Don't Worry Be Happy

Our last night in Ireland was spent in a pub (are you surprised?). The Cobblestone pub in Dublin is THE place for musicians. The session was led by renowned uilleann piper Neillidh (Neely) Mulligan with his brother Tom (owner of the pub) on flute. When we got there at 5:30 there were about 5 musicians including a harpist; by the time we left a few hours later, most of those had gone and had been replaced by many others who came, played for an hour or so, then left. There were flutes, pipes, fiddles, harp, concertina, mandolin, guitar. Apparently that would continue until the pub shut down at midnight.  I enjoyed watching the harp player - she is a real pro. Many of the musicians who came are well known in the area. This is kind of the definition of a traditional Irish music session. People just started in on tunes and everyone joined in. The occasional song (unaccompanied) was thrown in and the whole pub packed with people came to a hush to listen. I had my tin whistle and was able...

I’m not sure but it may be the wide sweeping, green hills lined with tidy rock walls, or the grand vistas from the edge of tall cliffs by the sea or the rich music tradition or … all of the above and more. It also may be a tie for first place with Donegal (and Connemara).  The view from our wee cottage in Miltown Malbay. The photos below are from our 2 days in Clare, one night in Lahinch and one in Milltown Malbay. That’s only because I screwed up the reservation and booked 2 places for one night and none for another!  Luckily it all worked out.  From Lahinch we drove north to the Cliffs of Moher, bypassing the regular visitor parking lot (full of buses) in favour of Guerin's Path - a farmer has opened his field for access to the trail and it’s cheaper, less crowded and you can actually drive up to the trail. Only one other car was parked at the top. Some views of the trail and cliffs. Then on to the super cute little village of Doolin. Lots of parking when we arrived, st...

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade -W.B. Yeats We arrived in Sligo, on the west coast of Ireland with nothing on our agenda. The trip took us past this lovely waterfall (Glencar) that could be in some tropical oasis. Thanks for the photo Marj - because of my foot I didn’t climb all the way up.   Sligo is famous for being the home of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats. It’s a beautiful little town, with a river down the middle so some cute bridges.   Looking online for 'what to do in Sligo' we noticed the "Rose of Innisfree" which is a boat trip on Lough Gill, where Yeats was inspired to write many of his poems. The meeting point was at Parke's Castle which, because it was the first Wednesday of the month, was free admission (yay!).   The castle was originally built by the Irish Chieftain Brian O'Rourk...

 We set off in the late morning for our destination -  the Giant’s Causeway, probably Northern Ireland's most famous geological landmark. But sometimes apparently it’s about the journey.  Our route was along the Antrim coast - a beautiful stretch of road filled with views of the sea, flowers blooming along the roadside, old churches and little villages.  First we had to stop for coffee at this lovely little shop at Glenarm Castle. When Mary ordered the scone with butter, cream, and jam it didn’t take me long to order the same. The scones melted in your mouth….and the butter and cream,,,yum. Then we set off to find the Hidden Village of Galbolly. Apparently it’s very well hidden as we didn’t find it. According to some online sources it’s on private land and the owner has many no trespassing signs and loads of barbed wire.  But we did see this rock structure known as the grey lady (below).  Further up the coast is this abandoned church and graveyard, accessib...

Some dolphins joined us yesterday on the way to Paros: Freddo cappuccino and cafe frappe - getting addicted to these on our morning coffee break.  Then our afternoon refreshments: The whole crew after our last ride. A great group of people  to spend the week with. Our last night at the port of Sivarot on the mainland of Greece. Back to Athens tonight with dinner at a Greek Taverna then off to Belfast for 12 days  

If you plan on biking on these Greek islands be prepared to mostly just go up then down. There’s not much flat in between. The problem with down is that, although easy, isn’t really relaxing because you really have to concentrate and the braking is hard on the wrists. 

There are 7 main islands in the Ionian group and we’ve visited 4. Some are very small and the populations range from about 2-40 thousand. We started in Lefkas, went to Ithaca, then Kefalonia and Meganisi. We’re biking on main roads connecting one side of the island to the other. The roads are windy with many switchbacks. Fortunately the views are spectacular and the roads are lined with many different wild flowers.  There are actually people down on that beach. They look like ants.  All ports in Greece are public so the boat can’t reserve a spot in advance. That means that as we set off for a port to stay overnight there’s no guarantee there will be a spot for us and we may have to try somewhere else.  Our typical view while moored. Not all the houses in Greece are white and blue.  This is an appropriate place to find goats. Some are wild, others have bells that tinkle like chimes as we go by.  Another stunning view.  A study in contrasts. Lots of luxury ya...

It wasn’t until our 2nd bike trip in Italy that e-bikes started to be available. Five years ago In Croatia about 1/2 were e-bikes but there was still some   stigma  associated with having one. Well thankfully that’s no longer the case. This boat is flying flags from the countries represented on board. Two French,2 Italian, 2 Kiwis, 4 Americans, 4 Canadians (another couple from Golden BC).  The ages range from 35 to 94 and guess who didn’t have e-bikes? The older couple from France! Technically this is Day 3  but since we didn’t get to the boat until about 9:30 pm on the first day it hardly counts. Day 2 had 400 m of elevation (yikes) and it didn’t take long till the French couple managed to secure e-bikes which means we’re all on e-bikes. Today’s elevation was 800m (260 feet) so we were very grateful for the extra boost otherwise I might still be there. .  Here’s an animated video of todays trip. There were so many switchbacks I lost count.  The boat i...