Whitlow Mountains

Glendalough Cathedral and Tower

Day 10 (8/12/15)

Today was our first sojourn out of the city. We have always had a weakness for trains so when we saw that they offered a rail tour south along the coastline to the Whitlow Mountains it made the top of our must do list. After breakfast we headed for Connelly Station to meet our guide and catch our train. We started getting a little worried when it was almost time to leave and we were the only ones standing at the queue. Promptly at nine we saw a man in a yellow jacket walking towards us. It turn out that our tour consisted of five people and our guide Paddy. We then found out that the other group was from Dublin so it was almost like having our own personal guide. We were slightly disappointed with the train ride. Most of it was either below ground level or was very grown over so it was hard to catch many glimpses of the beautiful coastline but Paddy kept us entertained with stories of Irish lore and personal stories. We traveled south by rail until we stopped at Arklow and got into a small van to continue our journey. Our first stop was in the small town of Avoca which is apparently the village used in the britcom Ballykissangel.  We had never heard of the show but apparently it brings a lot of tourist based on the reviews I have read. We were more interested in the woolen mills with their hand woven goods and demonstrations. It was a beautiful setting and we spent some time wandering around the area. Then it was back in the van and off to the ancient Monastic city of Glendalough (glen of two lakes). On the way we stopped by Tomas Moore’s tree, the site where two rivers come together and Moore was supposed to have composed many of his songs while sitting under the tree there. The tree was now dead but a new one had been planted in its place. We than continued on to Glendalough and judging by the number of people this must be a very popular landmark. We had a great time wandering around the grounds trying to time our photos to have the least number of people in them. The area was absolutely beautiful so I can understand its popularity. We then took a commuter train back to Connelly Station. It was still early so we meandered our way around Dublin walking along the banks of the river Liffy. Eventually after walking down one side and up the other we headed back towards our hotel. As cities go Dublin is not a huge city and everybody is more than happy to give you directions. We decided to have supper in the other hotel restaurant and then started preparing for the longest and earliest day of our journey the next morning.   

Avoca Mills

Stringing the loom

Hand Weaving

Eileen outside the Mill

Village of Avoca

Thomas Moore Memorial

Bridge at Memorial

Two rivers meeting

Big lake at Glendalough

Tower at Glendalough

Old Church at Glendalough

Ruins of the old Cathedral

Celtic Cross

Old Dublin Gasworks now apartments

Amnesty Globe with Eternal Flame

Dublin Harp Bridge, Santiago Calatrava

Potato Famine Memorial

The "Book of Kells" and the Perfect Pour

Eileen's Perfect Pour ( it doesn't get any better then that) 

Day 9 (8/11/15)

We woke up early, got ready, and headed down to breakfast. You never know what to expect from hotel breakfasts but for the most part we have found European breakfasts quite accommodating. Except for being packed in, despite the early hour, the meal was pretty good. Our plan was to catch the hop-on hop-off bus to explore the city. After a little confusion finding the bus line that we were on (Belfast has three different hop-on hop-off lines) we caught our bus. We found out later that for our purpose we had chose the best one. I wish we could have kept our first driver the whole trip. He had a song for every area and although he perhaps didn’t have the best voice it certainly was authentic and lent an entertaining aspect to the tour. Unfortunately one of the things that I really wanted to see was the “Book of Kells” and we had been told to get there early before the queues got too long. So when we got to Trinity College it was time to bid our driver farewell. Although somewhat commercialized the “Book of Kells” area did not disappoint. I wish we could have taken pictures but I understand why not. Seeing the actual manuscript was up there with seeing “Stonehenge”. Just knowing that you are looking at something that was created so long ago and with so much sacrifice is awe inspiring. Trinity College itself is steeped in history. It was founded by Queen Elizabeth 1 of England in an attempt to curb Irish catholic influence and try to create more protestant authority. After a tour of Trinity College and the old library we decided to finish the rest of the Hop-on Hop-off tour. As these things go, before we had completed the entire loop we came to the bus station and that driver was done. We would either have to wait to continue or we could cross the street and get back on but would miss a small loop around the area where our hotel was. We figured we could catch that later and crossed the street, got back on and Headed for the “Guinness Storehouse”. The Guinness tour is quite extensive. It took most of the rest of the day to finish the seven floors that constitute the tour. It was very informative though. We had the opportunity to get certified as perfect pourers of a pint of Guinness which of course we got to drink. That was at the end of the tour and it finished in the Gravity Bar which is seven stories above Dublin and offers beautiful views of the city and surrounding area. After finishing our pint we had to catch the last bus and head back to our hotel. We were taking our first tour outside of Dublin the next morning and wanted to be ready.

Parnell Monument

Spire of Dublin (Stiletto in the Ghetto)

Eileen in the "Old Library" at Trinity College

Spiral Staircase in library

Main Hall

Sphere within Sphere

"Parliament Square" Trinity College

Ha'Penny Bridge on river Liffy

Let the Tour Begin

Water from the Whitlow Mountains

If one can is good Toucans are better

Scene from "Gravity Bar"

Another view

My lovely traveling companion

Dublin or Bust

Home sweet home, for a week

Day 8 (8/10/15)

I wouldn’t say that we are seasoned travelers but at this point we have seen our share of airports. This flight was one of the worst we have ever had. We were supposed to fly out of Milwaukee to Philadelphia and then to Dublin. After we got checked in and went through security we headed to our gate. I went to ask a guy at the gate a question and he started going on about how glad he was that he had found us. Apparently after we had checked in, our plane had been delayed and we would not catch our connecting flight. He sent us back to get our luggage and then we were to board a bus which would take us to Chicago to catch a nonstop flight to Dublin. It was kind of a hassle finding the bus and doing the whole stopping along the way thing with weekend traffic returning to Chicago but at least our flight was nonstop. When we got to Chicago we showed our note to the ticket agent and he told us we would be flying on one of their affiliates, Aer Lingues which was in a different terminal. So we had to catch the terminal shuttle and head for our new destination. After about an hour of standing in line with nothing happening rumors started passing that our flight had been canceled. Instead of telling us what was going on they started diverting people to other flights. We eventually found out that our options were to be put up in a hotel and fly out the next night on the same flight or fly through Heathrow in London. We also heard that they were limited on both of these options. We figured we were safe since we were in the first half of the line. Suddenly they started pulling people from the back of the line and processing them in a separate line. Now we were starting to get worried and we had already stood in line for two hours at this point. We found strength in that a man just ahead of us was flying alone with a three and five year old. We couldn’t believe how well behaved they were and how patient he was with what had to be unbelievable stress. Finally after almost three hours in line it was our turn. We had already decided that we would fly through London and at least save part of our first day. By the time we got finished we had to race back to the original terminal that we had gone to earlier and try not to miss our flight. Fortunately they were holding the flight so we got our seats and were just thankful to be finally on a plane. There had been times that we weren’t sure if we would make it to Dublin or not. The rest of the trip went well enough and we finally made it to Dublin although it was about six hours later than we were supposed to. We had planned on spending that first day checking out the area around our hotel and getting to know where everything was. By the time we got to our hotel we decided to get something to eat, take a shower and go to bed.   

We always knew we were home when we would see this sculpture

Magical Gerber

Eileen's second Fairy Environment of the Day

Day 7 (7/23/15)

After a morning of biking on the bike trail with Wade we decided to head up to Gerber Lake to do some kayaking. As we were filling out the envelope to pay docking/parking fees we realized that we apparently had not been to Gerber for two years so I guess it was overdue. As we paddled away from the dock we reminisced about all the magical times we have had on this lake. We were the only ones on the lake when we first got there. Unfortunately that did not last long and about fifteen minutes after we started out we heard people yelling as they unloaded their boat. I understand that sound travels better over water but discussions with the person in the front of the boat don’t have to be heard two lakes away. We made the best of it though and stayed as far away from the other boat as possible. Part of our reason for coming to Gerber was to set up and photograph Fairy houses, a project that Eileen has been working on for several years. We started by going up the small creek that runs into the lake. At best it is very shallow with a lot of downed trees and now it was just about impassable. We did however make it up to the bridge which is our usual turn around spot. I pulled myself under the bridge to see if there were any baby birds which I have found there before. I found a nest but no babies. It is very creepy under the bridge with spiders and other insects that seek dark damp places inches from your face. After turning around and working my way back under the bridge we headed back down stream looking for suitable fairy environments. There were lots of possibilities but few that were accessible in the kayak. Judging by the smell of the mud we did stir up it was not someplace you would want to wade in. We did finally find one spot that worked well and while Eileen set up I looked for birds to photograph. After completing and photographing the site we packed up and moved further down the stream. When we came to the mouth of the stream there were some areas which worked well as environments so while Eileen set up I spent my time fishing. We could still hear the people in the other boat even though they were on the other side of a small peninsula and on the other side of the lake. Perhaps one of them was hard of hearing. It was in the middle of the afternoon on a hot day so I didn’t expect to get a lot of action fishing and I didn’t. I could see them and had a couple of follows but nothing serious. After one more setup we notice that the loud talkers were getting closer so we headed across the lake and through a narrow straight which opens up into another part of the lake. It is the actually the part of the lake that has the boat landing that we left from and it wasn’t long until another boat of loud talkers arrived. These were females. Fortunately they passed through the straight to the other side and even though we could still hear them at least it wasn’t quite as obnoxious. I know that at times I start to sound like a real curmudgeon but it just seems like a sacrilege to seek out nature only scare it away with constant jabbering. Eileen did one more environment before we determined to call it a day.   

It was this long

Setting up an enviroment

Litter Fairies

Setting up 

Under the Bridge

Cabana Fairies

Birch Fairies 

    

Back on Waldo

Heron on a Stump

Day 6 (6/29/15)

Last year we never made it out to Waldo flowage so it was about time to check out one of our favorites kayaking spots. We had to babysit in the morning so as soon as his parents picked him up we had a quick lunch and hit the road. We had been out on the bike trail in the morning and the wind had been very still but when we got to the flowage we noticed that it had picked up quite a bit. It would be at our backs going out which means coming back in when you are already tired is going to be a bummer. We figured it was worth a try. Shortly after taking off we scared up a blue heron but weren’t able to get a picture of it. We saw it land however so we slowly made our way toward it. It turned out that it had landed on a stump in the middle of the flowage so sneaking up on it wasn’t an option. I did get a couple of picture with the telephoto but it’s not the same as getting up close and personal. Waldo would be an almost perfect kayaking lake if it wasn’t so shallow and mucky. This time of the year there tends to be a lot of slime on the top. That all changes once you get up into the river though. As the water gets deeper and cooler it gets almost totally clear and you can see the rocky bottom. At this point the trees move right up to the edge and form a primeval setting that makes you imagine a land before modern civilization took over. It was here that we came across the Heron once again. He manage to escape getting his photo taken again but gave us a thrill watching him make his way up the narrow tunnel between trees. About a half mile up river you come to a bridge that in the past marked the end of the road. This year however somebody had done some stream improvement and we were able to go maybe two hundred yards farther. It is always thrilling going back down river. Everything comes at you a little faster on the way back down. It is by no means white water but with large submerged rocks and tree branch arches you have to be ready to move quickly. Once we were back down to the flowage as expected the wind was in our face with a vengeance. I tried to stop a couple of times to take pictures and without forward momentum you were soon sideways and going backwards. It had been great trip up until this part but now it was just a forced march back to the car.

Heading up to the River

Starting up the River

Up River

Eileen

Approaching  the Bridge

Under the Bridge