27th June 2012

Hi all

Well since my last blog we have travelled by ferry from Holyhead in Wales across to Dun Loghaire in Ireland. We have had a total of 3 days  to have a bit of a look around and today I am blogging on the ferry travelling from Belfast in Ireland to Cainryan in Scotland. It really has been a whirlwind visit but our holiday is fast coming to an end and we just had to see the Emerald Isle.

We arrived in Dun Loghaire about midday on the 24th and drove across the southern end of Ireland  through Kilkenny and on to Kilarney in the west. We were quite surprised that for most of the drive  the countryside actually looks a lot like Australia. I have to admit that I was just slightly disappointed. However we had a nice stay in Kilarney, which is a very pretty town, and the next morning headed out to have a look at an area called the Gap of Dunloe. The gap is a valley that runs between the Macgillycuddy's Reeks and the purple mountains in county Kerry. We decided to take a jaunty ride( a very small horse and cart) up into the gap as this seemed to be a very popular way to travel. The Gap is really beautiful and the scenery here is often used on Irish postcards. We had a really nice driver who filled us in on all the local legends and showed us some wild cotton plants which the Leprachauns use to make their underwear. Apparently there are quite a few Leprachauns in this area but they don't come out until the pubs close!!!!!!!!!! The jaunty will only take you up to a certain point and then you are able to walk further into the gap if you wish. The road narrows significantly from here and is very windy. The Gap was formed two million years ago by a massive glacier, however local legend says that St Patrick formed the road by throwing down the last great snakes in Ireland!!!

From here we headed onto the Dingle Peninsula. Every website we visited said that this was one of the most spectacular places in Ireland and  as we had limited time we decided to give it a go. As promised we were not disappointed. We finally got to see the 41 shades of green that my Mum says Ireland is famous for. Dingle town itself is a quaint little Irish seaside village. It has loads of atmosphere and is very busy. I must admit we were a bit amazed to see a surfing school set up on one of the beaches...there really doesn't appear to be many waves. Even the people just having a nice afternoon swim wear wetsuits...I guess the water is a bit cold even in the summer.
As we travelled along the peninsula the scenery was amazing. Sheep grazing in seaside paddocks and prehistoric stone beehive houses, Emerald green cliff faces and clusters of islands dotting the coastline. It truly was a beautiful drive.  Definitely a place I would like to explore more one day.
The Dingle peninsula is also nice because it has a nice old world charm. We had read somewhere not to expect Ireland to be the mystical, magical place it is portrayed as because it is actually a very modern country. This is definitely true for most of the country that we have seen. There are very few old country cottages. Apparently there has been a building boom and there are new houses everywhere, even in the rural areas.

At the end of the day we arrived in Limerick and stayed overnight. On the way we drove through a nice historic town called Adare. Here they have quite a few well preserved thatch roofed cottages, a lovely old Abbey, a castle and a very impressive golf course. 

The following day we travelled north toward Donegal. Quite by accident we ended up in a very nice hotel and on check in were given a complementary upgrade into a rather amazing room. This is the second time on our 3 month journey and as we normally stay in more budget style accommodation it is really nice to have a bit of luxury. We ventured out for dinner to a nice little pub and enjoyed some traditional Irish stew,  wild venison pie and some good Irish music. After dinner we headed back to our room, had a spa (which was so good after weeks of very small showers with no water pressure)and a good nights sleep.

After a short walk through Donegal, we then headed east into Northern Ireland and into Belfast where we were due to catch the ferry, which is where I started this blog! We decided to stay out of Belfast and Dublin because as much as we would love to have explored these cities, it takes a lot of time that we just didnt have. It is exciting however to say that we were in Belfast on the day that the Queen visited Northern Ireland and shook hands with the Sinn Fein leader (and former leader of the IRA) Martin McGuinness.

Well thats all for now so I will post a few photos and catch up from somewhere in Scotland.

All of us in the jaunty at the Gap of Dunloe

A few pics of the Gap of Dunloe.....

The wild cotton for the Leprachauns....

A deer on the Gap road

In the background you can just see the narrow road

through the gap.

The beach at Inch on the Dingle Peninsula

Em paddling in the Irish sea

The harbour at Dingle

A prehistoric Beehive cottage

The beautiful coast of the Dingle Peninsula

The peninsula road

Sheep grazing along the seaside

More of the coastline

Thatch roofed cottages in Adare

The Abbey in Adare

Limerick

This is where they shot some of the movie Braveheart

as well as other movies. It is now known as the

Irish Hollywood

Em relaxing in our lovely upgraded room

our beds....

and bathroom!

23rd June 2012

Hi all

With our time in Europe up we caught the ferry from Calais to Dover last Wednesday, to spend the last 2 weeks of our holiday travelling through The UK. We spent the night in Dover then headed off Thursday morning to see Stonehenge on the way to Bath. As luck would have it, the 21st of June falls during the Summer Solstice. For the Druids, who worship the sun, the summer solstice is a very important day and Stonehenge the place of worship and celebration on this day. Not very good planning on our behalf because it means that Stonehenge is closed to the public. Apparently more than 14500 people converged on Stonehenge that morning to await the dawn and celebrate the sun......unfortunately it was one of the wettest Summer Solstices on record. For us this meant a very long delay on the roads as Stonehenge is right on the highway. The upside was that you can actually see it from the road so even though we didn't get up close we could still snap a few pics.

We arrived in Bath late in the afternoon and booked into a lovely little English pub for the night. We had a lovely meal and a really nice chat with some locals in the bar before heading to bed. It has been raining since we arrived back in England and although it is summer it has only been around 11 - 16 degrees, so we are feeling the cold a bit.
The next morning we had a look around Bath and visited The Roman Baths which was really interesting.
That afternoon we left Bath to head into Southern Wales. We arrived in Bridgend, near Cardiff within a couple of hours and had a look around part of what is known as the Heritage Coast. This is a really popular tourist destination for the 4 days of Summer they actually get here! We decided we would spend the next day driving the length of Wales to end up near Hollyhead so we could catch the ferry to Ireland. We asked several locals about the trip and what would be some interesting things to see along the way. The trip in total, along the freeway, is only about 4 hours but no-one could believe we were going to go "all that way" in one day!!!! Of course, we did, but, instead of sticking to the freeway we took the back roads which has become one of our favourite things to do. You get to see so much more and we love passing through all the little towns along the way. I feel as though I have repeated myself so often in my blogs but once again the scenery was just beautiful. Wales has had a lot of rain this summer and there has been some flooding in some parts of mid Wales. We stopped at a small village in the Elan Valley where there is a loch. The loch is at maximum capacity and so there is loads of water cascading over the loch wall...it was amazing.
We arrived in Caernarfon, near Hollyhead, about 8.30 this evening. Tomorrow we will cross to Ireland.....a bit worried about he weather though.....hope the ferry is not too rough!!!!
Well that's all for now. Will leave you with some shots of Wales and will blog again soon.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge

The Little pub we stayed in near Bath

The Roman Baths

Em talking with a Real Roman Lady.....

The Roman Baths

The bridge joining England with Wales

A lovely thatch roofed cottage

Thank goodness they put the English translation

of the Welsh wording!!!!!

It is so amazingly green....

A loch

The roads are very scenic

The loch wall at Elan

As above

The loch wall from the top

The towns and villages are just beautiful

The stone fences and walls are amazing

This is Mark making a short documentary for Top Gear

14th June 2012

Hi all

After a good nights sleep, we left Toulouse this morning and headed off toward Bergerac. It is always nice when we get off the Autoroute and take the road less travelled. The motorways are good if you need to get from A to B in a certain time but they are usually not at all scenic and cost an absolute fortune. I estimate we have probably spent somewhere around 300 Euro on Tolls during the time we have been in Europe.

From Toulouse to Bergerac is very agricultural. There are crops of potatoes, corn, wheat and onions, all sown in various patterns, as well as orchards full of fruit trees. Cherries and other stone fruits seem to be prolific in this region. The area is very green and lush and trees line the road in and out of every little village. The little farm houses and barns that are scattered along the route are mostly old stone buildings with ivy climbing all over them.. All of France so far has been really clean and picturesque and there actually seems to be some law and order on the roads, which is nice.
Once you reach Bergerac in the Dordogne Valley the landscape changes and all of a sudden all you can see is vineyards and small gourmet outlets selling Fois Gras and Truffles. It is very scenic and obviously a foodies paradise.

Not far out of Bergerac you enter the Limousin region and from there through to Limoges seems to be mostly grazing properties obviously with Limousin cattle and some sheep as well.

All up the journey today took about 5 hours but was a very pleasant drive. We will stay in Limoges tonight and head up through the Loire Valley and into Paris tomorrow...looking forward to that!

The medieval village at Carcasonne

Emily at Carcasonne

Emily inside the Village

Every town through France has a tree lined entrance

The lush fields of The Dordogne Valley

A beautiful old stone house used as a cafe 

A beautiful little french village house

The Loire Valley...right in the heart of France

They love their flowers in France and the streets in

every town are decorated with them.

15th June 2012

We left Limoges this morning and headed toward Paris. We travelled up through the Loire Valley with all its vineyards through the heart of France. We stayed off the motorways and were fascinated by every beautiful little town and village we drove through. France really is a beautiful country. We arrived on the outskirts of Paris around 6pm. The traffic was very heavy and it took us nearly 11/2 hrs to get to our Hotel. We had a bit of an interesting night with the fire alarm going off in the hotel not once but 3 times. Once at 1.30am, again at 3am and once more at 5am. Each time was a false alarm but we had to evacuate the building every time so we had very little sleep and by the end of it Em was quite distressed. Fortunately the situation was fixed the next day because we had booked in for 3 nights and weren't looking forward to a repeat performance the next night.

After a bit of a sleep in......we decided to head to the Belle Epine shopping centre (the largest shopping centre in Europe apparently) to have a look around and do a bit of shopping.
The following day we spent sightseeing in Paris. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower where we waited in line for three hours so we could take a lift to the very top. It is very impressive and the view from the top is amazing. It was worth the wait. Afterwards we jumped on the Hop on Hop off sightseeing bus and did a tour of the city. The heart of Paris is very beautiful with the most amazing buildings everywhere you look. We rode through the Montmatre district which used to be known for its artists and performers (but today appears to be full of flea type markets) and up past the Moulin Rouge.
Our last leg of the journey took us down the Champs Elysees toward the Arc De Triomphe. This is a beautiful tree lined street. Lots of gardens, cafes and shopping.

The next morning we headed out of Paris and on toward Amiens so we could take a drive through the Somme and along the Western Front into Belgium. This has been one of my favourite parts of France.
Firstly, we drove what is called The Poppy Trail or the Circuit of Remembrance. This area covers 40 miles dedicated to the battle of the Somme, with each battlefield marked with memorials to soldiers from France, Britain, Canada,  New Zealand, South Africa and of course Australia. It is an incredibly moving experience to visit the battlefields, memorials and cemeteries. The fields all through the Somme are lush and green and paddocks and roadways are lined with poppies. It is, ironically, a very peaceful place over 100 years on from WW1. The monuments and cemeteries are kept in immaculate condition and are really very beautiful. I was able to find the grave of two family members, both of whom were killed in the war. One in the Wallencourt British Commonwealth cemetery and one at The Menin Gate memorial at Ypres in Belgium. We also visited the site of Hill 62 in Ypres where we were able to see preserved trenches and artifacts found in the trenches after the war. There were trees with bullet holes all through them and large holes all through the area from mortar shell explosions. This would have to be one of the most authentic sites I have ever seen.....
We finished the day in Dunkirk where we spent the night so we could catch the ferry back to Dover from Calais this morning.
Tomorrow we are heading up to Stonehenge and on to Bath..........looking forward to the next leg of our journey.

Our first climpse of the Tower

The view from the top

Emily at the top of the Tower

The Seine River from the Eiffel Tower

The famous Maxim's Restaurant

The Moulin Rouge

A Paris street lined with cafes

The Louvre

The view down The Champs Elysee with the Arc De

Triomphe in the distance

The Somme

Marking the Front Line

Pozieres has many tributes to the Aussie Soldiers

and is where the Australian Memorial is located.

A field of Poppies

Emily placing some poppies at the Australian Memorial

One of the many beautiful war cemeteries

Another cemetery

The Australian Memorial

Mark in one of the Trenches at Hill 62

The preserved trenches

A whole from a shell

The Menin Gate Memorial all missing soldiers

One of the preserved trees at Hill 62 (covered with

crosses and poppies)showing bullet holes