Blogs from County Mayo, Ireland, Europe - page 4

A great big suprise in Knock! We all made our way to Stanstead early in the morning to suprise Kyle on his 30th Birthday. Once arriving at our desitination in Knock we were hit with a problem, one of our friends Roland from Namibia was not allowed to enter Ireland on his visa. So we got told to sit our in the airport waiting room to find out if he was alowed to enter into Ireland. Two hours later we managed to hire a 7 seater car and Kyle went and made a sign with Rolands name on it. One second later to our amazment Roland came though the door into Ireland. We all cheered! (if that wasnt the "Secret" we dont know what is). We then had the task of fitting 9 people into the ... read more

KONICHIWAAAAAAA!!! That's Pikachu, a.k.a. The Cosmic Inferno, screaming into a microphone. She's the guest singer of Acid Mothers Temple, the reclusive Japanese psychedelic band that lives communally on the slopes of Mt Fuji. They look like monks and take their music (and acid) very seriously. Except Pikachu. She looks like Pris, the berserk android from Blade Runner. The Pale refers to the tiny patch of territory around Dublin that the English first controlled. Beyond that patch, beyond the Pale, as our expression goes, lurked mad Celts hiding in deep forests. My own plan to go beyond the Pale failed to reach escape velocity due to the fact that last May I checked "July 3" instead of "August 3" on the car rental reservation form. When the clerk pointed this out to me I began to sputter ... read more

Where For those who don’t know, Croagh Patrick is not Irelands highest mountain but definitely it's most famous. For 40 days and 40 nights St. Patrick fasted on top of the ‘reek’ before he banished snakes from Ireland!! People climb the reek all year round but on the last Sunday in July over 25,000 people congregate at the bottom of the reek to make the climb up the holy mountain which is 764mts above sea level. Why Machu Picchu and the Inca trail provided the inspiration to climb Croagh Patrick. We plan to do the trail next May and after reading many peoples blogs and reports of the trail we decided we needed some test to see if we were anyways capable of completing it. The walk to the top of the ‘reek’ is approximately 4km ... read more

well pretty much as the title says and not lol!! Well myself and Mr M have decided after much discussion over the past seven years that we'll just go for it so the saving in earnest begins and we are now looking at the atlas picking out places we want to go to and watching every show on the travel channel to get ideas. I've always wanted to travel from as far back as I can remember. My parents took us all over Europe when our friends in school were getting their two weeks in Spain and we had the best craic even though it was camping - I absolutely hate camping its the confined space not the roughing it bit. At times i longed for the package holidays my friends went on - lying at ... read more

We’re now in County Mayo at Kinsallagh, overlooking Clew Bay and Achill Island, with the Atlantic pounding on the other side, at a very cosy B&B. Behind us is Croagh Padraig - the hill on which St Patrick is said to have fasted forty days and nights, and where he banished the snakes and toads of Ireland (with the exception of one type). The weather is getting cooler - and the long johns have made an appearance! First night in Ireland was in Country Wexford in the SE of Ireland. Stayed at our first Irish B&B (the Haven Lodge at Wellington Bridge) - great hospitality in a beautiful rural area. Like much of Ireland, Wexford is dotted with new subdivisions covered with identical two storey houses - one we saw more than doubles the size of ... read more