Sunday, 28 June 2009

Aran Islands and Cashel

Something that I had wanted to do but did not think I would have time to do was to visit one of the islands. Since I ended up with a bit more time I back tracked to County Clare and caught a ferry from Doolin to Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands. On the way to Clare I stopped to go to the beach and for a very "bracing" swim. I spent Thursday night at a small port town named Kilrush and stayed in another eerily deserted hostel. The ferry to Inis Mor stopped for one hour at Inisheer, one of the other, smaller Aran Islands. This afforded enough time to clamber round the main sight on the island, the remains of O'Brian's castle. On Inis Mor I hired a bike. I loved cycling round the quiet roads of Inis Mor. In the aftenoon I cycled to Dun Angus, the remains of a 2000 year old fort on the edge of high cliffs. I merrily traipsed along the edge of the cliffs only to read later that tourists had died after being blown off the cliffs. It was another warm day. In the evening I went to the local pub, which happily was holding a beauty contest. It was fascinating to hear Gaelic being spoken on the islands.
On Sunday I caught the ferry back to Doolin and from there headed for Rosslare on the east coast of Ireland. On the way I stopped at the Rock of Cashel, one of the most famous historic sights in Ireland. On the rock are the remains, in varying states of disrepair, a cathedral and a chapel. There is also a round tower, looking like something that Repunzel would have been kept in. The Rock of Cashel:


On the way to Rosslare I stopped at Waterford and had brief look around and McDonalds for dinner. As I had to be up early the next morning to catch the ferry I slept in my car- quite comfortable actually.
This morning I caught the ferry from Rosslare to Pembroke in Wales, from where I am writing this post.

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Anna's Feet


Staying at the hostel in Dingle were Anna and Maria, Scottish Swedes (or Swedish Scots). They have lovely Scottish accents and were very nice and great fun to be with. Anna was suffering from several ailments, including sunburn, a sore neck and an undiagnosed problem that meant that she was finding walking difficult. One of the offending feet is pictured. Other than some sunburn there was no obvious sign of her ailment.

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Dingle Peninsula

The Dingle Peninsula is in south west Ireland and includes Ireland's most westerly point and its highest road pass, Connor Pass. While I have been here it has been warm and sunny. I went to the beach on two afternoons. The water is not super warm but it was no worse than Auckland at the equivalent time of year. Since the weather was nice I walked up Mt Brandon, a little shorter than Carrantuohil but in the fine weather the views were much much better-

I drove around the western end of Dingle Peninsula, dodging convoys of large tourist buses on single lane roads. The most interesting sight on the drive is Gallarus Oratory, a 1000 year old religious building built completely from stone. I also stopped to look at beehive huts (stone buildings which, as the name suggests, look like beehives) and Dunbeg Fort. I stayed in Dingle, a vibrant little town packed with tourists.

Monday, 22 June 2009

The Burren and Killarney

The Burren is a rocky area in the northern part of County Clare. I stayed in a nice little town named Kilfenora. On Thursday night I went to a local pub and listened to some traditional music. On Friday I tripped around with Taylor, a beautiful and engaging young woman from Arizona. We visited Corcomroe Abbey, Dunguaire Castle, the Corofin town museum (very good), Poulnabrone Dolmen and discussed the social habits and religious beliefs of the dolphins.

From the Burren I went to Killarney. I stayed in a hostel in the country, about 10 miles from Killarney. I was the only guest while I was there. The hostel had newspapers from 1982. It was all a little eerie. My main goal was to climb Mt Carrantuohil, at 1039m the highest mountain in Ireland. The day I climbed was fine but the mountain was cloud covered above about 300m. I was told that the view from the top is great in fine weather. Oh well. I lost the track on the way back down, which was fun. I made it back OK but I was about a mile off course. The picture of me at the top gives an idea of the conditions-


I quite liked Killarney, it is a compact town with lots of amenities. On Saturday night I went to the cinema and watched the film "Terminator Salvation", which had nothing whatsoever to do with Ireland.

Thursday, 18 June 2009

Carrick

Some Irishmen I met in Derry recommended visiting Carrick, which is about 40km west of Donegal. So I booked there for two nights, just to avoid my constant "one night stands" in each place I go. The hostel was quiet, with only a few people staying. Nina (a weapon of mass distraction) and Mary were nice young women from France and Belgium. On Tuesday night I went to a local pub with Nina and Simone, an outgoing young Italian guy. We were the only foreigners in the pub. It was a great night, with a group playing very good folk music. On Wednesday we had morning tea at David's place; David is an englishman who was playing the previous night and who lives in Carrick. I then took my "children", Nina, Mary and Simone, in my car to Slieve League, the highest sea cliffs in Europe. We walked up on the cliffs for about an hour. The cliffs were spectacular. We then went to Donegal from where Nina, Mary and Simone were catching buses. I returned to Carrick and had a very interesting chat with Shaun, the owner of the hostel. Among other interesting facts, he explained that many of the local farmers were older single males who were made to leave school in the 70s when EEC subsidies meant that there was a lot of value in farming, while the women left to go to university. A fascinating conversation.

Slieve League




On Wednesday night I went back to the same pub as the night before, with a pleasant French couple, Marie and Jacques. The pub was much more crowded than the night before and unfortunately the music was not as good.

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Belfast and Derry

On Sunday I took an early ferry from Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland. It was only a short crossing, which was just as well, as we were "trapped" inside the ferry- we could not go out on deck. Larne is quite close to Belfast. On my way to Belfast I stopped and had a look round the castle at Carrickfergus. It started to rain heavily at that stage. Rather than doing a tour of Belfast I visited the transport museum. The exhibits were excellent. My favourite was the DeLorean exhibit (pictured below). The DeLorean is most famous from the movie "Back to the Future". Belfast is, strangely enough, the "home" of the DeLorean. The DeLoreans were built in Belfast (thanks to generous government subsidies), until the company went bust.



It was sunny and warm on Monday morning, so went for a walking tour around the more infamous parts of Belfast. The area around Falls Road is a Catholic enclave in a largely Protestant city and one of the most well known flashpoints of the "Troubles". It is mostly calm now although the "peace wall" still separates that area from the surrounding Protestant area at night. Pictured below is one of the murals on Falls Road.


Flags are the most obvious signs of the allegiance of particular neighbourhoods. I am sure that there are many other, more subtle, ways in which the distinctions between the communities affect people in Northern Ireland. For much of the rest of Monday it rained. I went into central Belfast and did a little shopping. From Belfast I visited the "Giant's Causeway", a World Heritage Site famous for the hexagonal shapped rock formations. The car park charged an extortionate £6 to park so I parked 1km down the road and walked back. The causeway was interesting. I spent Tuesday night in Derry (or Londonderry, depending on your political persuasion). Derry is famous for its city walls, which are still intact and quite imposing.

From Derry I drove in to Ireland (there are no border crossings or even signs to indicate that you are crossing the border), bought petrol (it is cheaper than in Northern Ireland) and then whent to Malin Head, a nice spot and the most northerly part of Ireland. From there I drove to Carrick, in County Donegal.

Saturday, 13 June 2009

Glasgow

A photo of me looking excited on the summit of Ben Nevis.


Glasgow comes with a lot of "baggage"- it does not get very good press, not helped with the TV programme "Taggart". But maybe it was the warm weather, maybe it was the grid system, which means that the city is quite well layed out, maybe it was the park next to the Burrell Collection, but I really rather liked it. Downtown had the usual shopping centres and high street chain stores, but it was not nearly as bad as, say, Leicester or Cardiff. In fact, in some ways is reminded me of Auckland. I did not visit the infamous suburban tower block areas, which do sound pretty dire. The Burrell Collection is Glasgow's most well known museum. It is relatively small and contains items collected by Mr Burrell over his life. He left them to the city, which then waited 40 years to build a museum to house them. The museum is located in a very nice park. It was well worth the visit.

Ben Nevis

On Thursday night I stayed in a hostel a few miles from Fort Augustus (at the sourthern tip of Loch Ness), in the countryside. It was like stepping back in time, to about 1983. The hostel must have been built during that time, as it was a near perfect 80s time capsule. There was dark wood paneling, cavernous but soulless room, aluminium glazing, those glass, crystal-like door knobs and carpet with a pattern that defies description. It was all in surpirsingly good condition and quite comfortable. It should be a listed building.

My goal yesterday was to climb Ben Nevis. It was a perfect day, with high clouds and little wind. The views from Ben Nevis were superb. It was a relatively easy walk up, as there is a well maintained track the whole way. There was snow from about 1200m and the summit was largely snow covered. It got cooler nearer the top, as you would expect. I got to the top in two and half hours. I spent an hour on the summit. It was busy but not horribly- I had chosen to go on Friday as I figured it would be busier on the weekend. The summit.




The drive along the A82 from Fort William to the hostel by Loch Lomond was the most enjoyable of my whole trip. The road had two lanes but was quite wide, a verge (not that common), was gently windy, largely free of traffic and the landscape had a very NZ look to it. I drove for two hours but I could have driven all day on roads like that.

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Dun Carloway Broch


I mentioned the Broch in my post below. An amazing sight. By the way, "Dun" is pronounced "doon" not "done", so you can avoid making the same mistake I did.

Outer Hebrides



On Tuesday I spent the night at Leverburgh, a small settlement on the southern tip of Harris. The photo above shows some of the locals in Leverburgh going out for the evening.

Yesterday I bused up to Lewis (which is joined to Harris) and visited the Gaerrannan Blackhouse Village, a "collection" of tradional buildings that were preserved when the last residents moved to more modern accommodation in the early 70s. I then visited Dun Carloway Broch, the 2000 year old remains of a defensive tower and residence, which broods quite nicely on the coast. Catching the bus was pleasant, as I could enjoy the views, but I missed the car, especially the flexibility it allows.

It was fascinating hearing gaelic being spoken in the Outer Herbrides. The Outer Hebrides and some other areas on the west and north coasts of mainland Scotland are the last areas where there are significant numbers of native gaelic speakers. Less fascinating was the quite significant number of inebriated older people I bumped into on the Outer Hebrides. And this was not in the evening but the middle of the day! Maybe it is due to the local tipple and free bus travel for over 60s. The locals treated them with resigned patience. I took the ferry back from Tarbert this morning. The Outer Herbides are an amazing place and I would like to visit again to explore more of the islands.

The ferry got into Uig at 1.30 this afternoon. My car was waiting for me, none the worse for our period of enforced separation. I visited the Museum of Island Life on Skye, which was interesting. I drove to Invergarry (quite near the southern end of Loch Ness) in the afternoon.

Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Skye and Outer Hebrides



On Sunday morning I went to Dunnet Head, so I can say that I have visited the most northern point in mainland Britain. I spent the rest of the day driving along the north coast and then down the west coast, ending up at Portree in Skye. It was the longest drive of my travels so far. Many of the roads were single lane (with numerous passing bays), especially on the northern coast. Hoever, the traffic was light so that didn't present a major problem. It was great being on the open road with very few settlements, quite rare in the UK. The views of the coast, mountains and lochs were fantastic. Soon after Dunnet Head, which was much nicer than John o'Groats as it has no tourist shops at all, is the unlovely Dounreay nuclear power plant, the worlds first nuclear reactor to generate electricity for a national grid. It is now being decommissioned, which will take generations. On the news the day before had been an item about some further newly discovered source of nuclear contamination at Dounreay. I stopped briefly to see the station but did not linger. I stopped at Durness for lunch and briefly visited the local attraction, the Smoo cave (that is not a mispelling). It is a large cave that you can walk into at low tide. There is not much more to say.

My great-great grandparents on my maternal grandmother's side came from Potree on Skye, so it was nice to make it there. Portree is not exceptional and reflects the Scottish love of pebbledash exteriors. The weather on Monday was fine, a bit nippy but warm at times in the sun. I went for a walk at Quiraing on the Trotternish peninsula. Quiraing is a spectacular area with a large rock formation dominating. I also walked to the "Old Man of Storr", another large piece of spectacular rock. I spent the night at a very nice hostel overlooking the sea.

Yesterday I caught the ferry from Uig to Tarbert on the Outer Hebrides, a one and three-quarter hours trip on a calm sea. I left my car in Uig and am travelling with just a back pack. The cost of taking my car on the ferry was not worth it, given the relatively short amount of time I would be on the Outer Hebrides. It is exciting to be here, as I have wanted to come for a long time. From Tarbert I caught a bus to further down the coast and walked from the east to west coasts of Harris. The walk was not the best I have been on, it rained most of the time and in a couple of places bogs almost swallowed me whole. But, the White sand beaches on the west coast of Harris are amazing (see the photo above).

Saturday, 6 June 2009

John o'Groats


John o'Groats is usually considered to be the most northerly point in mainland UK, although Dunnet Head a few miles to the west is actually more northerly. I travelled from Helmsdale, where I stayed last night, to John o'Groats today. John o'Groats itself is completely unexceptional but I could not go north and not stop there. Though the view out to sea was great, with the Orkney Islands filling the horizon. From John o'Groats I went on a very good walk to the Stacks of Duncansby. As the name suggests, the stacks were part of the sea cliffs but have been separated from the mainland by erosion. They are home to huge numbers of gulls and other birds. There were also several seals frollicking in the sea, which was really cool. The weather was reasonable, with showers from time to time but with pleasant sunny spells inbetween. I am staying at John o'Groats tonight. I took the photo at 10pm tonight. The land over the sea to the right of the photo is the southern Orkney Islands.

Friday, 5 June 2009

Elgin and Inverness



On Tuesday morning I went back to the Linn of Dee. I was keen to go for a swim in the river, since it was a nice day. Of course it was utterly freezing. I then had a very nice drive from Braemar up to Speyside. I stayed the night at a camping ground near Elgin. Maybe it was the cooler weather and the fact it was mid-week, but the only other people there were a middle-aged couple in a camper van. I chatted to them and it turned out that they were reviewers for the AA camping and caravaning guide. They were very excited when I told them that I had a copy and had used it to find the camping ground.

My car had been making some funny noises, so I took it to a mechanic in Elgin. It turned out to be leaking power steering fluid. To cut a long story short I spent 2 days waiting for parts and for the car to be repaired. Not a disaster but a bit frustrating. I did some "admin" in Elgin and also visited the Cathderal, which has been crumbling away for a few centuries- see the picture above. I spent two nights in Inverness as it was getting too cold to camp and there was very little choice of accommodation. In Elgin. I liked Elgin a lot; people were very friendly and helpful and would say "nae" a lot eg. "I would nae drive that car before the repairs are completed".

I got back on the road today. At Loch Ness I managed to photograph the monster! The photo is below.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Braemar


I woke up to a tranquil and warm morning- it was fantastic. Braemar is only a few miles from Balmoral Castle, where the Queen spends a good part of her summer. I did not visit, as the public can only visit the grounds. Instead I went for a walk in Ballochbuie forest on the Balmoral estate, which includes some of the few remaining stands of old growth scots pine. It was one of the few places I have visited that is forested- very pleasant on a hot day. Although I got completely coated in pollen. While I was in the forest a fighter jet flew overhead at low altitude. That made my day- I had hoped for that to happen the whole time I have been in Scotland. From the forest I drove to Glenshee, a ski resort in winter and a spectacular drive. In the late afternoon I visited the Linn of Dee, a very nice forested area on the river Dee (I am guessing that Linn means forest but cannot be sure). The photo is of the Dee and surrounding forest.