Back home safe, aside from the week after effects of a cold I caught in Ireland. Guess there are worse things. 😉

Vacation Tour of Ireland, Day 6

We left Tubbercurry early as usual into John's home turf, County Sligo. Our first stop was an adventure. It was the Carrowkeel Passage Cairns. I napped all the way there, but when we arrived in valley between two mountains and were told we could hike up to the Cairns, I was excited.

I was one of the last to make my way up the trail. The site was gorgeous. Sheep lined the road (along with their droppings;-), and there were photo ops all along the road that were like something out of a biblical picture. Beautiful!

When I saw one such picturesque scene with a large rock beneath a tree and climbed up for a closer look I decided to keep climbing. While most followed the path, yes, I climbed OVER the mountain.

The mountain was covered with heather. It wasn't blooming, but it was fabulous nonetheless. And the view! You could see most of Ireland.

Down the other side I was tired but joyful as I continued up the long and winding road. Then it was up the side of another mountain, less decorated by heather, to the cairns. Strong stone structures with a cool story behind them. The first I entered and bumped up my leg. I should've known then that trouble was brewing.

The next cairn we went into… Well, John said they had 18 people in one once. I can't imagine that. After crawling in and hearing all the shuffling about in this tiny stone structure, I started feeling claustrophobic and had a panic attack. Weird, because I never have 'em. But I quickly crawled back out and breathed well.

We left the mountain, again, filled with joy in the blissfully cool air. But I kinda wonder if it was too cool now.

From there was a big blunder. John took us to the Celtic Ways “Two Worlds Theatre”. The site is no where near done. It was basically a construction site. I'm sure it'll be great when it's done, but at the time it ticked me off, because it really was just a waste of time. We made for it when we arrived at the Cromleach Lodge.

Wow! Can you say “Schwank!”? The room was ginormous! Big, glorious bathtub and a vista that was breathtaking.

Earlier in the day, we had passed some caverns and a bunch of the tour folks wanted to go see inside the caverns. But not me. Instead, I took a nice hot bubble bath, and relaxed, chatting with Jamie as we sat and sipped bourbon.

That's when it first struck me. It started with an upset stomach, then chills. I caught a cold. I was able to make it through a brilliant dinner and still enjoy it, but by the time we finished, I was spent. I had to miss seeing Claire Roche perform. Instead, I went to bed and slept for the next nine hours.

Vacation Tour of Ireland, Day 7

The next morning I was still a bit tired. I slept as we drove to the Shannon Pot. Before we arrived, we stopped at the grave of Turlough O'Carolan, the great blind Irish harper who wrote and preserved hundreds of tunes. At the grave, Andrew and I played “Eleanor Plunkett” and composed a couple of original pieces on the fly. At a holy well, I drank some water to hopefully heal my cold. Looks like it didn't work. *sigh*

The Shannon Pot was the next destination. This was the source of the River Shannon which extends throughout Ireland. It was an enchanting pool and crossing to the other side, John instructed us on the creation and spirituality of making Brigit's Crosses. It was quite relaxing and perfect for my dazed sense from the cold.

From there we made our way into Northern Ireland for another afternoon of disappointment. We went to the Augha Killy Maude's Men of Straw Theater. This was basically a museum to keep the Mummer tradition alive. The problem was the guide there apparently didn't have any guests, so it turned into an hour and a half lecture that could've been summed up in twenty minutes. Very disappointing.

So I was extra happy to get back to the Cromleach Lodge for another evening of amazing food and self-pampering. After dinner, we went for a walk on a trail with delicious darkness in the trees. When I got back, I played a few songs until Andrew was ready to join me. Then we put on a wee show in the lounge. It was short, but I was tired, and we only had one day to go.

Vacation Tour of Ireland, Day 8, The Last Day

Our last drive for the trip went to Tara Hill. This was the court of the High Kings of Ireland for 3000 years. Too much of the day was spent driving, but since I was sick, I don't remember much. I think we stopped at an old tower somewhere, and a Celtic cross. But again, I was tired.

Tara was lovely as usual. We arrived later than anticipated so our tour was a bit too brief with not enough story. But since I heard some of it last year, I was fine. It was the rest of the group I felt had missed out. The day was cold. The vista spectacular. And I picked up a nice book of Irish songs when I saw it was by Brendan Behan, author of “Come Out Ye Black and Tans” and many more.

Then finally, we arrived at Deer Park Howth. Some of us decided to go for oysters before dinner, so John was kind enough to drive us down Howth to find some place to eat them. We did. They were spectacular, as was the company. The dinner was poor, but ahhh the oysters. Then a group of us drank wine, beer and more as we spent our last evening together in Ireland.

Final Thoughts

All in all, it was a fantastic time. Good food. Good drink. Good company. We had it all. The rest was just beautiful sites to see in between those. I wish I didn't get sick, and there were definitely a couple sites that fell flat at the end of the tour, but overall, wow! How I wish I could do this every year. Ah well…

Now I'm in the airport at JFK, waiting to fly back home. I must admit, I can't wait to get home and see my cats. Plus, I have a lot of catch up to do. Podcasts. Andrew and I never did A Brobdingnagian Minute sadly. But I have a Pub Songs one to do. And there are some live sessions I'll post.

Yes, the session in Leenane was by far my favorite. It reminded me a lot of Lisdoonvarna from last year. I hope to do that again some time.

And Gougane Barra. That was definitely my favorite spot of the trip. I wouldn't mind just staying there a few nights of peaceful-filled bliss and meditation in that valley. Yoga. That would be something amazing to do in some of these serene spots. I need to get back to that.

And of course, I have to get back to promoting Whiskers in the Jar which is now available on CD Baby. So much to do and yet so much to miss and reflect on in Ireland.