Blogs from County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

Day 4 Early start this morning from Ambleside to Frodsham to fetch the Piece de resistance - the wedding cake, which we had to take with us to Ireland. Then we had to drive south to Holyhead in Wales to board the ferry to Dun Laoghaire in Ireland. The names of the towns in Wales and Ireland are beyond me! I have no clue how to pronounce them, let alone spell them. Fortunately, once we reached Ireland, someone met us at the ferry to transport the cake further, so it wasn't our responsibility anymore. Phew! Thank goodness for that! Handled like fragile eggs, we managed to pass the cake on without any mishaps from our side. Lunch and a quick drive through Dublin, then we set off for Drogheda where we were going to spend the ... read more

I got that feeling this past week that everyone I met was an angel sent by God. There was a mass of people with friendly conversation, advice, and entertainment. Chris and Fiona were long-distance bikers from Australia who treated me to a tea party in their cabin on the ferry from Lerwick to Kirkwall. Rachel from the Scotland mainland showed me the seals in the Lerwick bay. Jana ("Yana") was a student from Germany who buddied up with me from Lerwick to Inverness. Denny was an adventure-leader who took Jana and me on a speed tour of Lerwick before giving us a lift to the ferry. Two nameless gentlemen in Skara Brae offered to share their taxi with us, paid for it, gave us tickets to the Stromwell museum, and then filled us in on Orkney ... read more

Ah, gotta love the Libraries all around the world - they have internet. Sadly they have caught on to charging, but it beats (literally) standing in the hotel lobby blogging this morning at 07:00:-) Spent the day exploring the Northern Most Tip of Ireland as well as the walled city of Londonderry/Derry. Always say both cities names for fear of exciting someones personal references. I'm learning you must be careful on anything you say. This is a small country torn by their recent history, and whether you agree/disagree/don't know/don't care; the 'conflict' controls all motions of this area sadly. I've spent the day learnign more and more about it, and while since Good Friday they are on an improvement, there still is a lot of bitter history. The one consistant theme I'm hearing is everyone wants ... read more

I am behind in blogging due to not having free Internet every night and being busy on the days when the Internet was free. I am finding that the Internet costs to use in the big cities so far (Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin) with the exception of the hotel I stayed in London. It has been free in the small stops we make. I do need to remind my mother that I am on holidays and should be out enjoying the cultural experiences of the countries I am in-so please don't nag for blog entries. This blog will be a long one but, I will write quick summaries of each day in hopes to shorten the length. The night before heading out to try and catch the Loch Ness monster we had a trivia night. ... read more

Hiya! Welcome to Ireland!! I will just start by saying that I would suggest everyone google a map of Ireland so that you can follow my movements easier. For those who dont know I am spending the next two weeks driving around Ireland with my scotish friend Fiona. I started the trip by taking the train from London to Edinburgh. Fiona met me at the train station and we stopped at her house to unload all my summer clothes (really don't think I will need them in Ireland!). From there we had a 3 hour drive to Stranraer which is on the west coast of Scotland. We stayed in a lovely b&b near the water. I was a little ignorant an didn't actually realize that a b&b is actually someones house and you are just hiring ... read more