fuient la compagnie des étrangers. Ce qui n’est pas ... read more

In Ireland you won't find: Garbage bins- and yet Ireland is very clean.. but if you are looking to throw away some garbage - keep on looking Lights in rural homes at night.. as we drove on those dark narrow roads we saw no lights illuminating the homes - maybe they are sitting in a back room or maybe they just go to bed really really early. Sidewalks- we've come to think that only the very wealthy cities have sidewalks.. Pretzels - I love to see what they have in the junk food section of the supermarkets -i looked and looked but couldn't find pretzels anywhere. when I asked if they sell pretzels the response was:- is that something from Germany? actually I THINK it is. you will find donkey's grazing with the horses and sheep! ... read more