Mystery Bus HHH

BBQ "On The Rocks" at The Saltings, Annagassan
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Photo Link: <Dublin HHH (Mystery Bus Trip), 09 Sep 07 photos>
Time: 2pm Sunday afternoon; Location: the end of a lane somewhere in the backblocks of County Down, Northern Ireland (bandit country until a few years back); Problem: have you ever attempted a 3 point turn in a 35 seater bus in a narrow country lane? Perhaps not. But the enthusiasm of the hashers (possibly alcohol fuelled) got us through, even though "Bernie The Bus" (our driver) had a little trouble finding the reverse gear (crunch)... This was our Mystery Bus trip to Mullingar, which of course didn't go anywhere near Mullingar. But Clare and I knew one of the destinations very well (as we helped to set the trail), but that was still to come later in the day...
Chris & Shay came up to Annagassan on Friday night so we started the weekend with another trad session at The Glyde Inn. A couple of different musicians turned up and the music was excellent as always, with some brilliant blues too. Saturday morning and Chris & Shay left to set the first trail (the location of which was kept secret from us of course). When they returned later in the day, Clare and I learned the finer points of Hash trail setting, using shredded paper, flour and chalk...

The Annagassan trail started on the road coming into the village from Castlebellingham: false trail on the seashore, up the hill (onto the rath), past the hay bales and the water tower, down the hill, false trail to the end of the harbour wall, under the bridge, along the river, over a stile and across a cow paddock (be careful of the electric fence), across a harvested wheat field, false trail along the esplanade, clamber down the rocks, along the beach, diversion around the pub... (exhausted yet?), finally ending up in front of The Saltings. I think we did a good job! After we set the trail we headed down to Parnell St (Dublin) for some Asian food. Clare had crab and said it was one of the best meals she's had in Ireland! We stayed the night at Chris & Shay's place, so we could board the mystery bus with everyone else on Sunday morning...

Everyone made it to the bus (10am'ish) and we headed north out of Dublin taking plenty of diversions along the way including Ballymun (keep going driver) & 360˚ loops around roundabouts, etc. but still ended up on the M1. We took bets on Slane or Carlingford but steamed right past those motorway exits and were soon in Northern Ireland where we took a left turn through Jonesborough (the locals were not amused by our coach squeezing through the market day traffic). We finally reached Hawthorn Hill Forest (Slieve Gullion) for the first trail of the day. After the trail (and beer & snacks), we boarded the bus again and promptly got lost (refer to paragraph 1!) Finally followed a kind driver out of the woods, toilet stop at Camlough, diesel stop at Dundalk, then onto Annagassan where we quickly kicked off the second trail (refer to paragraph 3!)

This was all followed by a BBQ on the rocks right in front of our building. Then we waved everyone goodbye as they drove back to Dublin (well after 6pm I think). There was still a case of beer left at that stage. Another great hash adventure.

Dublin HHH - Leixlip

Photo Link: <Dublin HHH - 19 Aug 07 photos>
Went on a walk around the scenic town of Leixlip, County Kildare (West Dublin) this afternoon. The temperature hit 21c - Wow! (according to the weather oracle, which is the temperature readout in the Peugeot!) Just a few photos will be added shortly (the camera ran out of batteries) So the weather seems to be changing - maybe for the better...

Dublin HHH - Red Dress Run

Photo Link: <Dublin HHH - Red Dress Run photos>
We went on the Red Dress Run with the Dublin Hashers today. I think the pictures pretty much sum it all up!

A quick update for the week...

Irish Pub of the Week #4 - Pebble Beach, Clontarf, Dublin 3

Glass half full, Pebble Beach

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Photo Link: <Our Best Of Ireland Photoset>

Photo Link: <Our Irish Pub Of The Week Photoset>

Hi all. Another week (and weekend) has gone by. Clare was in Brussels for the European Seafood Exposition until Thursday - had a great time and saw lots of her old Aussie seafood clients and met people from the Irish seafood industry. Brussels got to 31c, with humidity just like Brisbane, but Ireland didn't rise above the teens as usual. Joe did his daily commute to DHL at Swords, close to Dublin Airport, not so exciting. We had a new front window installed at our apartment, which stayed clean for 1 day but is now covered in salt spray as the coastal breezes really whipped up this weekend. People were flying kites and I even saw a brave sailboarder screaming across Dundalk Bay. We went for a walk with the Hashers on Sunday - at Clontarf, on the northside of Dublin. Quite leisurely, and ended up at the pub as usual. Next weekend we're off to Galway and the West of Ireland as we have our May Bank Holiday (Labour Day). Bye all.

I Can't Get No Satisfaction...

Irish Pub of the Week #2 - Cobblestone, Smithfield, Dublin 7

Hi all, just a quick weekend update. We managed to get 2 tickets for The Rolling Stones at Slane Castle in August (about 1/2 hour from Annagassan)... Should be a blast - concerts at Slane Castle are reputed as being quite special with 80,000 people in a in a natural amphitheatre beside the Boyne River, in the height of the Irish Summer (but I still had no idea Clare was a closet Rolling Stones fan). All 80,000 tickets sold out in 1 day of course!
On Sunday, we went for walk with the Dublin Hash Group (A few photos are here) - we were following impossible clues in Polish, German & French from pub to pub across Dublin. Found a great Sunday afternoon trad music session at the Cobblestone, Smithfield. Not much to look at from the outside, but that's no sign of a good Dublin Pub. There are so, so many of them to choose from...
We're off to Madrid this Thursday for 4 nights away. This was a surprise trip for Clare, but I've given the destination away now - Olé...

A couple of wee updates...

Clare has been having fun (and exercise) with the Dublin Hash House Harriers. Here is another link to some photos from a couple of weekends back...
On the subject of photos, here are the last of the 2005 black and white photo links - Vietnam 2005 and Hoi An River, Vietnam 2005. That's it with the black and whites for now!
Joe is looking forward to leaving for Ireland... According to the desktop beer counter, there are 28 days, 9 hours, 54 minutes and 49 seconds to go, until boarding the first Qantas flight.