Tour of the Walled City

We toured Derry with our city guide, John McNaulty. Great raconteur. He kept us intrigued from the first settlements in the 6th century to the recent “Troubles”.
He had a wealth of knowledge of the walled city. We toured the murals in the Bogside
And the memorial to “Bloody Sunday”. Tomorrow is traveling day – on to Heathrow and hence to Canada.

To Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge

We left Derry to spy our first Macdonald’s of the trip. Crossing the river Foyle, we journeyed through countryside filled with recent history. There are 8,000 British soldiers still in Northern Ireland – more than in Iraq. The police stations are surrounded by barbed-wire fences. The Giant’s Causeway was breath-taking in more ways than one. A walk along the cliff edge and naturally-formed hexagonal rocks. The Carrick-a-Rede took my breath away again as we went across the 65 foot wide chasm on a rope bridge 80 feet above the sea. I don’t like heights.

From County Limerick to Clare to Galway to Mayo to Sligo to Donegal then to Derry.

Travelled all day with a stop in Sligo for lunch at “The Belfry”. Stopped at Yeats grave
And were treated with a poem or two by our courier. Saw a faery tree and still more sheep. Derry is our first stop in Northern Ireland.

Banquet at Dunratty Castle

The banquet last night was fun. The large room at Dunratty Castle was filled with tourists coming for a taste of old castle life. The harpist and fiddle player accompanied the ladies and jestors in traditional Irish ballads while we tasted mead and several courses of good food.

The Burren to the Dingle Peninsula

Our guide on "The Burren", Stephen owns 30 acres and raises beef. He was full of information on the flora and fauna and the history. Limestone rocks, sheep, wind and the sea.
Killarney National Park
Wow. Richard, our guide for the day, brought his Irish setter, Rua. We walked through a magnificent oak forest with vistas and lakes at every turn.
Dingle Peninsula
Still more vistas and stories and pubs. We walked a mile long sandy beach leaning against the wind. Several of the tour got soakers. We detoured through a cow field
because the lane way was a muddy mess. Blackberries were picked and more pictures taken.
Charles Fort, Blarney Castle and Doneraile Park kept us snapping and happy.
Tomorrow, on to Derry in Northern Ireland.

Connemara National Park

Jet lag but we must press on.
Up the hill and down the hill – rocky – barren and was it windy.
We saw peat drying on the roadside and sheep blocking our path.
That evening was a return to Galway and a pub with fresh oysters, Guinness and a soccer match. Ireland lost 4 to 1 against Cyprus.

The Montreal Airport and then on to Heathrow

They mixed international and domestic flights at the same gate.
We had security guards keeping us from the washrooms and duty free
And once past the check point, we couldn’t get back to our gate again.
Wasn’t Dorval just renovated? Who made those plans?
Heathrow early morning
The flight over was uneventful, but long. At Heathrow, we went
from terminal 3 to 1. Our walking trip started eary – a 2 mile hike
through tunnels with all our baggage. Off to Shannon and the Emerald Isle.
The image - "Security at Heathrow"