Ireland, Isle of Man, and Scotland

Here is a photo album from our trip to Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Scotland during July.  We feel so blessed to have been able to take this trip --- a celebratory end to Meredith's position at BYU and a last hurrah before the beginning of Cameron's intense MBA program.  We'll let the pictures do the talking!  (Er... Cam took 70 gigabytes of them.)


Ireland

Counties Mayo and Galway

Our first of many castles, and one of our favorites.  Aughnanure Castle, north of Galway, with a moat and everything!  Its occupants centuries ago were the ruthless O'Flaherty clan, ancestors to my 9th grade geometry teacher.

So that's what those slits in the castle wall are for!

Ashford Castle (and next few pics).  Centuries old, occupied until the 1940s by the famous Guinness family, Downton-Abbey-style.  (The family only lived there two weeks of every year, but employed 350 people to keep up the house and grounds year-round).  Unbelievable gardens.

 

A secret garden surrounded by a high wall, only accessible through a mysterious tunnel.  We were lucky to stumble upon it!

Wide-angle fun

We took a boat from Ashford out onto the lake, and visited Inchagoill Island with its very ancient Christian ruins.  The second-oldest Christian inscription in the world is on this island (around 500 AD), on the tombstone of St. Patrick's navigator.

The Cliffs of Moher

So stunning.  Also known as "The Cliffs of Insanity," from The Princess Bride.

The Gap of Dunloe (County Kerry)

Hard to say, but this may have been the most beautiful place we visited on the trip.  Or ever.  There was an enchanted mist over the cliffs in the distance, and oh that evening light on the turf...

My personal favorite picture Cam took on the trip.

 


Muckross House and Traditional Farms (County Kerry)

Muckross House is another "great house" lived in by an aristocratic family, with huge beautiful grounds (of which we have no pictures).  On the property there is also a traditional farm, where they do everything the way things were done a couple hundred years ago.  We tasted the bread the women were making over the fire (delicious) with traditional yeast, and the butter they had just freshly churned, and watched a man (with a completely inaccessible Irish accent) milk the cow in the shed, and finally visited the smithy.  This was one of my favorite days of the trip.

We watched a sow in labor for awhile outside this house.  My doula instincts were kicking in like crazy and I couldn't help myself from telling her how great she was doing (though I sensed she didn't want me to touch her).  And she WAS doing great!  Wish we could have stayed for the births. 

The smithy shop.  His handiwork was really beautiful.

Nano Nagle (County Cork)

Mallow Castle.  Our most exciting surprise find.  NOT a tourist venue!  Enchanting crumbled moss-covered walls.  I felt like playing make-believe even though I am a grown up.

Ah, Nano Nagle Center.  I am going back there some day, for a week or month long spiritual retreat.  It is one of the most peaceful, spiritually rich places I have ever been.  Founded by the Nano Nagle sisters (named for an Irish nun who secretly educated Irish children against British law), it now functions as a large organic farm.  Just seeing how they treated the earth and the animals made me feel so at home and at peace!  Truly, the hardest place to leave of the whole trip.  (And the cheapest, nicest accommodations besides!)  I wish we could have stayed to volunteer in the gardens a bit, but we had to move on.  We did feed the pigs and donkeys a lot.

I could not stop staring at these.

Happy Nano Nagle cows.

River walk flanking some of the Nano Nagle fields.  The river moved at the perfect pace... you stare at it long enough and you start breathing very deeply.

Wicklow Mountains

Upper Glendalough Lake

 

Dublin

I guess we just aren't city folk.  Yes this is the only picture of Dublin we saved.  (Peter is there for perspective next to the very tall thing).  We did enjoy walking around the city, and especially the National Museum of History and Archaeology.  Don't go if you don't like bog bodies, though.

The Isle of Man

Peel

Peel Castle, just south of where our ancestors the Canons ran their farm.  (We stayed on a farm in that vicinity, and did mostly farm stays the majority of our trip.  It's the way to go!)

Don't let the clouds deceive you!  We didn't see many until the day before we flew home.  Hottest, driest weeks on record in Ireland and the UK.

We both agree the little town of Peel was the most charming of the trip, and we would love to go back!

Sunscreen smile

  
Southern Isle of Man

Niarbyl Bay

Castle Rushen, Castletown.  We want a tapestry like that for our wall!  We hunted all over but could only find really expensive ones...sigh

England

Ambleside (The Lake District)

Please indulge me in sharing a few of Cameron's beautiful landscapes.

Cam had to take selfies on this hike because it was just too hot for Peter and me to join him!  Easily near 100 degrees.  We walked to the lake instead and met all the dogs. 

Another favorite

Scotland

Inchree (the Highlands)

Beautiful view, but we had so many ticks on us after this hike!  You should have seen us scurry off that mountain.

Inchree Falls.  So many tiers, you can't see them all here.

Just like Dada.

Crianlarich (the Highlands)

This is where we stayed in Crianlarich.  The only picture we took of any of our charming accommodations!  Cameron is great for landscapes, but I have to nudge him a lot to be a photographer of the documentary type :)

 
Cruach Ardrain
 This is the biggest hike we did the whole trip.  We took most of the day and climbed about 3000 feet into the mist, with Peter on my back.  It was the first "no sun" morning of our trip!  But deceiving... since Peter and I got our first sunburns of the trip through the "cloud cover."  Just as we were nearing the peak, the mist started rolling off of it like an avalanche.  Incredible.  We thought it would all be burned away by the time we reached the top, but alas, we sat there for over an hour in the cold wet mist (and strong strong wind --- on a very steep mountainside) waiting for it to clear so we could see the spectacular view Cam remembered from his earlier travels.  Then we headed down.  But still got incredible views all the way to the bottom.  Our favorite adventure, by far, of the whole trip.

Someone is ready for his nap.

I fell in love with these little cotton head flowers.

He was sleeping, so we put the hood on to keep his head from flopping.

Mama commands the Scottish storm clouds

Ay, I did.  I did just climb 3000 feet through a dreich Scottish mist.

But I'm not a bit peely-wally!  I'm a tough lad.  I'd even'a helped with the sacks, but that's outwith my remit.  Though in the end we're all Jock Tamson's bairns.

You've got to caw canny on a mountain like this, d'ye no ken?  I'm black-affronted I had to ride all the way, but I was feelin a bit wabbit.

It's a sair fecht climbing mountains, but I'm not a lad who sits on his hunkers, if I am a eedle-doddle!

Culzean Castle

Another "great house."  And this one had the most exquisite rooms and grounds yet.  A must-see if you ever visit Scotland.  It is right on the sea.

 

 

Cairnryan

We barely missed some really spectacular sun rays over that egg-shaped island.  We hypothesize it is actually a humongous turtle, obvious offspring of the one on whose back the earth rests.

Nothing much in Cairnryan -- we stayed there because we had to catch an early ferry back to Ireland.  But there was a nice sunset!

We couldn't find Peter's jacket, so he had to wear Mama's.  Little druid baby.

Fare thee well, Scotland!

Here is a compilation of time-lapses Cam did during the trip.  Unfortunately the battery failed us a few times, cutting short otherwise stunning clips.