Millpond

Millpond
Originally uploaded by clare&joe

Organic

Organic
Originally uploaded by clare&joe

Sailing

Sailing
Originally uploaded by clare&joe

Shining

Shining
Originally uploaded by clare&joe

Tracks

Tracks
Originally uploaded by clare&joe

When I get around to it

When I get around to it
Originally uploaded by clare&joe

Carlingford photos...

flickr photo link: <Summer in Carlingford & Dundalk>
Just a few weekend photos. We're off to Ballyshannon this weekend for (hopefully) a good bit of trad music...

Irish Pub of the Week #14

Irish Pub of the Week #14, "P J O'Hare's" in Carlingford, Louth. There's something rather special about Carlingford and P J O'Hare's, with it's Anchor Bar, Oyster Bar & Restaurant is most definitely a favourite for us. Located in a tiny lane in the heart of the village, it's a great spot for a Guinness and a dozen oysters after a good walk up Carlingford Mountain. Clare says she never liked oysters till she came here! And look out for the collection of ‘authentic’ leprechaun bones on display to hoodwink unsuspecting tourists...

Diet Coke of Muggy...

Dublin is muggy right now. Not muggy in the Darwin, or Cairns, or Bangkok kind of way. Not even muggy in the Brisbane kind of way really. Perhaps just a diet coke kind of muggy… 1/2 a calorie of muggy. Mottled sky, trying to rain in a slightly “steamy” kind of way, and when you walk around for a while, you start to feel slightly damp (like when I walk to work). I laugh because the BBC news goes on and on about “uncomfortable” sleeping conditions, as it won’t go “under 14c tonight”. But you have to remember, most Irish people would melt if they went to Bali or Bangkok… they would simply vanish and cease to be. Heat here is limited to around 20c, and if it goes higher than that, the roads start to melt too. But you still see smoke coming from chimneys, and people walking around in coats. Funny old Dublin.

Northern exposure...

flickr photo link: <An Irish weekend, 11-13 Jul 08>
Yet more photos! We promise there is absolutely no association between: steel jaws, Nipper the cat, swans biting Clare and The Queen... We headed north of the border after "The Twelth", when the Protestants take to the streets. Not much to see on the Sunday except for Scarva, where the village was enjoying cups of tea and watching brass bands, but we just wanted pictures of the signs really...

Irish Pub of the Week #13

Irish Pub of the Week #13, "The Gall Bog Bar" in County Down. OK, all politics aside, this pub is in Northern Ireland, but our Irish Pub of the Week is based on interesting pubs rather than borders! Sometimes you see these little pubs in the countryside - they almost look like someones living room... They might have cars parked outside, maybe not. We guess these are pubs for locals only. Anyway, this one in County Down caught our eye as we drove past.

Irish Pub of the Week #12

Irish Pub of the Week #12, "The Bleeding Horse" on Camden St, Dublin. I'm staying in Ranelagh at the moment, and kept seeing this popular city pub with a fascinating name!

Dublin & more fog tales...

Boyne River Bridge... Lost in the fog...

Keep your nerve, keep your distance!

(click on the pics for the large version)

I'm hanging out in Dublin at the moment, which is kind of cool as I get to walk to work. I soon realised that I haven't lived in a "city centre" for a long, long time now (maybe Bondi Junction, Sydney back in the 90's?) I'm talking the sort of area where takeaway shops abound, traffic builds up outside the front door in the morning, Starbucks is 100 metres away and homeless people lie in the doorways... Dublin Trams (the LUAS) swirl by every few minutes. There's a real inspiration to being in the city though, and you get some nice evening walks past Dublin mansions with iron railings, neighbourhood parks (like Notting Hill) and all types of people out and about enjoying the summer evenings, although it has been bloody cool (and wet!) Yes, we talk about weather so much here - maybe it's a national pastime. Wednesday morning started in Dublin with pouring rain, buckets of it... eventually fading to blue skies & sunshine by late afternoon - then, driving north out of the city, a thick fog descended around 7pm - an absolute pea souper. This swirled all around Dublin Airport, which was already conked out by a radar failure trapping thousands of people for the night. Certainly made driving on the M1 a challenge too (pictures above).

Little Tern Benefit Concert, Spirit Store Dundalk I

We hope you like these 3 YouTube video clips of the brilliant Irish Trad gig we went to the other night (there are 3 blog updates in a row here). This was The Little Tern Benefit Concert at the Spirit Store, Dundalk on Sunday 06 July 2008. The very best of Irish trad music! The first clip features Patrick Martin (on pipes) & Cathal Johnson (of the French Fiddles).



Here are the artist bio's:
Patrick Martin is a full-time musician specialising in Highland Bagpipes and Irish Uilleann Pipes. Having studied both these instruments for most of 28 years, he can offer live music of the highest calibre. Patrick is also in demand for recording work by a number of bands and singers desiring some pipe or whistle music on their arrangements. His business is called Ground Bass Music which refers to the sound of pipe drones. Also of Riverdance fame, he is prize winner in the European and 6th in the World Championships in 2006. He is also involved in the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland who undertake a series of concerts each year both in Ireland and overseas. Their soul-stirring performances have been described as 'inspriational', 'astounding' and 'ranking at the very top of orchestral brilliance'.
The name French Fiddles is derived from Louth local dialect meaning mouth organ/harmonica. The band started up about 2 years ago in 2006. Since then the band has developed a steady organically grown set that has evolved and continues to evolve along it's journey. Cathal Johnson on vocals, guitar and harmonica, Isabel Nic Chuireann on guitar and piano accordion, Jacque Faure on clarinet and sax and Andrew Grafton from Eurostar fame on guitar and vocals are the main members. But the band tends to expand or contract at times adding the likes of Eamon Doyle on bluegrass style fiddle. Their influences range from traditional music from around the world to contemporary, to local styles from around Ireland. French Fiddles play original music augmented with essentially traditional Irish, country folk, blues and jazz, old-timey, contemporary and bluegrass styles. An eclectic bunch who are in the process of making a commercial CD and hope to have it finished soon.

Little Tern Benefit Concert, Spirit Store Dundalk II

French Fiddles playing at the Spirit Store, Dundalk on Sunday 06 July, 2008.



Hope you like it...

Little Tern Benefit Concert, Spirit Store Dundalk III

French Fiddles playing at the Spirit Store, Dundalk on Sunday 06 July, 2008. Sorry, this trad piece is cut off after 3 mins, 5 secs. I need more memory cards!



Bye for now...

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

North Stradbroke Island, QLD, Australia

flickr photo link: <Brisbane, Jun 08>
13 Jun 08 EI34 BFS/LHR 1255/1415
13 Jun 08 BA15 LHR/SYD 2135/0515+2 (777 via SIN)
15 Jun 08 QF508 SYD/BNE 0805/0935
28 Jun 08 QF529 BNE/SYD 1315/1445
28 Jun 08 BA10 SYD/LHR 1635/0620+1 (747 via BKK)
29 Jun 08 EI33 LHR/BFS 1050/1210
So we're back in Ireland after a very nice 2 weeks in Brisbane. I've started putting some photos from our trip on flickr, although perhaps that goes against the spirit of "Adventures in Dundalk", so our Australian content should be kept to a bare minimum! Heathrow behaved itself this time with no light dustings of snow or lost baggage. Just the normal level of construction & sticky carpets (come to think of it, which airport in the world isn't under construction?) Anyway, it's been raining A LOT in Ireland while we were away. In fact, we didn't get too far from Belfast Airport before it started coming down again as we walked across the carpark into the giant Sainsburys at Sprucefield. Got some shopping, and immediately compared the cost against OZ (Coles/Woolies). Our consensus was... there isn't a whole lot of difference. We got quite a few bags of stuff for £44 (OZ $88), so there you are.
Our Annagassan Viking Festival is getting closer (09/10 August), my office moves out to Leixlip around the end of August, and I'm staying quite a few nights in Dublin over the coming month and a half too. So, back into the mist/pouring rain/fog tonight for the next installment. Take your choice.

A Summer Day in Listoke Gardens

flickr photo link: <A Summer Day In Listoke Gardens>
We had a nice late Sunday afternoon at Listoke Gardens, a little estate just down the road near Drogheda. Rustic gardens, grass tennis courts, strawberries & cream, John Constable views. All in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind. This was a real slice of Anglo-Ireland that is quite apparent in the area where we live, but not always seen. Ended the day with some music - keyboard, guitar & sax. Nice.
Just 4 more days, then we're off to Australia for our flying 2 week visit. Looking at the industrial action going on by Qantas engineers in Australia at the moment almost makes me glad we're actually flying BA for the long haul sectors, but then again, their baggage handling record ain't exactly the best. Happy Travels!

Massif Central, France

The truly incredible Millau Viaduct on the A75 Motorway, Massif Central. We braved pouring rain, fog & hazardous driving conditions to get this shot!

Gimel-les-Cascades, in the Limousin region of Central France.

Massif Central

flickr photo link: <Massif Central, May-Jun 08>
31 May 08 FR202 DUB/STN 0630/0745
31 May 08 FR8776 STN/LIG 1035/1305
02 Jun 08 EI553 LYS/DUB 1615/1725 (Joe)
06 Jun 08 EI553 LYS/DUB 1615/1725 (Clare)
So we're sitting in the Qantas Club at London Heathrow on 13 June (well, the British Airways Lounge to be exact). It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to sit in a Qantas Club – possibly Madrid. Having membership helped us drop off our luggage at T4 around 6 hrs before the flight. Extremely useful, but what we hadn’t realised was that the Club now has real meals available in addition to the alcohol, magazines, newspapers & Wi-Fi, etc. So we really shouldn’t have spent the money buying lunch downstairs! At Belfast Airport (where we left this morning) Clare picked up (yet another) travel magazine called ‘Travel’. Reading it inspired her to get cracking about our short trip to the French countryside on the recent long weekend. The notes were left behind in Ireland, so here goes…

While Ireland generally gets the rain in winter (joke!), the Massif Central, France, gets the rain in summer... so the forecast for our little weekend trip didn't look too good. Admittedly it was only as we made a dash down the A75 Motorway to the Millau Viaduct on the Sunday afternoon that we were immersed into total liquidity - with cloud & fog. But it was worth it. If you want to drive along one of the most amazing motorways in the world, and see the French obsession with bridges and viaducts, this is definitely the place!

We started the weekend at Dublin airport, as is usually the case for us now. Only this weekend another 349,998 people were passing through the airport with us, as it was the first long weekend of ‘summer’. Given that Ireland only has around 4 million people, that’s almost 10% of the total population or around 25% of Dublin’s population. So we got up around 3am to get to the airport by 4.30am to join the herd. We only made it to the same flight the week before with minutes to spare, by sneaking into the front of the security queue, so NO sleeping in this morning. Clare ended up with 2 hrs sleep after a fairly arduous audit in Dublin that meant she got home around 10.30pm then had to pack and prepare, not just for the weekend trip but also for a work project meeting after the long weekend in Clermont-Ferrand.

This was a 2 airline trip. We took a connection out with Ryanair, firstly to London Stansted, and then checked in again for the flight to Limoges. We flew home directly from Lyon (on different dates) with Aer Lingus. That allowed us to cross the Massif Central by car, from west to east. Occupying a hilltop in the heart of the Limousin countryside, Limoges Airport was small, attractive and well organised (unusual for some Ryanair destinations!) And the weather was wonderful – warm and sunny! The lady at the Europcar counter was being harassed by Brits who refused to sign forms or turned up without credit cards, but we were eventually issued with a nice Hyundai i30 (and we did over 1000 km's in 48 hours).

We had some lunch and headed off down the A20 to Brive and into the Limousin countryside proper. Yes there were Limousin cattle everywhere and only Limousin cattle. Overall the countryside seemed empty of cultivation and livestock – no sheep, just Limousin cattle! Clare had done research for the trip while Joe had done the bookings so off we drove to find our destination for the night – we called it Aubergine. It was a B&B up in the mountains above the town, surrounded by forest. On the way, with the Garmin lady telling us where to go, we stopped to check the map at a dead end and found a flooded river with Kayakers racing up and down trying to master the white water. The B&B was wonderful, exactly as described and even with a black cat on the front sofa as a welcoming committee. Clare’s type of place! By this time we were quite wrecked as it was around 5pm. We were booked into the restaurant for dinner at 7.30pm, so instead of doing the sensible thing and resting for a bit, we sped away in the car to a couple of very interesting places Clare had researched from the Lonely Planet – Gimel-Les-Cascades. After seeing the local rivers in flood, we knew the cascades would be impressive. Following the Garmin lady again, we certainly took the long and scenic way to the cascades (why do we keep trusting her!?) We went deeper into the mountains, up hills, down dales and through some very lush countryside, past shimmering lakes and onto ever smaller lanes. The village was almost deserted with a few shops open and no other tourists at all. It was June - wasn’t this summer? Even the B&B’s appeared closed. Just out of the carpark we found a local cat who wanted a chat and came running. Then off to the ruined castle and could see and hear the cascades but couldn’t work out how to get to them. The views over the village were postcard perfect. We just followed some other people down the lanes and lo & behold, the cascades. Yes you were meant to pay to walk down to the bottom of them but the gate was closed and we could see the best from the top. We looked around and found some interesting signs in English. The sun was setting, so we wondered back to the car and found that people had come out and the B&B was indeed open and full. Looked like a party of Germans who’d been fishing, had filled the place. What with the lakes and streams around here, the fishing would be good!

To be completed...

Instructions from the Garmin lady...

flickr photo link: <Rickmansworth, 24 May 08>
Hi all, I've also been doing some other photo updates today, catching up on recent trips...
BARCELONA photos on flickr: <Barcelona, Mar 08>
24 May 08 FR202 DUB/STN 0630/0745
24 May 08 FR293 STN/DUB 1935/2050
We purchased a reasonable Sat Nav thingy last week. Let's call it "Garmin". It came pre-loaded with maps for Ireland, Britain & Europe, and Australia/USA, etc. can be purchased later. Being a basic model, it only has one voice, whom I now call the "Garmin lady"... It is she who says "stay left, keep left, take the 2nd exit on the roundabout", etc. Of course we've discovered that many roads around here, although probably centuries old, are not recognised by the Garmin lady, who immediately thinks you're tearing across the open countryside, and tries to correct you. It's at this point that I lower her volume. The Garmin lady also tried to send me down a one-way street in Dublin the other morning, after I'd dropped off Clare for a fish factory audit, located somewhere between Mountjoy Prison and an eye hospital in an old gothic pile that looked like a workhouse from the 1840's. Just the usual Dublin. Later that day, she did the same "one-way" trick again. So after that I ignored the Garmin lady - both her Dublin direction antics and her incredibly slow speed in acquiring an Irish satellite signal.
That was, until I switched on the Garmin lady again in the UK yesterday, after a short Ryanair hop from Dublin. This time, she acquired the satellite signal incredibly fast - is this a conspiracy against Ireland? Yes, the Garmin is truly portable & versatile, but the Budget car we'd hired at Stansted Airport had an incessant BEEP from the radio every 30 seconds - enough to drive you mad. We had to get the Budget kid to fix it. And as if the Korean factory worker that designed the beeping hadn't had enough of a laugh, every time you started the car, the radio was programmed to come on at Volume 10. Clare was not impressed. It was on the M25 that the Garmin followed suit, by beeping everytime we went past a traffic camera, then beeping incessently to tell us our average speed was 64 kph. That was, until we hit the crawling traffic after the M1, where every second car seemed to be overheating and the football fans had their windows wound down. Grinding to a halt with petrol bubbling away at $50 a litre...
But we had a very nice day in the UK - for my Aunt & Uncle's 50th Wedding Anniversary in Rickmansworth. We left Annagassan at 4.30am and got home at 10.30pm, which by our calculations is approx. half the journey time of our upcoming trip to Australia. We got to see everyone - all the aunts, uncles, cousins & their kids. Very good. The Ryanair pilot on the way back to Dublin seemed quite determined to make it home for a football match or something. We reversed away as soon as the doors were closed, tore down the Stansted taxiway at breakneck speed (I thought he was gonna try and lift the nose at one point), lined up and took off pronto, bumped our way back to Dublin, a couple of aerobatic turns, slammed it down, brakes on, olympic speed-record taxi back to the D Gates... I think we did 'door close' to 'door open' in about 45 mins.
We're off to France next weekend (long weekend in Ireland) - who knows what the Garmin lady will make of the French countryside? Then Australia in 3 weeks time. I guess we'll keep flying till the oil runs out...