Have now more or less committed to the trip to Central America. Planning to leave on 5th January for San Jose in Costa Rica and spend the first 5-6 weeks as volunteers on a rainforest project in the north east of the country in Tortuguera National Park.
In preparation, I have signed up for Spanish classes at the local community college to brush up the language a bit. Slightly embarrassing on meeting the tutor to blag my way on to the intermediate course – couldn’t respond to her first three questions - had a complete blank as I haven’t spoken Spanish for at least a year and her questions didn’t refer to beer, wine or food.
Now busy revising in preparation for the first class which is on 6th Oct. Linda’s doing flower arranging which I’m sure will come in useful somewhere along the line though not necessarily in Central America – but then you never know…
Monday 28 September 2009
Internet
Our dial-up connection has not worked properly for the last 10 days, so we are back to visiting the Ennistymon library to check mail and update the blog. Not really a hardship but there is always something that I meant to check which I remember about 10 mins after I have finished my online session. Still – as frustrations go it is fairly manageable.
Dingle Peninsula
Great place for a short visit and only 250 mile round-trip from Moyhill. Helped by good weather – top down for a lot of the time but caught out a couple of times by the arrival of a short but very heavy shower.
Only 38 miles to the ferry across the Shannon at Killimer but it took the full hour we had allowed – you really don’t get anywhere fast in the west of Ireland.
Found a great place to stay in Dingle after Linda had rejected the first 3 recommended by the tourist office as not being up to scratch. Also found two great restaurants – the Half Door and The Global Village – two Irish chefs who are making the most of the local fish and seafood. Managed Black Sole, Turbot, Plaice, Haddock, Scallops and Kippers during our stay and it was all very fresh – stopped at the shop at the fish market on our way home and filled the cold bag with enough to feed us for a few more days.
According to the guide book there are 55 pubs in Dingle for a population of only 1,775!! However there were quite a number of tourists around – mostly American which helped to crowd the bars. We were in one place which was a traditional shoe shop on one side and a bar on the other side. The musicians sat behind the shoe shop counter with the punters on a bench on the other side; 30 people in there and it was full.
On Thursday after dinner we wandered across the road and saw Tread – a group of young Irish, Canadian and American musicians who have played with the Chieftains for a number of years and now out on their own – great music and step dancing – in the back room of MacCarthy’s Bar – where else - one of Ireland’s smallest venues.
Didn’t manage the climb up Mt Brandon but did get a great walk at the top of the Connor Pass, also managed walks along the Three Sisters and over the top of Brandon Point – and all in dry sunny weather!
Only 38 miles to the ferry across the Shannon at Killimer but it took the full hour we had allowed – you really don’t get anywhere fast in the west of Ireland.
Found a great place to stay in Dingle after Linda had rejected the first 3 recommended by the tourist office as not being up to scratch. Also found two great restaurants – the Half Door and The Global Village – two Irish chefs who are making the most of the local fish and seafood. Managed Black Sole, Turbot, Plaice, Haddock, Scallops and Kippers during our stay and it was all very fresh – stopped at the shop at the fish market on our way home and filled the cold bag with enough to feed us for a few more days.
According to the guide book there are 55 pubs in Dingle for a population of only 1,775!! However there were quite a number of tourists around – mostly American which helped to crowd the bars. We were in one place which was a traditional shoe shop on one side and a bar on the other side. The musicians sat behind the shoe shop counter with the punters on a bench on the other side; 30 people in there and it was full.
On Thursday after dinner we wandered across the road and saw Tread – a group of young Irish, Canadian and American musicians who have played with the Chieftains for a number of years and now out on their own – great music and step dancing – in the back room of MacCarthy’s Bar – where else - one of Ireland’s smallest venues.
Didn’t manage the climb up Mt Brandon but did get a great walk at the top of the Connor Pass, also managed walks along the Three Sisters and over the top of Brandon Point – and all in dry sunny weather!
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Leaving Co Clare
Since we arrived here at Easter, we have only left the county on four occasions – once to UK and three times to Connemara for fishing trips with John. Decided to stretch the envelope this week and planning a few days down in Dingle which coincides with our anniversary. Have suggested climbing Mt Brandon (956m) but don’t think Linda is too impressed – she's expecting a spa hotel and at least one Michelin star!
Future plans
Before we left for our week away, we had decided that we would stay at Moyhill until Christmas and then go travelling to Central America – in search of sun and warmth – until Easter. After three warm sunny days when we got back here, we were thinking about staying here forever. Am sure it will all change again after the next spell of wet weather but who knows?
Strange Canadians
Linda spoke to her cousin Jim in Toronto today – I am sure you all remember Jim – he was the one at our wedding who had a seemingly bottomless glass of CC & coke. He has just received a care package from a work colleague who had returned from a holiday in Scotland – Tunnocks tea cakes, caramel wafers, and chocolate mini rolls - unfortunately he missed out on the strawberry tarts and customs must have confiscated the bottle of Buckfast! (did I mention before that the upmarket bottle shops here have Buckie in the cold cabinets.)
Has it really been that long???
After a week back in the UK, we returned to Moyhill and have had dry sunny weather for the last 12 days. Night temperatures have dropped to single figures so we are glad that Eugene got the chimney sorted when we were away. The Log burner is going well but I may have to cut down a few more forests as we are going through logs at quite a rate. (Linda reckons that adjusting the fire controls is proving a great substitute for the TV remote control we left behind in London)
Being back in England / Scotland seemed a little unreal – very busy everywhere and much more commercial. Managed one Starbucks and a few pints of London Pride and Gales HSB while I was away. Thankfully my Mum came through her operation successfully and is now recovering well and has already been given the all clear by the cancer clinic.
We picked up here where we left off and it did feel like coming home. Busy with various animals to care for – in addition to the pony and colt, and the donkey – now in foal – I am also keeping the sheepdog and two 9 month pups exercised every day. Have just started walking the pups on a lead which is a challenge but they are beginning to respond – it also means that I am getting plenty of exercise. In addition to the three dogs up at the barn, Keith also has two dogs at the house and one – another collie – had a litter of 7 pups about three weeks ago. We cycled down to see them at the weekend and it would have been very easy to bring one of them home with us. However we settled for a side of one of the lambs which are off to the butcher in the next week or so. Having watched them grow since we arrived in April – and chased them from our paddock and helped feed them from time to time and shepherd them around, I am looking forward to the first roast leg – mmmmm…
Being back in England / Scotland seemed a little unreal – very busy everywhere and much more commercial. Managed one Starbucks and a few pints of London Pride and Gales HSB while I was away. Thankfully my Mum came through her operation successfully and is now recovering well and has already been given the all clear by the cancer clinic.
We picked up here where we left off and it did feel like coming home. Busy with various animals to care for – in addition to the pony and colt, and the donkey – now in foal – I am also keeping the sheepdog and two 9 month pups exercised every day. Have just started walking the pups on a lead which is a challenge but they are beginning to respond – it also means that I am getting plenty of exercise. In addition to the three dogs up at the barn, Keith also has two dogs at the house and one – another collie – had a litter of 7 pups about three weeks ago. We cycled down to see them at the weekend and it would have been very easy to bring one of them home with us. However we settled for a side of one of the lambs which are off to the butcher in the next week or so. Having watched them grow since we arrived in April – and chased them from our paddock and helped feed them from time to time and shepherd them around, I am looking forward to the first roast leg – mmmmm…
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Trip back to Blighty
We are heading back to the UK on Friday for a week for family reasons. Not sure how we are going to cope with the south of England and central belt Scotland for 7 days – will be interesting though to find out.
Whilst we are away our landlord Eugene has promised to fix the chimney for the wood burning stove, which involves dropping down a new flue pipe from the top as something has stopped the fire from drawing. Evenings are becoming a little chilly now and since I’ve cut a shed load of logs we’re keen to get it sorted.
Whilst we are away our landlord Eugene has promised to fix the chimney for the wood burning stove, which involves dropping down a new flue pipe from the top as something has stopped the fire from drawing. Evenings are becoming a little chilly now and since I’ve cut a shed load of logs we’re keen to get it sorted.
Jam making
We’ve tried making a variety of things since we got here; bread, scones, shortbread, lemon curd etc. which have generally been edible - some even quite good. So with the hedgerows full of brambles Linda decided to try her hand at a bit of jam making today… Blackberries, sugar and heat were all that was required - not sure what when wrong - but we ended up with a saucepan full of burnt toffee. Maybe too much heat for too long? Advice gratefully received – Ros?
Another Week
Luckily, the problem with the car was a leaking radiator – not quite as expensive as changing the cylinder head gasket. Unfortunately it took a couple of days to get the replacement radiator so we had to rent a car for our trip to Connemara on Wednesday; still it was well worth it.
Had a great evening with Sue and John and Peter and Iona trying not to drink too much before our fishing trip.
Thursday looked a little grey but was still dry at breakfast – I commented that I had had three sunny days on the boat with John this year and he suggested that this may be payback time – and so it proved. We had full waterproofs for the trip out of Cleggan and needed them. In addition to the driving rain, we also had the remainder of the swell from Hurricane Bill. I lost my breakfast by the time we got to our first stop and despite John’s best efforts we could not find a sheltered fishing spot in deep water. Then the rain stopped and the sun came out, but the wind was blowing force 8 all afternoon. Eventually found a place in shallow water but only managed to catch dogfish. We still had a great day out although I had to save my lunch until we were driving home in the evening.
Peter and Iona stayed with us for the weekend – having delivered our order of wine from Majestic to keep us supplied for the next month or two - and between the frequent & heavy showers we managed the walk on Mullaghmore and they had a round of golf at Kilrush.
Had a great evening with Sue and John and Peter and Iona trying not to drink too much before our fishing trip.
Thursday looked a little grey but was still dry at breakfast – I commented that I had had three sunny days on the boat with John this year and he suggested that this may be payback time – and so it proved. We had full waterproofs for the trip out of Cleggan and needed them. In addition to the driving rain, we also had the remainder of the swell from Hurricane Bill. I lost my breakfast by the time we got to our first stop and despite John’s best efforts we could not find a sheltered fishing spot in deep water. Then the rain stopped and the sun came out, but the wind was blowing force 8 all afternoon. Eventually found a place in shallow water but only managed to catch dogfish. We still had a great day out although I had to save my lunch until we were driving home in the evening.
Peter and Iona stayed with us for the weekend – having delivered our order of wine from Majestic to keep us supplied for the next month or two - and between the frequent & heavy showers we managed the walk on Mullaghmore and they had a round of golf at Kilrush.
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