The end of our trip...

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to another beautiful, sunny day in Northern Ireland. Regretfully, we knew we would have to head back toward Dublin and leave our relaxing time at the coast. After another big Irish breakfast, we actually got to chat with the owner of the B&B at the Seaview Tavern. He is actually a dual Irish and American citizen and lived in both paces prior to eventually staying in Ireland to take care of his aging parents. He told us stories about the area and other sights to see. He probably spent about an hour talking with us. The people are certainly one of the things we loved about Northern Ireland.

Here is a better picture of where we stayed... the Seaview Tavern.

And here is a picture the other direction! Ahh... look at this beautiful area. We decided that we could have stayed here longer and just enjoyed the slower pace and beautiful scenery.

We stopped at a beach on our way down the Peninsula.

As we drove 3.5 hours back toward Dublin, we lost our sunshine. But at the same time, it was probably a good transition as we began to feel more and more ready to hop on a plane and go home. We were quite tired and just wanted to get a good night's rest before our lengthy flight home the next day.

In our efforts to avoid Dublin, we booked a night's stay at a small hotel on harbor, about a half an our drive from the Dublin airport. Skerries looks like it is a little harbor town on the Irish Sea (east coast of Ireland) and by the time we got there, most of the shops were closed. So, we just walked on the small beach and collected shells and beach glass.

Here is a view from our window. When the tide goes out, like above, all the boats are left stranded on the sand. In the morning, we saw a guy headed out to his small boat in the harbor in an even smaller boat! It was fun to just watch the happenings in the harbor.

So, finally, the last day of the trip, we remembered to get a picture of the Irish breakfast. At every B&B and hotel, they are proud to serve their guests an Irish breakfast. So, this is basically very big, heavy breakfast. They usually start with cereal, tea/coffee, and juice. Then the above plate comes out with bacon (the ham like stuff), white pudding/black pudding (white and blood sausage), eggs, cooked tomato and sautéed mushrooms and a sausage. Oh and lots of toast. There were many days that we ended up just eating breakfast, a snack and dinner because of how huge the breakfast was!

Here I am at breakfast before we went to the airport. Note the harbor behind me.

So, we made it to the airport to find that our flight was delayed. Apparently, they had to switch out planes due to some mechanical problems. So, instead of leaving at 11am, we left at 1pm. Luckily, our layover in Philadelphia was 4 hours so we had plenty of time to get on that flight as well. The funny thing is that at every security check, Chet got his bag checked! We had gotten a cheap 10 euro bag in Dublin and security must have thought it looked suspicious (or something). It was kind of funny!

We made it home on time and it feels good to be back in our house. The last couple days, we have been dealing with preparing our insurance claims and getting settled back into a normal sleep pattern.

One of the most amazing things was Chet's hair! This is probably the longest it has been since I have known him! He was so ready to cut his hair... it was one of the first things he did in the morning after we got home!

Despite the speed bumps and challenges of the trip, we did enjoy traveling together and seeing so many new things! It was definitely a growing experience to face the challenges together and to share in these memories. We will have stories and memories we will remember forever!

County Donegal... rural, scenic Northwest Ireland

For the last part of our trip, we had originally planned on seeing the Ring of Kerry or Dingle Peninsula, down in the south west part of Ireland. Both of these were suppose to have scenic drives, pretty coastline and Gaelic speaking Irish. After looking at driving times, experiencing how long it takes to get place to place around here and upon the recommendation of Greg's friend, Motz, we decided to minimize lots of driving and see Donegal, a northwest county. Donegal also has Gaelic speaking areas (so much that some road signs don't include English), beautiful coastlines and quietness. So... our plans changed and it has been a great couple of days exploring this area!

Well, first we went to probably one of the ugliest National Parks I have ever seen. Glenveagh National Park is in the highlands of the northwest area. It has a brown appearance due to the boglands and scrubby brush that covers the hills. It is a remote type of beauty, I suppose, with an apparently glacial made lake. Interesting, huh?

Even more interesting is that there is a castle, built in the 1800s, along the lake with the most beautiful and extensive gardens. We walked out to the castle to take in the view and the gardens and were quite surprised!

The castle. Originally built by a man and his American wife, he ended up kicking out about 244 people who lived in the area in order to have his land. His wife built upon the gardens after he died and was always remembered favorably (as compared to her husband).

There are multiple gardens... a pleasure garden with exotic plants from all over the world, a walled garden for vegetables, tulips, and more. And other smaller gardens scattered around the grounds. I almost could picture being in the book "The Secret Garden" or something like that. It was a lovely place.

We continued west across the highlands and were pleasantly surprised when we reached the coast. The brown boglands and treeless mountains gave way to golden beaches and crashing blue-green waves. Our B&B was right on a cute, tiny harbor with working fishing boats (all very old, wooden style).

Still relishing in the sun, we went to the beach before dinner. There is just an old ship sitting out in the middle of the bay.

Us at the beach. The water was such a pretty blue-green color and the sun was warm off the golden sand. Atlantic beaches are much nicer than Pacific beaches!

A rainbow as we returned to Bunbeg House (our B&B) for the night! We wanted to look for a pot of gold (since we were in Ireland) but the end kept moving as we drove!

This is a view as we were driving up and out of the area where Bunbeg was the following morning. There were old rock walls and cottages amidst all the newer houses. A very rural and somewhat wild appearing area. Yet, from what we understand, this is also a growing vacation area and more people show up in the summer to enjoy the beaches.

As we continued our coastal drive, we stopped at Horn Head, a peninsula that used to be an island. It has a windswept terrain... no trees and only scrubby, low growing plants. Yet, the view of the shoreline was fantastic as well as the cliffs. Above we are at a lookout at the summit of Horn Head.

Here is a view of the cliffs at Horn Head. I kept reminding Chet not to fall (not that he wanted to anyway!). The road up and down was super narrow with old rock walls and sheep on both sides... luckily we didn't meet anyone on the road to figure out how to get past!

So, based on Google maps, we found a B&B in a small town near the most northern point of Ireland, Malin Head. The Seaview Tavern appeared to have nice rooms online... we showed up and the rooms are actually right above the restaurant and bar! That was a bit of a surprise but the rooms were even more of a surprise. Our room was beautiful and modern with views of the mountains from one set of windows and the above view of the sea from the other set. Oh, and very friendly people also!

We went to Malin Head, the official most northern point of Ireland. There we climbed around on the rocks and basked in the sun. We lucked out on yet another rainless day.

For the longest time, we just watched the waves crash against the rocks. So beautiful and powerful, yet, peaceful.

Dinner at the Seaview Tavern, where our room is at near Malin Head. The food was amazing! This was crab mornay... basically a white wine cream sauce with cheese bubbly and baked on top... all in a crab shell. The crab was fresh from the harbor in town that day. :)
After dinner, we went for a walk down the road (in the midst of locals stopping to chat in their cars, everyone doing the hand-on-the-steering-wheel wave, cows mooing and tractors plugging by), to the "Wee House of Malin" and the 15th century church (now ruins). Apparently, a hermit once lived in the Wee House of Malin and the story is that no matter how many people show up, the "house" always has more room.

We climbed up on a rock jutting out into the ocean for the fun of it. Chet was throwing rocks in the water wearing his snazzy new NW 200 fleece!

The last couple days with the small towns, coastal scenery and laid-back pace have been just what we've needed. We've seen some new things but also relaxed... probably a good way to let out trip wind to a close so that we are ready to head home on Wednesday.

Much love, Brianne

The Northwest 200!

This is what Chet has been waiting for the whole trip (and the reason our trip was scheduled for May)! The Northwest 200 is a motorcycle road race in Northern Ireland where races occur and racers get up to 200 mph on quaint Irish country roads.

Road racing is not very prolific in many parts of the world due to the high liability involved... think about riders going 200 mph on roads with curbs, unexpected conditions and people lining the race course in yards, fields, etc. There have been racers injured or killed in these races before. Sound like fun? It is actually quite a bit of an adrenaline rush watching the crazy riders fly around the roads!

In this area, the Northwest 200 is "the event"!!! There were tons of motorcyclists, families, and more... the roads were packed with vehicles and people were camping in fields. Think concert at the Gorge meets a sport-bike version of Sturgess.

Our friend, Greg, from church has gone to the race for multiple years. His friend Motz lives in Portstewart, only a few blocks from the race course. So we met up with all of them at his house and they showed us the "ropes" of watching the race. Luckily, the weather held out for us and it only sprinkled a little bit... I guess a pretty rare occurrence in the area in May.

Motz had connections so we were able to watch the race from a yard on the course... the racers were just accelerating out of a sharp corner in Portstewart. Only a sidewalk separated us from the racers... but we had plenty of exhaust and dirt flung in our eyes by the bikes!

First lap of one of the races... they start off close and then things begin to spread out. There is a definite roar as they approach around the corner!

Us at the race. Please note Chet's HUGE grin! He was having an absolute blast!

Here is a brief video to help you understand the actual speed of the bikes and the sound. It is hard to envision with only still pictures.

Anyways, if you need a conversation starter with Chet in the next few months, this would be a good one! He is already scheming of how to go back in the future!

To The North! (of Ireland)

We managed to escape Dublin with our police incident report and our replacement rental car. Unfortunately, the majority of our time in Dublin was spent dealing with stolen baggage and shopping at cheaper department stores to replace necessities to make it through the rest of the trip. So, our impression of Dublin is not too high.

Yet, as we headed north, we began to feel better... and enjoy our trip again! We went for a tour of Newgrange, a dome shaped 5,000 year old structure. In the Stone Age, the farming people in the area, gathered stones and built a tomb/place of worship. There are a number of similar structures in the area, often merely appearing as grass covered mounds, forgotten for thousands of years. Newgrange is the best restored and the only one that visitors can go inside.

Rocks were built up around a center tomb area as well as an external passageway. The most interesting part about this, and the other structures, is that the farming people who built them incorporated timing of the sun. At Newgrange, on Winter Solstice, at sunrise a beam of sunlight streams in and hits the back of the tomb's wall.

This is the front of Newgrange where we went in. On some of the larger stones around the base, there is ancient artwork. It crazy to think that we were in a structure that was built over 5,000 years ago!

We were not allowed to take photos inside. This is a photo of a photo of the inside... you can see the narrow passageway back to the tomb area.

After Newgrange, we headed up to our hotel in Antrim where we spent 3 nights. It was just a comfortable, basic hotel... more similar to hotels in America that others we had been in (but at this point, we didn't care... it was a nice place to stay).

After getting well rested and going to the outlet mall down the road for a last few replacment clothes (I got GAP jeans on sale... it was great!), we took off for the Northern Coast. Oh my goodness was it beautiful! One signs said that it is designated a "place of outstanding beauty" and it spoke the truth! I just posted a few pictures... but we have many more beautiful ones that I would have loved to share!

Dulunce Castle perched on the edge of the sea. It has a very picturesque setting. We hiked around the castle and enjoyed a variety of views. The interesting story behind this Medieval Castle is that the lady of the house was having a dinner party during a storm and a whole chunk of the castle fell into the sea (including the servants in the kitchen). You can still see the area that fell off into the sea.

Steep steps make for a nice view of the coast line. There was even a small cave under the castle that we walked through.

Next, we went down the road to the Giant's Causeway. Here we are on a bluff above the coast line... spectacular scenery! We were blessed by a sunny day with blue skies so it couldn't be more beautiful.

Not the actual well known Giant's causeway, but a nice section of coast line.

Ta-da! The Giant's Causeway! Columns of basalt packed in together in varying heights as they stretch down into the sea. One story behind the causeway is that it used to be a pathway for Giants that stretched from Ireland to Scotland. More likely, geologists suspect is was formed by a lava flow.

Here is a sideways view of some of the columns. These weren't even the tallest ones... :)

So, all in all, we enjoyed our day exploring the coast. It was a relaxing, fun day outside in the sun! I would definitely come to this area again!

Guinness Storehouse... and a very crummy afternoon

Upon the recommendation of our friend, Tom, we both had read a book earlier on this trip called "The Search for God and Guinness" (fabulous book, by the way!). Dublin is the home to Guinness beer, the brewery, and the Guinness family. The book was fascinating about how not only did the family produce an excellent beer that was healthier than hard alcohol (emphasizing moderation), but they were Christians who made a significant impact on their community. They started Sunday schools, some descendants were pastors and missionaries, they greatly improved working conditions, hired doctors who improved the health of the employees and community. Pretty impressive stuff. So, we were thrilled to tour the Guinness Storehouse.

We went directly there from Dublin Airport, Chet driving on the left side of the road and doing really well! It was a bit stressful getting there because road signs are pretty much hidden in Dublin and the streets are confusing, but we were pleased to make it there and enjoy our time.

The Guinness Storehouse was interesting, with multiple levels of history of the beer and the family. The top culminates in a beautiful view of the city and a complimentary Guinness. Here are some photos from the Storehouse.

The actual 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed to take over an old brewery at St. James Gate in the 1700s.

One of the old big brewing vats that was on the tour. They had a video inside.

Map of the Guinness Storehouse... the inside area is shaped like a pint glass. Interesting concept, eh?

The pouring of Guinness taks 119.5 seconds... you can see it in different stages after the first pour.

View of the city from the top. It was nearly a 360 view. This looks at the most prominent area of downtown.

Chet with the "God and Guinness" book at one of the gates. Cool building and interesting tour!

Well, this is where our trip went quite bad... after enjoying the tour, we walked back to our newly rented car which was parked on a side street very close by. The complimentary car park was full so we parked there and paid instead. We didn't think much of it because it was close, other cars were parked there and there were people walking up and down the street (this was at 11am, we were back to the car by 2pm).

When we arrived back to our car, the back window had been broken into, and both of our bags were gone. That means both of our nice backpacking backpacks, most of our clothes, our glasses/extra contacts, extra shoes, our power cords, our hiking clothes, a bunch of stuff from REI, our headlamps, etc. The police came and will look for our bags (they think that since there is nothing that easily sold that they'll be dumped somewhere) but we were left with very little for the rest of our trip... and all of our favorite clothes, basic gear and glasses (this is one of the most annoying things) will need to be replaced. Oh, and we have to pay for the window that was broken on the rental car because the damage insurance we have has a deductible. Needless to say, there were some tears yesterday (me) and some complete exhaustion. But, we are working on buying new toiletries, clothes and other necessities for the remaining week and trying to be positive (Chet is better at this than me). So, pray our stuff will turn up.

Two lessons I will share, though... always get travel insurance on a trip (we will get money back for the travel delay with the ash and for our stolen baggage) and always get really good insurance coverage on a car if you will be driving it in Dublin/Ireland. Oh... and maybe don't park around the Guinness Storehouse if you ever go there... apparently though that area is well maintained, it is surrounded by flats with drug addicts... didn't realize that when we parked there.

Here is to hoping the rest of the trip goes well... we are off to smaller towns and the motorcycle race Chet has been so excited about in Northern Ireland.

Much love, Brianne

Visiting family!

Tuesday was spent visiting my cousin Jason, his wife Starr and their kids in Leeds. We had planned on 2 days with them but gotten shortened down to one after travel delays. It was such a great time staying with them in their 19th century terraced house with steep stairs and lots of character. We were able to walk with the kids to their school and just spend some time getting to see what life is like over there.

With the two older kids in school, Jason, Starr, little 2 year old Rose took us on a drive of Yorkshire. We stopped at an old-time candy shop and got some amazing candy! Lemon sherbets, chocolate honeycombs, and black licorice for Chet. Yummy!

Then we headed out to one of their favorite places in the countryside... Bolton Abbey. Part of the old Abbey is in ruins but half is still a functioning church. It is a beautiful area of trails, sheep in a pastoral setting and the most relaxing feeling you can imagine. Below are pictures from the Abbey... prepare to want to go there yourself!

Jason, Starr and Rose with the Bolton Abbey in the background. They were such wonderful, delightful hosts!

Stepping stones across the river. There was also a bridge but this what existed prior to bridges. Apparently, if you are going to cross a river and attack, it is much slower and harder to do it while balancing on stepping stones than storming across a bridge! These stones are maintained so they were stable... no falling in the river for us!

Chet, Jason and I on the stone path! Thanks to Starr for taking this from the bridge! I love the reflection in the water.

Rock walls are popular in this area... this is a little path wandering away from the Abbey. The gate is to keep sheep in the right areas... they are all over the grounds.

Us in front of a view of the Abbey! Oh, so lovely!

I had to post a picture of sheep. They are just so cute scattered on the green hillsides.

After the kids got picked up from school, we just hung out with their family at the house, visited, played with the kids and relaxed. It was such a wonderful day and we enjoyed our time with them. Our only regret is not having longer! We'll have to go back and visit again someday, if they continue to live in the area! Many thanks to Jason, Starr and family for hosting us and being so wonderful! We were certainly blessed by this visit!

Bumps in the road... or in our travel

After Munich, the following had been our original plan: 1) Take a bus to the Memmigen Airport 60km outside of Munich to where our RyanAir flight leaves. 2) Fly RyanAir to Dublin on Sunday evening. 3) Spend night in Dublin near airport. 4) Fly to visit my cousin and family in Leeds the next morning.

We had all the flights and hotels lined up. Then we got to the airport and nothing was flying out of Germany that day because there was a cloud of ash over the airport. Though Dublin was fine, Germany said "no flights out" until Monday. So, we were stuck. it was too late to cancel the hotel in Dublin for that night and our flight to Leeds in the morning was sacked since we wouldn't be there to get on it! Then, the ticket counter folks say that we wouldn't be able to fly out till Wednesday because all the flights were full.

Hanging out at the Memmigen train stations figuring out what to do when our plane wouldn't fly with the ash cloud.

So, after much deliberation and a lot of thinking of different options this is what our new plan became (granted this was all on the fly as we continued to figure out prices and details). 1) We took the train to Ulm, spent the night in Ulm next to the train station. 2) Took the train from Ulm to Cologne, Germany. 3) Hung out in Cologne. 4) Took flight from Cologne to London.

The above picture is us at the bigger Cologne train station, just arrived, but with a more concrete plan for the day! It was a sense of relief to have plans.

One nice thing is that we did get to explore Cologne a little bit. They have one of the biggest churches in Germany... and it is right next door to the train station. It was built in about 1200 and is in a Neo-Gothic style with lots of spires and detail work. When we walked from the train station, my jaw almost dropped.

Here is a photo of the inside. It is a huge tourist stop so there were tons of people but you can easily see why! The ceilings are 140 feet tall and there is beautiful stained glass everywhere. The interesting thing is that in WWII, Cologne was bombed heavily. Expecting the bombing, the stained glass was removed and hidden away for safe keeping. The church didn't receive major structural damage though and was able to be nicely restored. Some of the stained glass is fairly old (though I forget the details).

We ate lunch at a place that was quite out of the way... thanks to the Rick Steve's book. We were the only people in there for awhile. The interesting part about this place was that it has sand on the floor. They change it daily and it helps to condition the old wood floors underneath. The food was delicious also.

This is us waiting at the Cologne-Bonn airport. Yay! We were able to fly to London, though with delays, and arrive safely.

My cousin, Jason, went far above any cousinly-duty and drove 4 hours from Leeds to London Gatwick to pick us up. The airport was on the south side of London which made it further. Then he drove us 4 hours back up to his house, finally arriving at a little past midnight! We were so blessed by him and his help through this travel bump.