IRELAND - Homeward Bound

Well the trip is over, so this morning I took a trip on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) from Dun Laoghaire (where I have been staying) down to Greystones and back. The DART is Dublin's electric commuter train but its no ordinary ride as the line runs through the city centre and then follows the curve of Dublin Bay north to Howth and Malahide and south to Greystones. The line south of Dun Laoghaire is particularly scenic with great coastal views - well worth the ride. Top tip - if you are going to Dublin and the city centre hotel prices are a bit steep, just look for somewhere on the DART line a little further out. It runs every 15 minutes or so and is very easy to use, just get a Leap Card and touch in and out just like London's Oyster Card. 

In case you didn't know about the names of the transport smart cards - Oyster in London comes from the saying "The World Is Your Oyster" - Leap in Dublin comes from the fact the zones are called hops and they are promoted by a frog character - Go Explore in the Isle of Man is fairly obvious BUT I haven't quite managed to work out where Liverpool has got Walrus cards from - maybe the marketing men were just having a bad day.

One last thing from Dublin - I had an Elgin Marbles moment

Looking at this post box it is clear that when the Irish got independence they did not give all the post boxes back. This one clearly has E vii R on it and when I looked around the mouth where the green paint was chipped you could see some Royal Mail red coming through. Looks like one more thing for the government to add to the BREXIT negotiations.

From Dublin it is a very speedy 2 hour crossing on a large catamaran to Holyhead. A lovely crossing on a day like today, but I will admit I hate those things when its a bit choppy and usually try to avoid them.

Holyhead is of course in Wales ......

......... and from there a train runs either direct to London or like today to Chester with a connection south. Another lovely ride with Snowdonia one side of the track and the sea on the other.

And so I have come to the end of this trip and as before, I hope you have found the content interesting. What's coming up next? Well I'm back in Ireland to continue with this trip for a week in October and at some point between now and March there will be a "Grown Up Gapper BREXIT Special" from Brussels.

Bye for now!

IRELAND - From Hogwarts to The Italian Job

I have been doing some full on sight-seeing in Dublin today. Let's be honest from the beginning here, any delve into Irish history particularly here in Dublin is going to result in a lot of "The nasty British did this and the nasty British did that". So be prepared if you visit!

Anyway first stop this morning was Trinity College, Dublin where you can go inside and view The Long Room (the library), The Book of Kells (an illuminated manuscript book of the Gospels) and lastly The Brian Boru Harp (the harp that is the symbol of Ireland). One very interesting piece of info re the harp came from two different guides today (so it must be true!). On the Queen's Royal Standard and the Guinness logo the harp faces one way but on Irish Government documents, signs and passports it faces the other way. Obviously the Royal Family had the image first, then along came Guinness who trademarked the harp. Irish independence came third and when the new government announced that they wanted to use the harp as the symbol of Ireland, Guinness said "NO!" and consequently the government was forced to use it the other way round.

Here are some pics - the library is very Hogwarts.

Stop number two was Dublin Castle (free if you are an English Heritage member). The castle which is basically a palace was the home of the British Viceroy and the seat of British power in Ireland. It still contains the throne made for George IV and is now used by the Irish President for state events.

After lunch I did a tour of St Patrick's Cathedral - the national protestant cathedral of Ireland. Jonathan Swift, of Gulliver's Travels fame was Dean here and would preach sermons lasting many hours. In the words of the very good guide "He would go mental if he caught anyone falling asleep"

If there is one thing that the British have been very good at over the years, it is locking the Irish up and the final place I visited today was Kilmainham Jail (Also free with EH membership). The guided tour here was excellent and took you right through the jail, showing you cells, the exercise yard and finished in the Stonebreakers yard where the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916 were executed.  The history is uncomfortable if you are a Brit, there is no doubt about that, as it is all about the fight for independence but as ever the best guides are those to deal with difficult subjects and you could not fault the guide here. For me the jail is the must see place in Dublin.

On a much lighter note, the jail has appeared in several films as renting it out for filming is a good revenue stream for its upkeep. You may recognise this from The Italian Job.

IRELAND - Let's Dance

It's a short hop from the Isle of Man to Dublin by air, only about 35 minutes or so actually off the ground and it was a new Aer Lingus turbo-prop that did the journey. How do I know it was new - no, "no smoking" signs (everyone knows you can't smoke on a plane these days). Instead, together with the "fasten seat belt" sign there was one indicating that you should turn off your electronic devices which was lit up for take off and landing.

Dublin is as hot as everywhere else at the moment and after the Isle of Man - very busy! All I have done today is wander around a bit soaking up the atmosphere - Dublin always has a real buzz about it (this is my fourth visit)

The Ha'penny Bridge

Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh"

This evening though I have been very busy.  I do like a bit of culture while I'm away - I've been to the opera in Verona, the Spanish Riding School in both Vienna and Jerez, the Edinburgh Tattoo (despite not liking the bagpipes), the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen and watched Cossack dancing in Moscow. The latter cost me the equivalent of 20p for a front row seat, and was easily the best 20p I have ever spent.  So what did I see in Dublin?  Riverdance at the Gaiety Theatre

It's not something I would possibly do back home, but here in Ireland it seemed appropriate and it was really rather good. The programme included the obvious traditional Irish dancing and fiddle music but also a flamenco routine - ok there is more arm movement in flamenco but the footwork and stamping of feet is along the same lines. There was even a bit of the Cossack stuff in the second half.

Then at the end, things got really surreal - when I came out there were crowds of people in the streets watching the England - Columbia game on big screens (outside pubs because of the heat). Not being interested in football I was about to walk past when I realised it was the penalty shootout. So somehow, I found myself with a group of football fans, outside a bar in Dublin watching the penalties. Given that for me, it is a really weird thing to do, I'm glad they are through.

ISLE of MAN - Camino Training

Before I start today's post, let me give you a teaser - what do you think this arrow on the ground is for?  

Answer at the end

Today I have been out walking some of the coast path in the south of the island. This post is entitled Camino Training because, as some of you maybe aware, next June I am planning to walk two sections of the Camino de Santiago with Andrew and Sue. Yes readers, in under a year, you have blog reports on Sue's blisters and Andrew's bunions to look forward to. At the moment though we are just trying to out do each other in the training stakes.

Today's walk was just 7 miles from Port St Mary to Port Erin around Spanish Head and Calf Sound but as with all coastal walking there is a lot of up and down so it feels more.

The first area you come across are "The Chasms" which as their name suggests contain some sheer drops

Then as you come around Black Head and Spanish Head you get your first glimpse of not only Calf of Man - the island off the south western tip of the Isle of Man but also the Chicken Rock lighthouse. You can just make out the lighthouse in the centre of this picture.

For the lighthouse readers - the one thing that intrigues me is that the Northern Lighthouse Board do not go for the big helipads on the top of their rock stations so their maintenance must be done differently. The challenge for all you South Foreland guides now is to get the Chicken Rock Light into your tours!

Here are some views of the Calf of Man

If you are ever here, the Manx National Heritage have an excellent restaurant over looking Calf Sound - plenty of outside seating, big glass windows for when you have to shelter inside, good food and draught beer!

So after a pit stop at the "Sound Cafe" it was time for the walk back to Port Erin

Now - any ideas on that concrete arrow yet?

It was a guide for RAF bomber training in World War 2. The airport here in those days was an RAF base and as part of their training for bombing raids a target would be placed in the sea off Port St Mary. Flying overhead they would use the arrow (which would have lights in the middle) as a guide to line up and hit the target.

There will be no post tomorrow - see you in Dublin the day after.

ISLE of MAN - The High Spot

With glorious sunny weather the trip up Snaefell on the mountain railway to the highest point of the island was always going to be good. I plumped for the first tram of the day thinking it would be a little quieter but it was full. The Snaefell trams are different in many ways from the coastal ones but principally it's because they have a 6 inch wider gauge. This is because they need an extra rail in the middle that they can grip on to, to help with braking.

The journey up takes about half an hour and although it was quite windy at the top and considerably cooler the views were good. You could see most of the island and across to Scotland and Cumbria. Unfortunately the view towards the Irish coast was a bit hazy so I didn't see all the 7 kingdoms (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Mann, Heaven and the Sea).

Back down in the Laxey valley, the big thing to see is the "Lady Isabella" - the largest working waterwheel in the world. Originally built to pump water out of the local lead and zinc mines, it is enormous and you can climb to the top. The feeling at the top is a bit weird because looking down on it, the wheel appears to be going much faster than it does when you look at the side. The rotating wheel, drives a long horizontal rod stretching up the valley which in turn drives a vertical pump rod which goes down the shaft.

And finally today's fun place to board a tram - Fairy Cottage!