England to Ireland

After receiving an ambiguous answer to an inquiry into the status of my long stay visa, we decided to play it safe and leave the Schengen region for England. We took a ferry from Calais to Folkestone. That gave us the opportunity to buy some Raleigh Stowaway (folding) bicycles that aren’t available in France. We visited the very tourist-packed town of Canterbury of Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ fame. Parking was a nightmare, the cathedral was undergoing restoration, the castle was closed but the town itself was nice. There’s a boat tour with bridges so low, the passengers were encouraged to reach up and touch the bridge overhead.

We took the camper van in to the dealer in Portsmouth to fix a few small issues. We visited Portsmouth’s very rocky beach, and consequently not very populated beach.  The pier was touted as a big attraction but I’m not sure why.  We ate the obligatory (though not great) fish and chips for lunch. We spent over a week in England hiking near our campground (we saw deer once) and planning our next move.

We decided to visit Dermot’s family in Tulla, Ireland and leave the camper van in Bristol for this leg of the trip. It felt strange leave the camper, spend the night in a hotel and board a flight with only our bags. 

Tulla is a very small town where you can walk to the local pub (there are two within 100 paces of the front door), grocery store, hardware store, bank, post office, etc., etc. Dermot’s sister Mary, her son Chris and grandson Sean live in the house that has been in the family for generations. We stayed with them for over a week. Here we got to slow down, visit with Dermot’s family and old friends, and relax. I got to eat Mary’s homemade scones with dried fruit every morning and other baked goods the rest of the day. I’m officially spoiled now and it's probably a good thing there’s not a scale in sight.  

More pictures here.

We went to the pub several nights a week to grab a pint of Guinness (okay, I had Bailey’s Irish Cream), watch a match, play pool, darts, and poker. Though still mostly a bastion of male camaraderie, families will have get togethers in the pub and bring their children. 

We went to the semi-final of the All Ireland Hurling championship in the town of Thurles with Chris and Sean but County Clare lost.  :(  Dermot revisited his old haunts and got to see Sean play in a hurling match - and they won! 

I got to cook on the aga that Dermot’s 90-year-old uncle remembers being installed in the house over 80 years ago (it was second-hand even then).

We hiked in the Burren which is Dermot’s favorite. The Burren is very unique ecologically and we followed the somewhat confusing signage to an ancient monastic temple in a cow field divided by lots of stone walls with little stone steps the cows can’t negotiate. Lots of ancient sites are in cow fields here but you’re allowed to walk through them - carefully watching where you step, of course.  

We had such a wonderful open-faced salmon sandwich on Irish Soda bread in Brogan’s Restaurant in Ennis, we tried to re-create it for Dermot’s extended family in Tulla. To sweeten the deal, we cracked open the can of foie gras d’oie (the best type of foie gras according to the French - and they should know!). We had bought a can in the Perigord in France and saved it for a special occasion. Though the teenagers were not among the converted, everyone else seemed to like it well enough to come back for seconds.  

We got to see a traditional music concert in Tulla featuring very talented young musicians and dancers.  One teenager sang a funny song and recited a story.  They were exceptional and there was not a page of sheet music between them!

We also visited the ruins of Quin Abbey with Mary and Dermot's cousin Mary Lloyd who is 92 and still gets around just fine.  The cows in the field around that ruin were very curious about us.  Check out the cow with it's head under the sign. I later learned that herds of cows trample people more often than you'd think! 

Great nephew Sean even “dragged” Dermot out to puck the hurling ball around. Sean asked me if I thought Dermot still “had it.”  “Of course he does!” I replied. What I didn’t say was that the “it” we have as teenagers isn’t the same as the “it” we have in later years. But he’s still got it alright!