Look familiar?

Yesterday we drove from Inverness down to our cozy cabin in the woods at Ballachulish. On the way, we made a brief stop in Fort William to check out the town, but the pouring rain dampened any ambitious plans and we settled for a stop in the West Highlands Museum. This is another very outdoorsy area, with lots of mountain biking and hiking. Ben Nevis just out of town is the highest mountain in the British Isles, at 4413 feet.

Our two bedroom cabin is a very comfy spot with large windows looking out on the surrounding trees and scenery. It feels a lot like home. We are sitting inside listening to the rain fall on the roof. The wood stove is the perfect touch.

Cooked dinner in last night, may do the same tonight.

Today’s adventure was the ultimate train spotting experience as we went to Glenfinnan to watch the Jacobite Train cross the Glenfinnan Viaduct on its way from Fort William to Mallaig. Otherwise known as the Hogwarts Express! The rain was coming down steadily as we joined the line of Harry Potter fans trekking up the path to find good vantage points above the viaduct.

Coming up to the famous trestle

There were many nationalities represented and drastically varying degrees of preparedness for the drippy, mucky, steep trail up the hillside. And then we all stood and waited.

Quite the crowd waiting in the rain, cameras at hand

Standing in the muck

Trains aren’t always on time, and we did have to wait for a while, but just as the rain let up we heard a blast from the steam engine and spotted the train approaching the viaduct. Cameras clicked all around us and we joined in. As the train rounded the curve of the viaduct towards us it gave a nice big blast of steam and was quickly past on its way to Mallaig. We waved to the passengers who were all waving back at us, and then made our way back to the car park to get out of the weather. What a fun experience!

Classic view

Back in Fort William we stopped at the Ben Nevis Distillery for their tour and tasting. Although it was founded in 1825, it is really just getting going again after being taken over by new owners so they have limited whiskies available now. We brought back a few samples that we plan to compare this evening.

Whisky barrels

Pot still

There were some car issues to deal with, however. Driving back from the train spotting, our driver side mirror got taken out by an RV going the other direction. It was a major bang that got all of our attentions. It took a few seconds to figure out what had happened. Given how narrow the roads are, it is almost surprising it had not happened before. When we called it in to the rental company they told us that it would not be legal to continue to drive the car, so even though we only had the drive to Glasgow/Edinburgh left, we would have to get it towed to Inverness and pick up a new car there. Julie and Lisa volunteered to go with the tow truck driver while Tami and Mike would find another way back to our cabin in Glencoe.

Walking into Fort William, we walked by the Inverlochy Castle, which is in ruins but picturesque. A taxi got us back to Glencoe.

Inverlocky Castle

Shetland pony!

The next day we drove our replacement vehicle to Glasgow where we would fly home from, stopping along the way for a short walk at Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond

Nice walking path along the lake

Next day at the airport. We had breakfast without the beer.

Haggis flavored potato chips!

The weather gods once again took pity on us today and held back the promised rain showers so we could enjoy our day’s excursion on the water rather than in the water.

We scheduled a boat ride through a section of the Caledonian Canal and into Loch Ness, and had a very pleasant walk along the River Ness to get to the Tomnahurich Bridge where we boarded the boat.

Someone’s neat project boat. Would not want to be doing the work, but would love to try out the final result.

Another pretty boat. We noticed some tendency towards wide and stubby, just like us.

The canal paralleled the river, where we saw this fly fisherman.

More buds!

Happy guy!

Sculling on the canal

The Canal was built in the early part of the 19th century to connect Inverness with Corpach, near Fort William, saving ships from having to sail around NW Scotland. Unfortunately, about the time it was finally finished the next generation of steam powered ships proved too large to fit in the locks which had been built for wooden sailing ships. About a third of the route uses man made canals, and the rest goes through four lochs, connected to the canals by 29 locks. Our cruise included passage through a small lock at Dockgarroch.

Pronounce that if you can

They used to use horses to pull the boats down the canal, now they have to use people

Liked this tactful notice in the head

We traveled on down Loch Ness until we reached Urquhart Castle, where we took on a mess of tourists who had toured the castle. We had had the boat mostly to ourselves on the journey down to the castle, so it was tough to share our boat, but at least we had the best seats! We soon dropped them all off before continuing to our disembarkation at the bridge.

Very small lighthouse at the head of Loch Ness. The bay window was where the parafin lamp burned. They had to add the “chimbley” because the lamp fumes were bothering the lighthouse keeper, who slept in the same room.

Little castle on the lake shore.

We understand Rick Steves said Loch Ness is not very scenic. We disagree.

Nessie spotted!

The castle on Loch Ness

Another view

Due to the peat, it is said a cup of the water looks like whisky, but does not taste like it

A three hour tour…

Cute little rowboat

Tying up

Liked the boat company logo

Since haggis chips were the highlight of cuisine aboard ship, we arrived back in Inverness somewhat hungry, verging on hangry. Mike remembered a place we had dinner with Peggy and Don on the last trip, and so led a storming of the Castle Tavern. Over lunch and beer we also perused the gin list. One thing we have noticed is that while Scotland is rightly famous for its whisky, the  current spirit of choice seems to be gin. Good restaurants seem to offer a whole variety of gin and tonic combinations. Pick your gin and pick your tonic. Anyway, we spotted one gin on the list from the Isle of Harris (where Harris tweeds come from) that used kelp sugar to bolster the other more traditional botanicals.

Liking the idea of seaweed gin, we set out on a mission to acquire several bottles. Although we were unsuccessful at the liquor store, Julie and Lisa somehow discovered that a small shop selling candles and such from Skye (a neighboring island to Harris), was a pickup point for bottles ordered from the distillery. They had bottles in stock, but due to arcane liquor laws, could not sell it directly to us. We had to step outside the shop and order it directly from the distillery, whereupon we could then step back into the shop and pick up our purchases.

Loved the Scottish turban

After getting off our feet for a few hours we decided it was time to get dinner. We had noticed a good looking gastropub just two doors down from our airbnb. We popped in and discovered we needed reservations. They had nothing even if we were willing to wait. And this was a Monday! Therefore we decided to cross the bouncy footbridge (Inverness has several of these spanning the river that cuts through town) and try another restaurant that looked good. Same result – no reservation, no table.

We then wandered into town looking for anything we could find. We finally ended up at a place where the menu looked decent. When we stepped in the door, well holy cow! Mike tried to break into a little Saturday Night Fever dancing, but Tami restrained him before he hurt himself. The decor was twinkly lights and purple and blue crushed velour seating. For some reason, like hunger, we decided to stay. While the wine list was crap (two reds and two whites, in small, medium, or large), the food was surprisingly good.

Where we finally found dinner

Would you like your cereal with milk, ale, or stout?

After another nice Scottish breakfast served in the bar, we took a short walk to the Aberlour distillery. Given that we had places to be down the road we did not take the tour, but did find a good bottle to bring home, helped by our extensive research the previous evening. The town was a nice little place, but without a lot going on other than the distillery and a long distance walking path passing through.

Our inn, and whisky research headquarters

They just looked SO Scottish

Great wood stacking job

Liked the doors

Classic scene

Buds

Aberlour distillery visitor center, Mike elbowing his way through the door

On the drive south we made a brief detour into Grant On Spey, a town Tami and Mike remember having lunch in on our last trip. However, since it was Sunday not much was open, so we did not stop. We should also mention that the area is known in whisky terms as the Speyside region (because the River Spey runs through it), one of the major designations for Scotch whisky, along with Highland, Lowland, Island, Islay, and Campbeltown whiskys.

The next stop, Aviemore, was where we found a pie shop, Mackinnons of Speyside, that claims they make “probably the best steak pies in the world”. Well, one can’t ignore a claim like that and the gruff chap running the shop was actually a real softy, so we bought the biggest pie he had for our dinner and shoot, we had to get some pork pies and scotch eggs for lunch, too.

Quite a claim, but not proven wrong by us

A man and a Scotch egg

With hand lunches to go, we wandered about a bit. Aviemore seems to be a major outdoor center. The outdoor clothing and gear shops were thick as flies at a picnic. Mike wanted a t-shirt from the local bike shop, Mike’s, but they did not have his size, sigh.

Properly nourished once again, we pressed on to Cairngorms National Park with a plan to hike around Lake Morlich. As we approached the park the skies darkened but we persevered and set out on our walk along the shore of the lake, entertained by lots of ducks and canoeists. With scatters of rain starting, we aborted the ambitious total circuit plan and ambled back to the car. What we hadn’t noticed on our walk out, though, was the plethora of mushrooms in the brush and woods around us. Once we started looking, they were EVERYWHERE! The variety was amazing and Tami took far too many pictures and did suggest just one whole blog page devoted to mushroom pictures, but Mike just harrumphed. As a concession Mike agreed to post the mushroom pictures at the END of today’s blog, otherwise readers might never get to the rest of the post.

There was a small group engaged in canoe sailing, not something we have seen before, but which did look like fun

Another look at the rigging

It was a quick drive into Inverness and to our cozy house for the next two days. It is a beautiful, newly remodeled house right next to the River Ness. After a stroll around town to orient ourselves, we settled in to a fine dinner of salad, grilled veggies, and probably the best steak pie in the world. Certainly the best we’ve ever had.

Back in Inverness!

This looks fun!

And as promised, shrooms:

Dunnottar castle, looking rather Aurthurian

We awoke to bright blue skies and after a delicious breakfast at the Shorehead Guesthouse (scrambled eggs with smoked salmon), we climbed the hill to find Dunnottar Castle, a ruined medieval castle with extensive grounds on a rocky headland. We had a beautiful mile and a half hike along the headlands before reaching the castle, and this was one of the best castles we’ve ever visited. This one was well worth paying for!

Climbing up from the harbor

Path and war memorial

Hey hay!

Blackbird

And now two

Finally approaching the castle

The next challenge was to hunt down the Easter Aquhorthies stone circle, a rare complete circle of stones dating to the third century BC. After a couple of wrong turns and interesting adventures in trying to turn around on winding, one lane country roads (thank you, Lisa!), we finally pulled into the tiny car park and trekked up the hill to find the circle. It’s always a bit mind-blowing to think of the people who precisely placed these huge stones in position millennia ago, and wondering why, exactly, did they do that? We will never know for sure, and it really doesn’t matter if we never know, but darn! It makes me wonder.

Stoned

We had a mission for the next destination. We had to find the red phone box in Pennan, where the film, Local Hero, was filmed. It was a fantastic drive along the north coast and then a slightly nerve-wracking plunge down the extremely windy and steep, one-lane (of course!) road into the tiny village that is barely tucked in between the stone cliff and the sea. Picturesque hardly describes it and one can easily see why it was chosen as the film site. The phone booth is still there and fortunately so was a woman selling scones and tea from her shoreside stand. It was the perfect accompaniment to the brisk weather and dramatic views.

Pennan

From the other end of town

And there it is!

Tea and scones

Pennan cottage

Our final destination for the day was the Mash Tun guest house and restaurant in Aberlour. What a blissful place to end the day’s travels. The few rooms to let are upstairs above the bar and restaurant and overlook the River Spey. The bar offers a huge menu of single malt whiskies and the restaurant offers a simple but wonderfully prepared menu. The bar is the center of activity and is a very popular place. It was hoppin’ when we got there and did not let up for hours, but everyone was having a grand time and we all just joined in. We did not have far to walk to go to bed!

Mike was of course in whisky heaven. The whisky list was a whole book that included tasting notes on every whisky there. He made sure to order plenty for Tami as well, mostly so he could taste them too. Still, at the end of the night our favorite remained Glenfarclas, a discovery on our last trip to Scotland. Mike then topped off his night with a dinner of haggis nachos!

Perusing the BOOK, notice the blissful smile

Part of the Glenfarclas collection

Couldn’t resist

Most people visit St Andrews to go golfing but we had an alternative plan. We went out into the surrounding countryside and visited Scotland’s Secret Bunker, which is 100 feet underground beneath an innocuous looking farmhouse in the middle of the fields. It was the potential government nerve center in the case of a nuclear attack. As a group of baby boomers who grew up with nuclear drills in school, it was a somewhat creepy, yet fascinating, reminder of the threat we all lived with then, and unfortunately perhaps again?

While we were down there, we became fascinated with an old movie of some sort they were playing on monitors in several of the rooms. It was basically about the drama of the people working one of these bunkers during an actual nuclear attack. Even creepier! Creepiest yet was that just as we were back topside and walking back to our car, somebody set off the air raid siren. That was just a touch too real.

We talked Lisa into posing

Mike has had an ice cream fetish on this trip, though is wondering why this cone has a cigar – photo by Julie

While in St Andrews, we also visited the ruins of both St Andrews Abbey and the castle, but as each site charged at least five pounds entrance fee, our visits consisted of circling the outside, reading the signs, and snapping some pictures. How quickly we become immune to the charms of yet one more ancient medieval ruin. It had better be worth our time and pounds!

Abbey

Arch by the abbey

St Andrews castle, less impressive than the abbey

We stopped into the coastal town of Arbroath to hunt down some of their famous smokies, which are smoked haddock. In fact we learned that Arbroath smokies is a copywrited term, so to be called that, they have to be smoked within 8 km of Arbroath. We were not quite sure what to do with them or how to eat them, so we decided just to take them along with us and figure them out later. With our bundle of smoked fish in hand, we then found a lunch with by far the best fish and chips we’ve had on this trip, also haddock.

Boats in Abroath

The shop where we got our Arbroath smokies

We pulled into Stonehaven, where we are staying the night, with time to spare to walk along the waterfront boardwalk and enjoy the views with the setting sun. We found some wine, Tucs crackers, pate, olives, and cheese to go with our smokies for dinner. Yum!

Tide is out

Scenic boats

Sculpture along the waterfront

Goin fishin!

Our guesthouse

We seemed to have gotten the Scotish lodge room

Look down towards New Town

Having braved the crowds of the Royal Mile yesterday, we were very happy to follow the suggestion of Susie to walk along the Water of Leith today and see another side of Edinburgh. What a poetic way to describe this small river that winds its way through Edinburgh to the Firth of Forth.

Before finding the river, though, we took advantage of the momentarily clear blue skies and climbed Calton Hill to take in the grand 360 degree views of the city. To the north lay the Firth of Forth and the Castle was to the south. The New Town was to the west and the views gave a great perspective on how the city was laid out.

No idea what this building in the park on top of Calton Hill might be

We found our way back down to the footpath that followed the river and soon found ourselves removed from the noise and crowds of the city. There were just a few others on the path, and most were dog walkers. My, what well trained dogs so many people have here. Most were off leash and all were perfectly well behaved.

By the time we reached Stockbridge, we were somewhat in need of a water closet. It was about lunchtime, so we found a small cafe that would relieve both needs. Afterwards we walked around the area a bit. We noticed a profusion of charity thrift shops, like maybe every third or fourth space. This must be known as the thrift shop center of Edinburgh. It would have been fun to poke around in them, but we still had some distance to cover. On the other hand, Tami was not able to prevent Mike from checking out a couple bike shops we also encountered. Mike proudly emerged with a Bowmore distillery bike jersey.

Stockbridge, near the public restroom we finally discovered right after lunch

Wish the market was still there

Further on we came to the small scenic area of Dean Village. We got a few pictures and then started heading back.

Coming into Dean Village

I swear there used to be a door around here somewhere

Plumbing added later

Water of Leith

Bridge into Dean Village

The New Town area of Edinburgh was built beginning in the 18th century as a solution to the overcrowding of the Old Town (medieval) area of Edinburgh. This planned part of the city featured Georgian architecture for the grand houses where the well-to-do preferred to live. We visited a beautifully restored residence, the Georgian House, where we got a glimpse into what life was like for both the owners and servants at the time. One notable item we learned about the original owner was his habit of spending beyond his means and putting himself further into debt. What was even more interesting was that most of his neighbors were in the same situation. They lived on inherited money and the income from their country estates and the appearance of wealth in Edinburgh high society was very important. The owner wanted to make sure his daughters found good (wealthy and respectable) husbands and that his son was well educated.

Looking back up at the castle from New Town

Tami got excited to find the national academy of science and letters, established in 1783

Reminded Mike of Aslan in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

From the ferry

We had another transit day yesterday as we left Ireland behind and made landfall in Scotland. We had some suspense as Storm Ali started bearing down on the British Isles on Tuesday and we were scheduled to take a ferry between Ireland and Scotland that morning. Fortunately for us, the winds did not arrive until Wednesday and the sailing between Belfast and Cairnryan in Scotland was very smooth and uneventful.

The ship was quite large, with two truck decks, and various lounges including a restaurant and even a spa. We saw signs that you could upgrade to a stateroom, which seemed excessive for a 2 1/2 hour crossing. The bus ride took longer, around 4 hours. Much of it very scenic, so we we did not mind the length too much.

Neat lighthouse

From the bus

Also from the bus

Wednesday morning in Edinburgh greeted us with pouring rain (Ali had arrived) and we even began discussions of buying an umbrella, which was anathema to us Seattleites. By the time we did manage to step outside for the day, though, the rain had eased considerably and there were even patches of blue.

Tami had to get a shot of this place!

Side street heading up to the Royal Mile

We made our way up to the Royal Mile and took a tour of Mary Kings Close, a remnant of 17th century Edinburgh. The closes are small side streets, really more just steep staircases or ramps leading down from the Royal Mile which forms the backbone of the city. The small and crude living spaces of the close were covered over by new buildings on the Royal Mile and people still lived and worked underneath the new buildings. Sanitary conditions were appalling, as we know they were in the 1600’s, but throw in living without daylight and the constant presence of diseases such as the plague, and it makes for a rather gruesome living situation.

A plague doctor. The thing that looks like a beak was stuffed with herbs to take away the smell, as it was thought the smell was what carried the plague.

As we emerged from the depths of the close we found that the high winds were continuing with sporadic blasts of rain showers mixed in, so we opted for another indoor activity and went to the National Museum of Scotland. The museum is immense and we only saw a small portion, but Mike was taken with the bicycle collection and Tami was delighted to see some of the Lewis Chessmen.

Grand hall in the museum. Suzie said she has been to corporate events held there.

Lewis chessmen

Edinburgh is, of course, the land of Harry Potter creation and inspiration, so with Julie’s guidance we found some of the interesting related sights in the city. Greyfriar’s Kirkyard contains the graves of folks whose names may have inspired character names in the book. You can actually buy a map showing the graves with Harry Potter names on them. We found Potter, Riddell, McGonagall, Moodie, and several others on a dark, stormy, gloomy day. It seemed entirely appropriate. We also went by The Elephant House where she purportedly wrote the first book.

Best graveyard we have ever seen!

We potted Potter!

Just cool

We met up with our friend Susie for a delicious dinner at the Ox, a nice bar and restaurant near our apartment. We met Susie on our last adventure, the Uncruise trip to Alaska, and since she lives in Edinburgh she gave us a fantastic and comprehensive guide of things to see, do, and eat in and around the city. It was great fun to see her again and introduce her to Julie and Lisa. We had a wonderful meal with the best of company and hoped for better weather tomorrow.

Dinner with Suzie

Money troubles –
When we arrived in Belfast last Sunday we immediately got some cash at an ATM since we were in the UK and needed pounds sterling. We knew the rest of the trip would be in the UK so we got more than we needed for NI. On arrival in Edinburgh we went to use some of the paper money and found people scrutinizing it very closely until they found where it said “Pounds Sterling”. Then we noted, too, that the bills said either Danske Bank or Northern Bank on them. It was Irish pounds sterling!

We stopped in a bank to see if we could exchange them for “regular” pounds. No go since we did not have an account and we really didn’t want to open a bank account in Scotland. They said that the twenty pound notes were good, but since the five and ten pound notes were paper and not plastic, no one would take them. What?!?!? We got them from an ATM in the UK! So we headed back out and did try to buy something with a ten pound note. Nope, it’s no good. So then we tried a currency exchange place. Nope, but he suggested trying the post office, as the bank guy had also said. Hmm, the post office. Seemed a little strange but we hunted down a post office and got a number to wait in queue. Apparently post offices here take care of all manner of issues, including travel money questions and biometric something-or-others, whatever those were.

Our number was finally called and we explained our dilemma. The helpful lady behind the desk took a good long look at each and every bill and then reached in her drawer and counted out the equivalent amount in nice, acceptable bills for Scotland, including plasticky fives and tens. Yay! The funny thing was that half the bills say Bank of England and half the bills say Clydesdale Bank. As we learned from our Scottish friend Susie, if we were to take those Scottish Clydesdale notes down to England, they may or may not be accepted, depending on where in the country we might be. Sheesh.

We would have some very colorful and varied pictures of pound sterling currency to accompany this rant, but as Mike pointed out, we would probably somehow get in big trouble for putting reproductions of currency on our blog. We’ve had enough money trouble for one week!

How whiskey used to be served in pubs

Yesterday we took the train from Galway to Belfast, passing through Dublin once again. There is no indication on the train route when you pass from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland, but google maps tells all. It was strange to think of the checkpoints that existed along there not so many years ago.

We arrived in Belfast on a Sunday and the city was buttoned up pretty tight, but we did manage to find a grocery store that was still open. It was a nice change to stay in and have a good meal in our spacious Airbnb apartment.

Settling in at the apartment

And getting some laundry done

Today we did some exploring around Belfast, including lunch at the Crown Liquor Saloon, a Victorian era gin palace. It is remarkably ornate and features several snugs that even have doors to enclose them. It was a fun place to have lunch and a local brew.

Sights while wandering around Belfast

This seems to be a city of murals. Everywhere we turn, there are walls covered with art. We even went down one alley to find a dead end, sort of an outdoor room, that was covered with art on all sides, as well as the short alley leading into it.

Smaller pictures together forming a larger mural

Alley into the outdoor room of murals

We learned that Bushmills seems to be the Northern Ireland whiskey. We hardly ever saw it in the south, but it is by far the predominant brand up here. Mike, however, spotted a small shop with their own series of bottling. The whiskey comes from Bushmills, but specific barrels are purchased for this special label called “The Friend At Hand”. The shop itself was something else. It is actually partly a whiskey mini museum. They claim to have over 600 different Irish whiskey’s. There is a whole section labeled “never, never, never for sale”. Mike went in and purchased a bottle of their special label Irish that had been sherry casked. Now we have our Irish and it is time to go look for some Scotch!

Tami claims Mike had his nose pressed against the window

Inside the shop

In the afternoon we took a black taxi tour of Belfast. Our driver gave us a comprehensive history of the conflicts in Northern Ireland as he drove us to many of the most significant sites. He shared photographs of these sites from the peak of the troubles that illustrated just how much of a war zone it really was just a couple of decades ago. We also saw many murals put up by the two sides in their respective neighborhoods, some quite recent, showing that the conflict is still real and raw. Our driver was a Republican (those favoring separation from the UK, generally Catholic) and the emotion was palpable as he described the Troubles. We drove through both the Republican and Unionist neighborhoods and could still feel the tension. Over the course of two and a half hours we all learned a tremendous amount about the complexity and brutality of the conflict in this region.

Republican murals

Hunger strikers

Memorial to the dead in just one neighborhood

Feelings are still raw

Moving into a Unionist neighborhood, ties to the UK are stressed

Unionist home

Bragged that he killed 15, including a nurse delivering medicine to the elderly on both sides

Bit of city wall

After the morning ferry ride back from Inis Mor to the mainland, we had the day to explore Galway more completely. The Galway Museum was a good place to learn more about the history of the city as well as some insight into what happened locally during the Rising. We also spotted more sections of the original medieval walls scattered through the city, sometimes a full-size wall here or a window there. The main area is an easy place to get lost, with winding streets and interesting side streets heading off in different directions, but we gradually learned our way. Tami was thrilled to add a Galway flag to her collection – it should be flying off the back deck soon!

Irish dancer busking

In the afternoon we enjoyed a food tour of the city led by Sheena, who is originally from Ireland but grew up in France and now calls Galway home. We started out at a bakery where she told us a story about the origin of the gigantic (maybe 1’x 6′) loaves that they sell in chunks throughout the day. Supposedly the baker used to be a deep sea diver and was once bitten severely by a conger eel. After he recovered he decided he wanted to bake a loaf the size of the eel so he could return the favor and “cut the bastard up”.

Some of our favorites on the tour were the Irish whiskey tasting, which we discovered is wonderful when paired with cheese, a delicious seafood chowder drizzled with basil oil, and a series of selections in a very cozy snug of one of the traditional pubs. At the whiskey tasting Mike got to try poitin, something he had read about. It turned out to basically be Irish moonshine, i.e. unaged whiskey. At the pub we had a local stout served with a fresh oyster (definitely something to try at home), a sample each of a turnip sushi and mackerel sushi, and cold smoked salmon with a pale ale. There were many other samples as well and we found ourselves in no need for dinner. What a delightful experience.

Also while at the pub our tour was unexpectedly interrupted by a gentleman who wanted to read us a poem. It was fairly long but well presented. He earned plenty of applause.

Reading to our group in the snug

To follow that, Tami finally realized a dream and found a local soccer match to attend. Galway United Football Club (GUFC) were playing Wexford at the nearby football pitch, so we joined in with a very small stream of people heading to the stadium. When Tami asked someone in the info office earlier in the day if we would have any difficulty buying tickets at the stadium, she said oh no, they’re not very popular – Irish football and hurting are much bigger sports here. We later learned that the reason soccer is not more popular here is that it is seen as an English sport. Sure enough, there were only a few hundred people there, but it was lots of fun and great to see the families and young kids having a good time. The game ended in a draw and Galway were unlucky to lose, but it was a spirited match and we had a great time. Even the walk back to our hotel in an Irish drizzle couldn’t dampen the fun.

Galway is the team in white

Team mascot

Mike was of course more interested in shopping than the game. He wanted to get something showing the team emblem. Before he headed out to find the very small team shop, he said it would be great if he could find a flat cap with the emblem on it. Sure enough, he found one! That is a great souvenir.

***

For our last day in Southern Ireland before heading to up north to Belfast, we got out of the city and into the Connemara region of County Galway and into a bit of Count Mayo. We traveled through some of the regions of western Ireland that were affected the most during the famine and saw some of the still remaining signs of that horrific period. The area is ruggedly beautiful with rocky, steep mountains leading down to lakes and streams. Now the steep hillsides are scattered with sheep, but our guide pointed out the many visible ridges running all along the hillsides that show where potato fields were once planted. He also pointed out many famine cottages, which are the ruins of the small stone cottages that the families lived in during the mid-1800’s. They are still scattered through the valleys as a visible reminder of that period and match the mood of the desolate country.

We got to walk a short ways to take in the view

Country scene

Peat delivery in front yard

Not sure what the story was here in an old church

This town was very proud of having been the setting for the John Wayne movie “The Quiet Man”

Tami would not let Mike take this project bike home, partly because she has sworn to never be on the same bike as him

We had a quick stop at the ruins of the Ross Errilly Friary, an extensive and well-preserved medieval monastery. As we first approached it looked like just another crumbling medieval church (ho hum), but as we entered it the rooms just led one into another with so many turns and walkways that one could easily get lost. There was even a kitchen that once had a tank to hold live fish (or so says Mike; Tami apparently missed it as she was getting lost in the maze of rooms). To top it off, there was a very friendly group of cows to say hello as we left the friary.

Friary

Inner courtyard. It was interesting that the interior of the friary had been used as a cemetery, even up to a few years ago.

A cow for Tami

Kylemore Abbey was another stop today. It was originally built as a castle by a rich family in the 19th century, then purchased by the Duke and Duchess of Manchester in 1909. They were forced to sell a few years later due to gambling debts, so Irish Benedictine Nuns bought it next and turned it into a boarding school for girls. It was once a grand mansion with extensive gardens and a huge glass conservatory. It was interesting to trace the transformation. The Duchess turned the billiards room into a kitchen and neglected the conservatory so badly that it collapsed, and the nuns turned the ballroom into a chapel and created dorm rooms for the girls. The building is still very picturesque and the setting is spectacular perched below rugged mountains on the edge of a beautiful lake. It did bring to mind thoughts of Hogwarts.

Hogwarts?

Tami also wanted to go fishing at the Abbey

As we wound through the countryside it would sometimes look like we could be in western Washington until we would spot some random ruin of a stone house or church. We also saw a lot of sheep today. A lot.

Beautiful countryside

Aran view

Wednesday morning we hopped the train in Kilkenny bound for Galway. Since Dublin is basically the hub of Ireland, this meant traveling back to Dublin, changing trains, and then tracing our route for the third time back to the point where the tracks diverged towards Galway. It was nice when we got to start seeing some fresh scenery. We did pass a number of peat fields, and even saw a few piles of peat blocks drying. Peated whiskey has to come from somewhere! The further west we got, the more we also were seeing stone walled fields, something Mike remembers strongly from his trip here 40 years ago.

We had a few hours in Galway, so checked our bags and wandered around a bit. Seems like an interesting place we will enjoy exploring further in a few days.

Galway

Old and new walls in Galway

Then we got on the shuttle bus to take us to the boat out to the Aran Islands, specifically Inis Mor. It was a wonderful ride along the shore and through the country side. It was not conducive however to picture taking through the dirty and scratched windows, not to mention the constant lurching.

Trying to get a picture in mid lurch

The boat ride out was around 40 minutes. Our hotel was right at the end of the pier which made checking in easy.

Our ferry

View back to mainland

Round tower

The next day we had decided to rent bikes and ride around the island. Touring Island, which is maybe 8 miles long, is the main thing to do here. There is not very much town, given that the population of the whole island is around 900. There are three options for touring, you can ride a bike (there are 4 bike rental shops near the pier), you can take one of the small tour busses, or you can ride in a horse drawn wagon. All three are popular.

It was raining when we headed down to rent our bikes. On our own we might have chickened out at that moment, but Julie and Lisa were hung ho, so we went for it, and boy were we glad we did! By the time we were ready to ride the rain had quit and it stayed dry for the rest of day.

Heading out

Today turned into an undoubted highlight of the trip. Riding down the one lane roads with almost no cars was fantastic. The main problem was that we had to stop every few hundred feet to take pictures. If it was not the incredible stone walled fields, it was a view out to sea, or a friendly horse, or goats perched on a ledge, or a scenic ruin.
After a couple hours we made it the 4 miles (jeez, we could have walked faster than that) to the visitor center for an old stone fort. Naturally we could not pass that up. It was quite a hike up, but blew us away once we got there. And I mean that both literally and figuratively. The winds were something fierce, and the fort was at the top of a cliff dropping straight down to the ocean. As Americans used to our nanny state way of doing things back home, we were amazed to see not a guard rail in sight!

Typical view

Stone walls everywhere

Some got rather lacy

Bike

Tami making friends – photo by Julie

Tami’s friend

Not sure about Tami

Looking down on Tami

Julie had a better zoom

The cliffs at the fort

Will my helmet protect me?

At the fort

We then headed back on a different road on our bikes, trying to stay ahead of the horse wagon behind us between picture stops. Once back in the main village we spent a bit of time checking out Aran Island sweaters for sale. We learned that most of them are made in a factory on the mainland but using traditional patterns from the islands. But they were nice and we did make a few purchases.

Aran houses

Former Aran houses

Not lived in for a while

One of the horse wagons

Aran tourist office

In the evening we headed down to a restaurant that had been recommended. The special was locally caught monkfish, so we had to try that. If you have ever seen one, it is one ugly fish, but extremely tasty. At dinner Mike also tried several more whiskeys. So far the favorite is Writers Tears.

Bar boasted 50 Irish whiskey’s