Ross and Clare walk France

Dublin today is a visitor's haven. The summer temp is lovely. The rain will stop in 30 minutes. People are polite and friendly. During the Potato Famine 1850's. It was none of these things and over 1 million Irish died or emigrated. These sculptures and in recognition. The Halfpenny Bridge was the first to cross the River Liffey. It made the ferrymen redundant, so they were allowed to charge a halfpenny toll for pedestrians to cross the bridge rather than using the ferry . I was asked to pose for this photo with Molly Mullane. It is said to bring luck. "She wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow crying cockles and muscles...alive alive oh" This is the Old Library in Trinity College Dublin. The oldest University in Ireland. It contains The Book of Kells...gospels written and magnificently illustrated in the 9th century on calf velum. We head lome tomorrow, two days a planes trains and automobiles See you...

We visited a monastic site on an island near Enniskillen with dated from the 5th century. We then drove inland towards Dublin and stopped at Trim Castle, Ireland's oldest dating from the 12th century. It was built in 1172, shortly after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in Ireland. King Henry II granted his baron Hugh de Lacy the Kingdom of Meath, along with custody of Dublin. The King feared that another of his barons Richard de Clare (also known as Strongbow) might set up a rival Anglo-Norman kingdom in Ireland. An hour's motorway drive through green countryside saw us in Dublin.

They are the same place. If you or your ancestors come from Bogside you will call it Derry Bogside - semidetached streets where the Catholics lived. A bit of history - Catholics had to convert to own property Protestants were "imported" during the "plantations". The river now separates the sides, though things seem calm. This twisting pedestrian bridge symbolises the slow convoluted path to peace between the sides. The city walls surround the old town on a big hill. All in all a beautiful town

This is a beautiful coastline. The land is more fertile and (for us at least) a bit warmer and less windy. We stopped at this beautiful coastal village, Cushendon, and strolled the harbour. Arya Stark nearly drowned in this harbour (In Davos, Game of Thrones). Lush valleys headed inland as we headed towards Derry (Londonderry). We stopped at the world's oldest licenced distillery ( but it was on a half day closure so not much was happening). The Giants Causeway was an amazing bit of nature. 

Old pubs, the Titanic and the wall. We are on a tour now, with 16 from the USA, 2 from Canada, 2 from England and another 2 from Australia. Belfast is wet and windy, though they tell us it was dry till recently. This majestic Parliament building is sitting almost empty as it hasn't been convened for about 18 mths. A power sharing agreement is needed and can't be reached. B We toured an amazing museum about the Titanic which was built in Belfast. We then did a drive tour of Belfast including the road that make the news, Shankil Road. Our guides tell us the rest of Northern Ireland live in relative harmony. The wall, build to separate the communities now has some gates cut into it.

We start the day in Cashel after a long drive from Dingle. The Rock of Cashel was the highlight and a grand old hotel made the small town very comfortable. We then headed towards Dublin on our first M (motorway) Road before braving tiny roads to Glendalough. This is the site (now uninhabited) where Claire's ancestors we think Great Great Great Grandfather mined lead. It was also the site of an sixth century monastery founded by St Kevin. The site stretched up the valley for 4 kilometers, starting with the monastic site and graveyard, a lower then an upper lake (photographed) then the mine site ruin. Interestingly a second mine was called Van Diemen's land. On the shoe of the lower lake was our first wild animals (2) in Ireland. We then drove on to return our car at Dublin airport and join a tour group for a few days in Northern Ireland.

About the roads - we have seen a lot of them - more later. We drove around the Dingle Peninsular, looking over at the Ring of Kerry for the first half of the drive. This beach was getting ready to hum. The surfboards were being laid out on the sand (12°C, 30kph wind, oh and yes it was raining) But don't you just love summer days! The coastline was rugged and beautiful. Our procession of cars was joined by a few tour buses as everyone is encouraged to drive clockwise. The hill in the distance had a walking path leading to a Star Wars location shoot at an ancient ruins. Further around the coast we visited an Oratory. A mysterious behive shaped building from about 9th century. No way of dating and no actual knowledge of purpose. Dingle was a nice seaside town with a coffee shop that managed to seat about thirty of us in 6sqm.

We stayed overnight at Tralee in another old stately hotel. No wedding this time, so we slept well. We started at Killarney driving clockwise as coaches must drive anticlockwise. The drive was slow but the stops frequent. Ladies View - Ireland's most photogenic girl. We stopped to be regular tourists in the first town, Sneem Clare bought clan Donnelly coasters and we checked out the t-shirts. The coastline was rugged and windswept, but it seems tourists flock here for the summer. There was one brave swimmer and a young family in raincoats off to the beach. We stopped at a ring fort which seemed much higher than when we visited nearly 40 years ago.

Ireland did not disappoint. We arrived at about 7pm in mid summer and so you won't be surprised to learn that it was 12°C and drizzling, with a moderate wind. we had over an hour's drive so we took back roads to see some countryside hoping to stop at a cafe for dinner in a town along the way. No luck there, no towns.  Just before 8pm we stopped at a small supermarket in a tiny town and were astonished at the food options. After a bad night's sleep at a grand hotel with a wedding going till 3am we once again took off towards the west coast. The Cliffs of Mohar are Ireland in all it's wild magnificent beauty. The sun took turns with the rain and the wind was unrelenting.

Departing France was not straightforward. A walk to the station, a train to the airport (the train stopped half way due to a strike). There were no signs or announcements. A bus was waiting 100m away but it had no signage. The driver had no English. Helpful French people with luggage like us googled and questioned the driver. It took us part way. We then waited for a shuttle bus for the remainder. It worked. The plane to Dublin was smooth. A shuttle bus took us from the airport to our hire car A Kia Picanto (tiny).We had a 90 minute drive to our first 🛑. Mullingar. It's late Good night! Sorry no pics!

Our second day with your guide Paul was very interesting. We were joined by two Americans. A mother and daughter from Illinois. We went to a hilltop town that had been a haunt of Van Gogh. They had an amazing light show of his art set inside a cavernous underground cellar. The town overlooked a little secluded valley offering some shelter from the years extremes in weather. From here we drove on to Saint Remy, a delightful tourist village with an old town full of cafes, cheese, wine and olives.

We spent a day and took a fast train (TPG) to Marseille for the day. This is France's second largest city with an old port on the Mediterranean. It is verrry busy. The sounds of motorbikes and buses are continuous. We walked for an hour around the port then sought refuge from the 34 degree heat. We still had two hours before our TPG  so we weaved our way through the back streets. It was full of arabic and African street vendors and stalls and felt like a third world country. We clocked the train at 300kph. It was 16 carriages long and double decker. After Avignonevit continued on as far as Belgium.

Our guide was an acquired taste, an elderly Frenchman with a soft voice and strong opinions, "well, what can you do, .....c'est la vie" This full sentence was his favourite as he bemoaned the antics of today's youth. Pont du Gard was amazing. Built by the Romans in the first century AD to supply water to Nimes. Nearly fifty metres high and still standing. It was functional for 600 years. The ruins of the Pope's summer residence have not fared so well. Within decades of the Pope's departing stone was looted for local buildings. The surrounding village grows grapes. Very special grapes for very special wine by the same name. Chateauneuf du Pape. The grapes have to be hand picked and no irritation is allowed. This amazed us and the ground is rock and it is hot. Apparently the roots go down 3 metres into the rock/gravel. This cellar was built by the Romans.