Jim is good craic. Definitely. Good company, good music and good food.

As I realised I was running out of days in Ireland, I had a plan to head straight to Dingle for two nights and then up to Gort for another two. But Jim, spontaneously deciding to skip work, convinced me to join him to Skibbereen for a night at the House he was planning to buy and then we'd go on to Dingle from there.

So we set off, me, Jim and Leo (a permaculturist who was joining to take a look at the plot of land Jim was planning to buy). And the cottage is absolutely adorable. Only one neighbour for Miles around, surrounded by fields and foresty land, and with a size-able area ready to be cultivated. It still needs a lot of work, having no running water or electricity, but sitting around the wood stove sipping tea made up for that.

written by  Brigid Jelsma on April 10, 2011 from Skibbereen, Ireland
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
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The drive. Wow. Along the coast, Bantry Bay, over the mountains, Kilarney Lakes, and then arriving in Dingle - I have never seen anything as stunning!

And then Dingle. The most amazing place in the world (or as much of the world as I've seen). Cute shops, awesome pubs, beautiful coastline, and wonderful people; what more could you need?

There was also a highly amusing incident involving a drunken Irish man who entertained the whole pub (Dick Mack's - best pub in the world) with his antics. He'd hug people as they came through the door and even answered a call from his mom while everyone was listening. We ended up pub-hopping with him for a bit - laughing like lunatics as we went down the street.

Then I met Frank, my new host and after a hearty dinner set off to Geraldine's place for a few drinks before finally heading BACK to Dick Mack's for a few more.

Oh, dear. These Irish are bad influences.

written by  Brigid Jelsma on April 11, 2011 from Dingle, Ireland
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
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John, another couch surfer, had a car and we went around to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren - absolutely amazing!!! But we got charged 6 euros each just to see them (even though I tried jumping out the car before we got to The Entrance, there was a guy there who told on me).

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ireland and I'm honestly sad to be leaving!

written by  Brigid Jelsma on April 14, 2011 from Gort, Ireland
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
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We arrived in Ireland at long last after some long layovers in both Calgary and Amsterdam. Finally at the Dublin we took a bus into Belfast, and awaited Sophie's uncle James. As luck would have it her friend/aunt or something Roberta recognized Sophie as we waited and drove us instead. After some awkward moments with foreign family members Judith arrived. Finally a familiar face - to Sophie at least. She drove us home right away and settled us into her cute wee home. The next morning we had a nice sleep in after almost 30 hours awake. Still a little unadjusted to the time our day went on. We had some guests visit Sharon+Dave and Judith (another one!) and Roberta. They brought their cute toddler over and Sophie played momma. We drove into some southern towns saw some pretty stuff. Drove on some very scary roads - very narrow and very fast and all on the opposite sides. We saw silent valley, bloody bridge, and Newcastle. We went out for dinner at a place called Eight South. Very brill. Chorizo and chicken pasta. We also had our first pints of Guinness. Not my favorite but embrace the Irish traditions while here. The next day (Sunday) we went off to church which was a lovely Easter service. After that we made our way over to James' and Sandra house where we had a lovely Easter dinner (as they call it - though it was lunch) We then headed out and about and saw the baby cows and full grown cows. They live on a dairy farm so we saw part of that process as well. It was very fun. We also had a visit with granny the night before. We headed over to James brothers farm and saw the robot milker. It was super neat.  We then drove into Belfast and saw the titanic shipyard, the legislature and the Stormont government building. Very simple on lovely large grounds. Today we had a long trip! All the way up the North coast. Firstly, giants causeway and then the famous rope bridge.  We saw Portstewart, Bushmills, Londonderry, and, Coleraine. We took a nice little ferry around and had a BBQ on the beach. And it rained. And it poured. And the food was good. Very cold and a weird dog. Some Irish phrases ...
Crisps = chips
Chips = fries
Are you taking the piss outta me? = are you making fun of me?
Wee = little
Yous hungry?
Yous cold?

written by  joelcarter on April 9, 2012 from Waringstown, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2012
tagged Ireland and Waringstown
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