EFOG's visit to Ireland in June 2013
In June 2013 eight EFOG members had a week's stay in County Wicklow, organised by Eileen.
Group member Pam has a sister who lives in neighbouring County Wexford to the south, so making use of the opportunity she asked if I'd like to go to Ireland earlier, to stay for a few days at Glenis and Stephen's home in New Ross. It had been a couple of years since I've been to Ireland – the last time with a Group holiday in County Galway – and many years since I'd visited County Wexford, and then only briefly, so I was pleased to be able to go.
We sailed from Fishguard on Tuesday 18th on fine Summer day for the crossing to Rosslare, and arrived at New Ross in the evening. It's only a two-up and two-down terraced house, so to give me and Pam a room each, Stephen and Glenis forsook their bedroom for the living room. The house was also shared by a Jack Russell, Poppy, who once he'd got over her apprehension about me proceeded to jump me at every opportunity. She was great for exploratory walks around the old port town of New Ross.
Our first expedition, on Wednesday, was to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Arboretum which was opened in 1968. This arboretum is dedicated to J.F.K. as the Kennedy ancestral home is at Dunganstown, just a few miles away. It was a beautiful, very warm and sunny, day and the arboretum is a lovely place to visit, with many fine trees.
Hello?I'd noticed on the map some islands off the coast at the S.E. tip of the County – the Saltee Islands. I'd never heard of these, and as boats were available to take visitors out from Kilmore Quay we decided that we'd go there. Thursday was another lovely day and the sea calm for the half-hour or so crossing in a small but powerful craft with cover only for the skipper and crew. Nearing the shore of Great Saltee – the other island being Little Saltee – we transferred into rubber inflatable boats for the final few metres to the only landing place, a bit of sand on an otherwise rocky coast. Visitors are only allowed on the Saltees for a limited time each day, and the boats from Kilmore abandon you there until they return at 4pm. There is no shelter – although the owner has a house there (often - as was the case - unoccupied) – but the day was so fine we didn't need any. The islands are a wonderful place for wildlife, with Puffins that come up and say hello, Seals that like to listen to you singing and a Gannet colony that you can walk up to without being attacked. It is a wonderful place and I'd recommend a visit for anyone down that way, but suspect that the weather might have some bearing on it.
On the Solstice (June 21st), we drove quite a long way into Tipperary to visit the largest stone circle in Ireland, at Grange. The whole area is a bit of a holy place if you are a Pagan, so I did my usual pagan things like having a look round and wondering how the trees in the stone circle have changed to stone – or perhaps the stones have turned into trees? We missed the actual sunrise by a few hours, and were just about the only ones there, but it was worth the journey.
Hanging on at Bray HeadAs many of the Kennedy family from the U.S. were to be visiting New Ross on the Saturday – and more particularly as we wanted to meet up with the rest of the Group when they arrived - we left New Ross before the celebrations began and drove to Brittas Bay in County Wicklow. As it happened, Pam and I got there shortly before the cars containing the rest of the Group did, and we had to do a bit of blagging with the security guard at the site (security gates, and a keypad login to a holiday-complex) before we got the code and found our cottage. The rest had misinterpreted the SatNav a bit, I think, and had almost got to the gates before deciding they were wrong and turning back.
Anyway, we settled in to our accommodation, which was a wooden dormer bungalow, I suppose. It was quite new, and had most of the facilities you'd expect, although some – particularly the kitchen – were laid out a bit awkwardly, the water supply was a bit wayward, and I couldn't stand up in the upstairs loo.
The first of the Group's walks was the next day, Sunday 23rd. From the respectable sea-side town of Bray, we walked along the promenade and steeply uphill on a very windy day to Bray Head (241m). It was so windy it was hard to stand upright by the cross at the top overlooking the town. We found some very slightly sheltered positions for a snack-break before walking the hill-side path above the sea to Windgate, some four or five miles north, and then back along a slightly more sheltered lower route nearer the sea.
Banshees at GlendaloughOn Monday 24th we went to Glendalough - The Glen of the two lakes - an early mediaeval settlement founded by St Kevin in the sixth century. Some of the group did a harder and higher-level walk whilst others did a lower and easier walk, but both groups were pestered by midges. I noted that these tended to hang around ready for the attack at places favoured by photographers. At the end of the visit Eileen, Pam and Val played at banshees in the river.
The following day, Tuesday 25th, we visited Avoca, which is the village in which the series "Ballykissangel" was set. I was surprised to see a Red Kite over the high street as I had not realised that there were kites in Ireland. A mile or two up the road from Avoca we visited the beauty spot of meeting of the waters. This features in a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore, and there is a memorial to him there. I not known that Thomas Moore was the writer of the lyrics for The Minstrel Boy andThe Last Rose of Summer.
Fitzgerald's, Avoca...we'd already been in!On Wednesday 26th some of the Group went somewhere, and Pam and I went to Devil's Glen, near Ashford. This is a woodland area with a deep gorge running through and again feelings of rocks and woods that have merged to become one. Almost at the beginning of one of the walks is a quote from the late Seamus Heaney: The riverbed, dried up, half-full of leaves. Us, listening to a river in the trees. And standing where we were, with the river far below us - out of sight and possibly out of sound - the noise of the wind in the trees was like a river. The next thought-provoking lines - cut into a rock – were We have lost the dog. I liked that. We were remarkably blessed with the weather, which generally was pretty good. After we had returned from the Devil's Glen we met up with Val and the three of us even managed an hour or two of sun-basking on the long sandy beach, just a short walk from our accommodation.
She's a bit shiny 'cos a lot of people are hands onWe spent Thursday in Dublin, and that was - conveniently in a way - the day we had the most rain. Dublin is a fine city and between us we managed to visit Trinity College, O'Connell Street, the Ha'penny Bridge, Phoenix Park and Molly Malone's statue amongst others. Coincidently at the end of the day we all met up in the lovely park of St. Stephens Green, right in the heart of the city. I would like to pay a return visit especially to the National Museum of Ireland; there are some wonderful things in there.
Our walk on Friday 28th was on Dublin Mountain, part of the Wicklow Mountains that stretches right to the outskirts of the city at Kilmashogue. From the high point of Three Rocks (400m) there is a wonderful view over the whole of the city and along the coast north and south, whilst behind the Wicklow Mountains stretch wildly away to the west. It is a further hike up to what becomes wild country, although the route we followed was made relatively easy by nicely placed rock paving. The conditions up on the top at Fairy Castle (536m) however, were damp, misty and windy.
The Fairy Castle on Dublin MountainWe strolled through the streets of Dun Laoghaire on Saturday morning, had a bite to eat and perhaps collected some snacks for the ferry crossing back to Britain at Holyhead. To alleviate too long a journey in one day, we had booked in for an overnight hotel stay at Newcastle-under-Lyme. Breakfast there in the morning was perhaps considered as the end of another great Irish holiday organised by Eileen.
I think the most memorable bits for me, in order, were the Saltee Islands, Devil's Glen, listening to the uileann-piper at Glendalough, and Dublin Museum. The Bananagrams in the evenings were pretty good, too.
Participants: Eileen, Fozie, Fred, Fritz, Ken, Pam, Val and me (Paul)
Paul Ferris 8th September 2013