Blogs from County Leitrim, Ireland, Europe

Day 05 A great night's rest, fastest internet speed I've ever seen in a public anywhere. The Riverside Hotel in Sligo is the place to stay. Started the day with a nice leisurely breakfast, a nice morning walk to pharmacy for some incidentals, did some planning on where the old churches and cemeteries are going to be and working them into our route. On our walk to the pharmacy, we came across the old Abby in town, that is undergoing some restoration. Interesting to see some of the work in preparation for it. Today is Churches and Cemeteries, looking for some relatives that may have left during the famine years. On our trip we are traveling on some not so major roads, some almost major roads, and some major roads. The highway numbering system here uses ... read more

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

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

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

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