Quick Blogs 3: Visitors from OZ

Last of the Quick Blogs...
Ivan's parents are travelling around the uk, and dropped in to stay with us for a week.
It had been over a year since we saw them last (except skype-wise) and it was really great to see them again.
Nick and Mike wandered around Dublin town checking out Museums and churches.. including the wonderful Marsh's library, and the Chester Beatty Library, the Archeological museum with its preserved bodies from the bog (a genuine Irish experience and a real must for all Irish visitors), and popped into St Pats and ChristChurch Cathedral... The last two we haven't seen ourselves, so they are ahead of us in some Dublin sights.... But we have plenty of time to see all.

Then on the saturday we had lunch at the Queens Pub in Dalkey, quickly checked out the harbour and hurried back home to hide away from the appalling weather (the one odd day out in a whole week of beautiful sunshine). Snug back at home with a cup of tea we watched "The Return of the King", part 3 of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the only one not yet seen by Nick and Mike... and who could deny Ivan the opportunity of watching it yet again. not us.

Sunday brightened up again and we set off to Co.Meath to see one of the main sites of Loughcrew Cairns (a series of neolithic burial tombs).. We had previously been up there ourselves but at the time weren't able to step inside the chamber... This time we had a guided tour of the chamber, with its fantastic carvings.











We returned home late that afternoon after dropping to the site of the Battle of the Boyne.
...thus ended a great week catching up with family.

We are off tomorrow to england camping and will actually coincide with Nick and Mike again (on their travels) and with Ivan's uncle, aunt and cousin, who last saw him when he was only 5ft tall (about 4 years old)...so that should be fun too. A big family dinner and get-together..

oops, nearly forgot... Nick's haircut on the balcony, much to the amusement of our neighbour (and possibly myself)

Well, my quick blogs have been a success, so i will try this fast pace from now on, which may mean I write and post more often, as it is less of a drag to do so... All the best, have a great weekend... Ivan and Elena

Quick Blogs 2: Co.Clare (the Coastal side)

Quick Blog 2: this is good, I'm getting them posted quickly...

Only 2 weeks ago, the long weekend in June, we took our new green tent, and all our camping supplies (except the all-important camping stove fuel, oops) to Doolin, a small lively coastal village on the coast in Co. Clare... Drop off point for the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands and at the edge of the amazing rocky "Burren"..

Found a nice campsite, by a river, crawling with mosquitos and midges and set up tent beside a gang of bikies who were on a road trip/stag's weekend. (needless to say we set up our tent first, then they arrived later)... But they weren't too bad, the mossies were far worse, and the freezing air straight off the Atlantic sea, worse again.


But during the day it was very warm and sunny (and I mean very warm - perhaps 22-24 'C, not sure how we are going to cope back in Oz actually).. and we explored the gorgeous coast, the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. We avoided the Aran islands completely as, judging from the hundreds of cars left at the ferry point on the mainland (in Doolin), it looked as though the Islands would be just a tad overcrowded.. It was a long weekend after all and we were well into tourist season.


The Cliffs of Moher: A sneak preview for Karen who will be visiting them soon
and a lovely castle on the coast (wonky drive by shot)



Lunch on the Clare coast, where the Burren meets the sea... simply amazing.. you may be able to just make out one of the Aran islands in the first pic.

Exploring the Burren inland... Home of many neolithic Dolmens, ring forts, standing stones etc.....and the odd cow and sheep..

Elsewhere in the Burren, some strange rock formations and for fans of the TV series, the very house of Father Ted (Father Ted Crilly, from Craggy Island)

Road signage in Ireland (at times, over the top but most of the time non-existent)

Quick Blogs 1 : The Mourne Mountains

Ok.... has been a while since the last blog entry and we have a small stockpile of photos to post of explorations and visitors... as the weather is lovely at moment (most of the time), it is also the time to explore and travel again and we have been busy doing just that recently..
Also we are off tomorrow to go camping with our brilliant and enormous new tent (pictured in next post) to England for 2 weeks... So the next few posts are quick catchups on what we have been up to.

1st Up:

The Mourne Mountains and Coast of Co. Down , Northern Ireland
(see map on RHS blog to see where this is)
A few weekends ago, this was our first journey across the border into Northern Ireland..
It was beautiful and very close to home so we will be doing some more exploring there this year.

We drove through Carlingford which is a cute little village in the Republic of Ireland and sits at the edge of Carlingford Lough... then we crossed the other side of the lough and there we were in Northern Ireland, in Co. Down, "Where the mountains O'Mourne sweep down to the sea" (Song by William Percy French, 1854–1920). And absolutely beautiful it is too.

A brief weekend only but we climbed a small mounain (don't know which) in the Mourne's, drove around and checked out the elusive but grand Legannany Dolmen.