The Irish Experience

10 MAY – Thursday

Shan and Jack arrived promptly at 8.10am to take us to the airport. No problems with checking in before proceeding to the Qantas Club lounge. Departed Hobart on time at 10.30am, arriving Sydney 12.15pm. Transferred to International Terminal and whilst waiting in the line at Customs, realised that Bev and Max, who were on the 2006 Insight Tour of Europe, were standing in the queue behind us! Yells and hugs all round. They were off to Spain later in the afternoon, so, even though we only had a short time before loading, we were able to have a coffee together and catch up. Such a spooky coincidence! After we had had our rather ordinary coffee, we discovered we were all members of the Qantas Club and could have been sitting in comfort and drinking and eating for free!

The plane to Hong Kong was an Airbus, which meant with only two seats on each side and four in the centre, we didn’t have to worry about getting in and out of our seats for a walk, etc. The plane was probably only 2/3 full. Good flight to Hong Kong, Qantas water and feed passengers on a very regular basis. Not only drinks and water every hour, but also hot chocolate and chamomile tea were offered. Two main meals and lots of movies to watch. I watched Miss Potter (Hilltop Farm is a definite must to visit now), Becoming Jane and The Queen. Miss Potter was great – definitely a must see for all Beatrix Potter fans. The 9 ½ hour flight landed at 10.00pm Hong Kong time following a very spectacular lightning storm!

11 May – Friday

Departed Hong Kong on a British Airways 747-400, which was fully loaded. The pilot seemed to taxi forever (thought for a while we were taking the overland route!) before finding the runway. The weather over China was clear and it was amazing just how many towns there were, apparent from the lights. Whilst it was dark and we couldn’t see much of Hong Kong itself, the harbour was full of ships. The flight over Russia was great, as we followed the sunrise. The sky was clear and we were able to see all the lakes and rivers – just amazing. Also flew directly over St. Petersburg. We were given a hot meal immediately after take-off at 11.30pm and then settled down to have 6 hours sleep. No further cabin service from BA, apart from a juice, until an hour before landing when they served breakfast. Landed at Heathrow at 5.00am.

Security was very tight, and rather bemusing, with us only being allowed to carry one item. This meant that my handbag had to be put in my cabin bag and the laptop bag had to go in Les’s cabin bag while he carried the computer. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t close the bags! When we arrived at the screening point, everything was taken out anyway and then it was back to normal! Even though the Dublin flight left from the same terminal as we arrived, it was at least a 30 minute walk, so we were very glad that we allowed the extra hour between flights.

Weather in London cloudy and cool.

Oh No – No Bags

The flight to Dublin went well, although we did have some degree of difficulty in understanding the flight attendant’s announcements! Unfortunately, everything went downhill from thereon in. We stood at the luggage carousel and waited and waited and waited – neither my nice new red, matching suitcase or Les’ black suitcase appeared. Aer Lingus told us it happened every flight out of Heathrow and they would probably turn up on the next flight (which they didn’t!). We have to wait three days before being able to make any sort of claim. As we really couldn’t afford the time to wait in Dublin in case the luggage arrived, we collected our hire car, a small Fiat with baby mouse legs (Europcar no longer supply maps), found our way out of Dublin and proceeded to Galway. Due to major roadworks, we were forced to drive through some of the quaintest villages – exactly as we imagine Ireland to be. There also are very many pubs! Question: Why is Ireland so green? It rains a lot!

Galway is also typical Ireland, with narrow, windy streets and buildings right on the footpath. Found a nice bed and breakfast at Salthill, overlooking Galway Bay (unfortunately it is raining, so wont be much of a sunset!).

8.00 pm and a telephone call from Aer Lingus to say our luggage had arrived in Dublin and would be on a plane to Galway at 10.00 pm. Rather than wait until they were delivered sometime before lunch the following day, we offered to collect them from the airport. Slept much better after this.

12 May - Saturday

Awoke after 11 hours sleep to heavy rain, which soon stopped but remained cold. Went for a walk before breakfast at 8.30 am (a bit late for our liking!) and then left for the airport and our cases. Fairly easy to find our way through Galway as there wasn’t a great deal of traffic on Saturday morning. Saw a man fly fishing in the river in the middle of town – not the place one expects to find fishermen! Continued to the Cliffs of Moher, driving through very barren and stony fields with stone walls for fences. It is easy to see why this area of Ireland suffered so badly during the famine. Quite a few houses have thatched roofs, with a fair bit of slate being used as well. It seems strange to us to see so many new housing developments, each having only one house design – not unusual to see 100 identical houses in the one estate.

Roads are very narrow, even the “main” roads, with no verges and no where to pull off and take photos. Ruins of castles are quite commonplace and often quite close together.

The Cliffs of Moher were quite spectacular, and the new development of tracks and stone fences has made them much safer for the many, many tourists. We were very lucky with the weather as it didn’t rain while we there, nor was it very windy. Given the horizontal growth of the hawthorn hedges in the area, the lack of wind was probably a bit unusual.

After leaving the cliffs, it was on to Killarney for an overnight stop. The countryside is now much lusher and less stony, hillier with mountains in the distance.

With so many tourists about (and this isn’t even the summer season), we have found it somewhat frustrating that there is so little tourist information available. Very few information places and virtually no brochures/information on local attractions to visit.

13 May – Sunday

Left Killarney early for the Ring of Kerry. Weather was cloudy and COLD. First stop was at a depiction of a bog cutters’ village – thatched cottages, peat fires and Irish wolfhounds. Continued on to “Casivene” and the castle which was the seat of the McCarthy’s. Very picturesque villages and smugglers’ coves, bare mountains, some forests, wild rhododendrons and VERY windy, VERY narrow and VERY bumpy roads. Finished the Ring at Muckross House, a magnificent 19th Century house, masses of bluebells in the woods and formal gardens. Gave the jaunting car a miss and is was raining, we didn’t really have the time and it was quite expensive (€30). On to Blarney for an overnight stay, rained heavily all the way. However, the rain certainly doesn’t detract from the beauty of Ireland, in fact, the softness of the rain seems to be really in keeping with the country.

14 May – Monday

Woke to blue skies and sunshine and the best breakfast so far. First stop was Blarney Castle and a long climb to the top for Les to kiss the Blarney Stone and Pauline to take photos! Then a stroll through the Rock Caves – a spooky and mystical part of the castle grounds with a Druids Circle (no one disappeared!), witches’ kitchen and fairy glen.

Then a sort drive into Cork and then on to Waterford. A visit to the Waterford Crystal Factory highlighted the reason for the high cost of Waterford crystal as 20% is rejected, broken and reblown, it is very labour intensive as the crystal is handmade completely. The obligatory visit to the gift shop (only way out!) resulted in the first of the Christmas decorations collection – unfortunately the €6800 chandelier wouldn’t fit in the suitcase. Pauline also had the opportunity to hold the Ashes Trophy – eat your heart out whatever the name of the English cricket captain was (everyone has forgotten by now!).

Then a short drive to Kilkenny which should have only taken about 45 minutes and took about 2 hours before we found a B & B. Very narrow roads, heavy traffic and a complete lack of available street directories and street signs made for a frustrating afternoon.

Kilkenny turned out to be a medieval town with castle (of course) and medieval church and other buildings, and even narrower streets! Looking forward to a walk around the town tomorrow morning.

15 May – Tuesday

Spent some time walking about the medieval town of Kilkenny – just amazing to walk around streets and buildings dating to the 13th century. Of course, the streets are still the same width, only the traffic has increased somewhat. Dinner the previous evening was in a “house of merriment” built in the 13th century. A walk around the extensive grounds of the very large, and in use, Kilkenny Castle revealed 3 squirrels – very exciting to see.

Then it was on to Dunlavin, the town that Les’ great-grandfather probably came from. Not much happens in Dunlavin!!! Continued to Dublin, returned the Fiat Punto and took the airport shuttle to the Best Western Academy Hotel. What a find for Dublin!!! Whilst the hotel is still under reconstruction and refurbishment, we have a room in the new building (I’m sure we must be the first to use it), wi-fi internet (if I can get it to work), LCD television, gorgeous bathroom and great bed. All for only $150, including breakfast.