a quick 2 minutes when the rain stopped and the clouds lightened up! This is a Fort Charles looking out to the Atlantic

at the Jamison Distillery

at the Rock of Cashel with beautiful Ireland in the back ground.

Lawcus Farm B&B

our room at Lawcus Farm B&B! Best place to be!

The rain - will it stop? Oh - it did for a few minutes! We have had a dreadful day with the weather. It would not let us do the sites that we wanted to do today. Oh well, we made the best of it anyway. Stayed at a great little B&B earlier this week. It was on a farm complete with pet hedgehogs! I think this one is our gem for the trip! The only down side to this was that it was pretty far from town so no drinking. But that didn't stop us from picking up some to take back! We are currently in Kinsale on the southern coast of Ireland. It is the last place that the Titanic saw land before it headed off. It is quite a pretty place. Took a tour of the Jamison Whiskey distillery today. Great if you like whiskey! We were thinking of you John! Also took a very exciting ghost tour this evening. Off to Kenmare tomorrow. Trying to fit in as much as we can in our last few days.

no explanation necessary...

Dublin skyline from the top of the Guinness Storehouse.

enjoying the Guinness a little too much!

This one is just for Carling - eat your heart out!!

The wall that separates the Catholic and Protestant areas of Belfast. Notice the cage on the back of the house. This is to prevent fire bombs from landing in the back yard.

Belfast - entering the Protestant area

just trying to fit in

A police station just down the street from the B&B that we stayed at in Port Rush - just on the outskirts of Belfast. Constant reminders of a turbulent history.

Arrived in Dublin yesterday after spending the day touring Belfast. Quite the troubled history in Belfast and there are many constant reminders. We took a taxi tour and the cab driver took us to different memorials and places where terrible things had happened. There is a wall that still stands that separates the Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods of west Belfast. Visited a little IRA museum and walked down Sandy Row (the Protestant area). We were standing in a place, on the Protestant area and the cab driver said to us that 20 years ago he never would have stood on that same place and lived to tell about it. He can't understand why anyone would want to come and see any of Belfast and have someone explain it to them.
We spent today in Dublin. Walked down Temple Pub, Grafton Street, the Nat'l Museum and Trinity College. Tomorrow we are back to Dublin to check out the Castle, Guinness and a jail and anything else that we missed today!
Unfortunately, the blog won't load any of the pictures right now but I will try again later so stay tuned!

Giants Causeway. Legend has it that the giant, Finn MacCool, started to build this causeway over to the shores of Scotland where his love was. Hexagonal shaped rocks are stepping stones into the sea.

Dunluce Castle, Port Rush, Ireland. In 1639, during dinner time, the servants/maids were in the kitchen of this castle. The kitchen part of the castle slipped off the cliff into the ocean, taking the help with it. Parts of it continue to fall today.

A famine memorial on the Highway of Death. During the potato famine in the 1840's, 600 people from the town of Louisburgh travelled 12 miles, one direction, in search of food from the Lord but were turned away. 200 of those people perished on the return trip back to Louisburgh. An annual walk is done to remember the famines in the world today.

Wishing John and Carolyn a safe and happy rest of their vacation as they head off to Dublin then England! We were missing them but tried to smile as we pose in front of our new summer cottage!

We thought they got along better than that!

170 kms of navigating and no problem. Destination O'Connors Pub in Galway - problem. We were 3 kms out of our way but, as you can see, eventually made it. Might add that the extra kms walked were into strong wind and soaking rain but we are still smiling.

Sorry for the delay in the posting of pictures and writing. We have not had great internet connections being out in the middle of no where! We have now completed our Dingle Way hike with few injuries. A couple of blisters and some very muddy pants, wet boots and great memories. The walking has been magnificent and views were all that we were hoping for. Hospitality has been wonderful and company rough - haha! Seriously, the company has been fun all the way and the friendships deepened.
The hike has had its highs and lows - lofty mountain ridges and golden beaches that went on for miles. It started out with head winds which had us struggling and finished with tail winds that pushed us to the finish. Many games and competitions were played on route. Some of which were new 'trail' names, longest lasting polo game, best beach find and the buoy throw!
The guys have become members of G.A.S (Guinness Appreciation Society) while the gals have maintained their quota of various liquids!
We spent our last afternoon here in Camp, after finishing our hike, watching the All Ireland Gaelic Football final. Unfortunately, Kerry lost against Dublin. We are in Kerry County and therefore must go drown our sorrows with the locals at the closest pub! Until next time....

mile and miles of beautiful beach

10 am and Carolyn and I are waiting for the pub to open! Go Kerry!

Reflections on a great hike!

Success! 170 kms and still friends!

Colin making great strides!

Thank God - not our B&B

Thank God for yellow arrows!

Heading down to Dingle Bay

lunch with a view

typical Irish coastline

nice ass!

what a way to spend an afternoon with a friend!

bad wind on Mt. Brandon

John alone! seven days + same clothes = John still alone!

Today was another 17km walk, mostly on road. We were watching the news last night and all thought we would be headed into dreadful weather. Actually, it was quite nice for walking. Windy again but not enough rain to mention. We stopped at the famous Inch Beach. A couple of movies from the 60's were filmed here. It would be a beautiful place if the weather would cooperate.
The wind was so strong that Carolyn and I just about didn't make it to our 'snack stop'. We couldn't see where the guys went because we were getting blasted by the sand - and I MEAN blasted. We had an exfoliation!
We are now in the village of Annascaul where we have already had our pint to celebrate the end of another great day of walking.

a pretty stream to cross!

Which way do we go? Rock, paper, scissors...

Inch Beach. Waves were really big today!

Rush hour in Annascaul

John enjoying his daily dose! Obviously we were walking into the wind today - check out John's hair!

Pictures are up! Starting from the bottom and working up:
1. This is the official start to the Dingle Way in the town of Tralee;
2. Loved the sign on this one - "Drinking Consultants" - of course we went there and they know their stuff!
3. Apparently I missed the memo on this one. I did not think that we would be so organized as to have color-coded evenings!
4. John joining in the singing last night at the pub. No, it was not karaoke but an invite for anyone who wanted to sing with them. John did a fantastic job - did us proud!
5. Carolyn and I are getting a little reprieve from the wind but still getting quite wet!
6. Finally, the sign indicating the Dingle Peninsula. You can gather from the picture what we were headed into.
The pictures are backwards from the original timing but I will work on this!

Day one of the Dingle Way was 17 km of wind, wind and more wind - none of it from the guys either! According to the locals, we are on the outskirts of Hurricane Katia. Ireland will feel her anger tonight and into tomorrow. As I sit in our beautiful B&B here in Camp, we have a beautiful ocean view, but it is grey and blowing everywhere. There is a view out there somewhere, I know it. So, we will make our way down the little hill to the local pub for another beer then 60 meters down the road to yet another pub where the father of the owner of our B&B will be playing Irish music - guaranteed to be a good Irish party.
I am having trouble loading pictures but will keep trying so stay tuned......

We have arrived!!

We have arrived and are having "a wee bit of a good time"! Arrived in Shannon last night and found a Chinese restaurant/Irish Pub. A few too many leprechauns with a few too many beer made for a very interesting night! Dancing and singing to disco - we had hoped for some traditional songs to learn but that was not to be. Maybe tonight? We are now at Tralee, the starting point of our walk which will begin tomorrow after what should be a fantastic breakfast! Weather - windy and threatening! Off to explore our surroundings and perhaps more of a traditional pub? Pictures will come later.....off we go....cheers!

Welcome!

Welcome to another vacation Blog! The Emerald Diary is under way! Join Colin, Roxanne, John and Carolyn as we venture on a walking holiday around the Dingle Way - yep - I said 'Dingle'! Silly I know!

To those of you who are unfamiliar to either Colin or myself or John and Carolyn, let me start by saying that we have know each other for almost 30 years! Colin and John have a history! They have worked for the same company all that time and, still, run together, albeit a little slower than say 25 years ago!  Their friendship is true and strong! As for Carolyn and I, all I can say is that it was not hard to become fast friends with Carolyn! Over the many years of friendship, we have enjoyed numerous hiking and camping trips, with and without the children - all of whom are all grown now! Being empty-nesters, we felt it would be a great time to explore something other than the sports fields, squash courts, schools and car pooling!

We are making the walk on the Dingle Way an 8 day adventure. It is on the west coast of Ireland and promises to be scenic, relaxing, strenuous and adventurous - all at once! Stopping every night in a bed and breakfast will have us well fed and rested for the next day. After the walk is complete, we will spend another 2 days together and then part ways.  John and Carolyn to make their way to England to visit family and Colin and I to continue our way through Northern Ireland and down the east coast finally returning from Shannon in early October.

Our adventure begins Thursday, September 8, 2011; 9:30 pm flight to Shannon, Ireland, via London, England!

While I can't promise daily postings, check in occasionally to see what has happened to us! Could be interesting..........