Renvyle (in pictures)

Renvyle

The purpose of our trip to Renvyle was to catch up with Debbie whom we met on our trip on the bus out to Australia. Luckily for Debbie she'd found some temporary work which meant she was absent apart from the time we spent together on the Connemara Community Radio Sponsored Walk already blogged. Debbie must have been so relieved she was away that she was even kind enough to give us unfettered access to her flat whilst we stayed in Renvyle.

During the first day or so we visited Kylemore Abbey & Gardens, previously a school run by nuns and a 'boarder' frequented by students both local and from across the globe. A stunning, perhaps foreboding property and gardens that it's original builder/owner ensured supplied the local community. Whilst today's crops are not enough to supply the house alone, let alone the local residents, the gardens remain a good enough draw to attract revenue into the surrounding economy.

Whilst we were there we also noticed some interesting sheep, but they didn't seem to either 'fleece' the visitors or provide a necessary income to pull the wool over the eyes of anyone taking a closer inspection.

Walking around the impressive gardens we also noticed the first piles of peat harvested from the nearby fields and a staple fuel of fires for many, many decades.

Travelling around Renvyle and the locality you can't fail to be impressed by the stunning scenery inland and the impressive views out to sea and we were lucky enough one afternoon to find a secluded spot in the sun on a beautiful beach to enjoy a snooze in the afternoon rays.
In addition to Debbie's hospitality we were also treated to Mr & Mrs Debbie Senior's very warm welcome throughout our stay in Renvyle.

Despite the average climate we've experienced throughout our return to Europe, during our visit to Ireland we benefited from extremely long Summer evenings with the nights not getting dark until 11pm or later giving us fantastic sunsets and twilight.

Interestingly, the local recycling centre is situated at the local school and on one of our visits to the bottle bank when we pulled up in the Smart we seemed to have coincided with the lunch break and were instantly surrounded by what seemed to be the whole school. A very excited and interested crowd quizzed us on the car and proclaimed their affection towards us - what a difference to the youth we've experienced much closer to home.

Connemara Community Radio Walk Weekend 2011

This is quite an 'interactive' post:- clicking various underlined links will give more detail on our walking weekend.
The big event we travelled to Ireland for in June was to take part in the Connemara Community Radio Station Sponsored Walk on the weekend of June 11/12. This annual event raises much needed funds to help pay for the license to broadcast an FM signal to the many people around Connemara who may be living in very small communities or completely isolated and single dwellings dotted around the vast, beautiful West Ireland countryside.
We also got to catch up with Debbie who talked us into the walk when we met on the Oz bus and who also kept a blog of her overland journey from London to Sydney.
On the first day we travelled to Letterfrack by car where a group of us met at the radio station and were transferred by minibus to our fate at the start of the walk in Gowlan West. Here we were dumped, er we mean dropped off and met up with yet more fools, er we mean folks who had also 'volunteered' to walk for two days. Not that we knew just yet but our day one walk would take us from Gowlan West to Roundstone The start of the walk was along a disused railway line and straightforward enough offering lovely views of the countryside all the way through to lunchtime. In the afternoon, things got a little different. We started to walk on the bog! A unique experience - a bit like a very small creature trying to walk on blancmange - we were a bit bigger than that though. Thankfully Stephen - our guide was a shepherd and we acted like pretty good sheep not wanting to wander off the beaten track and as if to warn us, every half an hour or so Stephen would shove his walking stick right through the bog to the tip of it's handle to show how quickly we could disappear should we set one foot wrong. After a very wobbly hour or so, we finally hit firm ground and ventured into Roundstone where we had a fantastic welcoming committee who saw us right with beer, wine and canapés in the warm Summer evening sun.
We then made it back to our B&B stop to get ready for a night out. The two of us lasted until about 10.30pm - complete lightweights but we were stuffed full of food and drink and feeling completely uncomfortable and knackered. We were definitely in the minority however as we heard people gradually coming home over the next 5 hours, the last to hit their rooms (quite literally with loud whispers and giggles at around 3.30am).
Sadly, when we woke up on the Sunday it was raining and the festivities of the night before seemed long gone as people gathered quietly - shoulders dropped - to meet at the minibus to be taken to the second days start point. Couravoughil to Letterfrack was to be our second days walk and it was a wet start. There was an ascent almost immediately to just to keep us cheery. Then a very tricky walk along by a significant stream over wet rocks and it wasn't long before Helen straddled a rock and David was a short way back thinking that Helen's walking was going to be over any second as she plunged into the water. Thankfully a fellow walker right behind Helen managed to lift pull her up by the back pack and coat straight out of trouble - impressive stuff. It wasn't long before we were back on the bog. Also not much longer after that before David gave out an unimpressive whimper as he lost his footing and was left foot knee deep in the bog - nice soggy footwear for the remainder of the walk. Day 2's lunch stop certainly seemed shorter and the walking also seemed longer, but it turned out that we'd done slightly less when we limped into Letterfrack to an equally impressive welcome party as the night before. The Guinness started flowing, the food was plentiful and the evening sun was warming our faces. Feeling the glow of the sun and a couple of pints of Guinness, David accepted an invitation to complete a
radio interview on Connemara Community Radio Station to talk about our experience. We slept pretty well on that Sunday evening.

Athlone

After a bright start from Northampton we headed towards Holyhead for a ferry crossing to the Emerald Isle. Sadly, we arrived in Dublin just as rush hour began and with a map that was about 10 years old or, perhaps of more significance about as detailed as a picture of the moon, we saw more of the capital than a) we intended to and b) we wanted to. There were a couple of estates we drove through where you hoped that the lights wouldn't stay on red for too long.
Thankfully it wasn't too long before we found our way to, and ourselves on, the motorway heading West to our first overnight stop. The motorway was high quality and devoid of the levels of traffic we 'all too soon' re-familiarised ourselves with back in England. In fact, it was pleasurable and a joy to be driving in such conditions. Not too long before we arrived in Athlone and a very friendly welcome to our overnight accommodation. In fact, considering that one of the first things we asked about upon arrival was the location of a couple of well-known pubs, rather than use the hotel bar, we were treated with the welcome seen by the other two important visitors to Ireland, namely Mr Obama and Mrs Windsor.

The first pub we visited was Sean's Bar and it was everything the foreign visitor to Ireland might expect and hope for - sawdust on the floor (without the spit), peat smoking in the open fireplace, the warmest of welcomes and the coolest, most velvet pint of the Black Stuff I've tasted since the last time David was in Dublin, or the Coach & Horses, off Covent Garden. Helen still says it was the best pint of Guinness she had during our trip to Ireland (including a certain factory at St James' Gate!). Our next (and final) stop on the early evening pub crawl of Athlone was to Gertie Browne's, another interesting pub, but without the same number of clientèle, just a little less atmospheric than our first pub - but a lovely drop of Arthur's finest nonetheless.

Easton Royal (the Birthday party pics)

Easton Royal

After a long flight home, we were welcomed 'backtoBlighty' by Margaret & Lloyd, who then put us up for a few days in Easton Royal.
It proved to be a good time to re-adjust and get over the jet lag for a few days.
Only a week later and we were back down at ER to celebrate Lloyd's Birthday with a garden party that saw the Official opening of the garden Summer House, the Hungerford Brass band and the passing of the 'hat' once again between Michael and Lloyd. The hat has passed between the two of them around 60 times over the years, in all manner of ways and been delivered by some unusual methods (including manuere) and via a host of people (including the late Bob Monkhouse). This time Michael had arranged for the Hungerford Town Brass Band to present it to Lloyd in the garden. Seeing the band playing was quite a spectacle and a good way to spend a typical English Summer afternoon (cold - despite the sun making an appearance several times between the clouds).
Later in the afternoon Lloyd made a speech and David got a mention as 'Captain Patience' for his technology teaching methods, but was embarrasingly nowhere to be seen as he'd snuck off for an afternoon nap to nurse his tonsilitis.
The day was rounded off with a crowd of folk around the television set to see a traditionally poor performance in the Eurovision Song Contest by the UK - well in terms of voting that is from our European neighbours.

Ho Chi Minh (in pictures)