2008 Ireland Trip - 2 Sep 08

Michael and I arrived on Tuesday morning, 2 Sep 08. After clearing passport and customs, we made our way to the car rental counter. I wanted this trip to be a self-driving tour so we'd have the freedom to explore non-tourist sites as well as visit some of the standard tourist attractions.

We started with a drive through the Wicklow Mountains. I had wanted to see the heathland biome. It reminded me of some of the fynbos areas of South Africa except there isn't as much diversity and the shrubs are very small.

The biome is dominated by species of Erica, grasses. sedges and rushes. It's very wet and there are boggy areas.

Our first day had a bit of sunshine and lots of rain. In fact, rain was a constant throughout the trip, but I had made sure we had rain coats and pants, and we stayed relatively comfortable most of the time. My feet were wet every day, but I have fast drying shoes and I wore wool socks.




There are a lot of pine plantations in the region.

Much of the area we drove through was part of the Wicklow National Park. It was good to see the conservation efforts in this region.







Maybe you have to be a botanist to really appreciate this landscape, but I found it to be very beautiful.










There are a lot of foot paths throughout Ireland. Next trip I hope to do some walking.










The streams and lakes were the dark color I've come to associate with fynbos. I wouldn't drink from these streams though, because there are grazing sheep and cattle everywhere.







We made a stop in the village of Glencree - the Reconciliation Centre, actually. It's a pretty small place with buildings in various states of restoration.

There was a nice cafe, which made for a good coffee break for me.





There was a lot of work being done on the shell in the background. I'm not sure what the building was, but this area had been used to house German orphans from World War II.








The church was open, so I popped in for a look.












It's a quaint chapel with a lovely decor.



















The stained glass looks very modern to me.















We took a drive through the Sally Gap and found some stunning scenery. Classic glacial valleys are all along this drive.









Very soggy, but worth a hike down to a view point overlooking the valley.










Here's the reward - a beautiful glacial lake and a view of the Guinness Estate on the right.





















Michael finally ventured down for a look. It was cold, windy, and raining. What a nice break from the heat of summer back home.






















Boulders scattered around the landscape were dropped by glaciers - pretty cool.









A nice natural garden.











This is the other end of the glacial valley. It's not hard to imagine what this landscape looked like 12 - 25,000 years ago.








Our final stop of the day before going to Koliba B & B in Arklow was the Avoca handweavers. Koliba is a really nice B&B with very friendly owners. Brendan gave us a lot of good information about the local area, which helped us plan our drive the next day.







We got there just before the rain came pouring down, so the lighting is a bit dark.











The grounds are lovely and the sound of this stream dominates the area.










There are nice gardens all around the site, but I didn't get to explore them because of the heavy rain.








The mill is open for tourists and you can walk around to see the operation.











There were two looms in operation while we were there.









I don't know much about weaving, but I was really intrigued by the loom and what the weavers were doing.





















Only one of the operators was wearing ear protection. It wasn't very loud in there while we visited, but if everything was going at the same time, it would be pretty noisy.








The next room had a powered loom. It wasn't running.









Back to the handweaving room for some more pics. The gift shop over in the other building had blankets, shawls, scarves and hats for sale. The end products of these looms are soft and lovely.






















My daughter would love some of these colors.











I imagine these large bobbins are used in the powered looms, but maybe they are for the hand looms as well.





One thing I did notice on the first day is that most of the Irish men and women are rather short compared to Americans. All of the bathroom mirrors were hung about 8 inches too low for me and the sinks came up to the middle of my thigh or just above my knees. Not very comfortable, but usable none-the-less. My family is rather tall, though, so it might be ok for most people.





This is the dinner we had on the first evening. We went to a very old inn (Woodbridge, I think) and had fish. Michael went for fish & chips and I had salmon. The Guinness in Ireland is very, very nice. I've never really liked it over here in America, but it was tasty in Ireland. We had a half-pint or pint just about every evening with dinner or at a pub while listening to music.






We had just enough light to drive over to Arklow and take a look around town. The river was a good spot for birding and I saw a lot of new species for my life list. I enjoyed watching the greylag geese navigate traffic in the car park.

Greetings from Ireland!

Michael and I arrived on Sept 2 - about 9:30 am. After sorting out the car rental, we were on the road south through the Wicklow Mountains and over to Arklow. We stayed at Koliba B&B for two nights - a lovely guest house and good for a base of operations to tour some of the sights in Co. Wicklow.

My favorite from this region was Glendalough - the monastary ruins. I'll have a lot more to add about this when I get home and process pics and can do a proper blog post. Until then, here is a picture from near the entrance to Monastary City.

There were a lot of intriguing ruins and graveyards to explore. There's also a lovely walk up the valley to see the twin lakes - remnants of the last ice age. The wall of the glacial valley is in the background of this photo.

I'm having a nice time, but it's a bit challenging to drive some of the country roads here. We're not taking in a lot of sights each day since Michael needs a lot more sleep than do I. I'm lucky to get him going by 9 am. Today it will be later since it's already 9 am and he's still in the shower. I don't remember if I was that way when I was young, but I don't think so. I've always been a morning worker and not needing too much sleep.

We're currently in Kilkenny and will be heading southwest this evening after doing some sight seeing around here.

Kayaking, birding, birding by kayaking, and kayaking with a wet dog

After our Idaho vacation, we researched different brands and models of kayaks and settled on the Wilderness system recreational ones. Steve got an ultralite in lime green, and I have a regular one in a color called "mango."

We've been checking out the various reservoirs and creeks in the area and have found Alum Creek State Park to be one of the nicest around here.





We've decided to get out early on weekend mornings to get a couple of hours of paddling in before doing our regular schedule on those busy days.

Here's my attempt at a self-portrait. It's really hard to do any photography from a kayak if you're worried about your gear.






Last weekend while we were at Alum Creek State Park, there was an organized outing by Columbus Outdoor Pursuits. They put in at the same beach where we did and so we had to wait for them to finish launching a large group before we could get out of our boats.










It was a pleasant enough morning that the wait wasn't too bad, and it was fun watching the beginners and more advanced kayakers do their thing.








They were going out for the day with a picnic lunch. We've thought about joining one of these trips, but they get such a late start in the day it doesn't really fit our schedule too well.







The other activity of the week has been birding at Glacier Ridge Metro Park. There were some rare sightings there and we didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to see these interesting migrants.

The place was pretty busy with birders and photographers catching the late afternoon rays. The lighting this time of year is beautiful and the wetlands are producing wonderful mudflats.






Great habitat for shorebirds and other migrants that love to eat frogs, fish, crayfish and worms.










If you squint you can probably see all the shorebirds out there.











Hmmmm - there's something a bit off with this picture.









Here is the star of the show - a marbled godwit who came to visit for a week or more. This is a rare bird for Ohio and it drew a lot of viewers.










A Virginia Rail was putting on quite a show as well.











So was the semi-palmated plover. All three of these birds were new to my life list.











Other regulars included solitary sandpipers,












and five, count them, five! Green Herons.


















Sunflowers are feeding the goldfinches and other migrants right now.








I decided I wanted to have my good camera along for some of our kayak excursions and so I bought a large pelican case to store my digital SLR and 300 mm lens. Here are the first pics with this set-up.

Steve, showing off a bit.







We're really enjoying these kayak trips. It's good exercise and it gives us a different kind of opportunity for birding.










For example, it's really great to see ospreys from the water rather than the shore.











We pulled up onto a mudflat and watched the shorebirds for a long while. Here's a Lesser Yellowlegs.










This Killdeer got used to us and approached closer to check us out. I liked having my good camera along.










Here's a turkey vulture at another reservoir we check out the next day. I didn't have my good camera along, and I wish I had brought it with me for this trip.








Steve snapped a cell phone photo of me trying out my good camera on shore birds.









Later that afternoon we took our miniature dachshund, Emma, for a paddle on Hoover Reservoir. We had taken her out on her first trip the previous weekend and she was really good about staying in my lap and not rocking the boat. This time it was a different story. She really was curious about the water and kept trying to get her nose to it. I finally picked her up by her PFD harness and dangled her feet in the water. She seemed to enjoy that, and before I knew it she was out on the bow of the kayak doing a major explore.




The only problem with that scenario is that there is no traction for her little dog feet and she slipped off. That was a huge surprise for her as she's never been swimming before. She had a bit of panic in her eyes as I reeled her back to the boat.

Wet dog, dry lap ------ Mom gets a shower!





She went in three times before I put a stop to it. There's only so much water one can take on and still stay afloat. Besides, I was just as soaked as she was and I wanted to get some exercise. She really enjoyed it, though. If you click on the pic, you can see that she has a smile on her face.

So, I'm typing all this narrative from the Columbus airport as I wait for a flight to Atlanta. I'm taking my son to Ireland as a graduation gift and so I will probably not be posting much for the next two weeks. Stay tuned for Ireland pics and stories. Cheers!