This morning we took a guided sea kayak tour along the coast. There were three other visitors on the tour, all about forty years younger than us, but they managed to keep up with us. It was a really interesting tour. We went past a five star hotel with the grass growing on the roof in a pathetic attempt to be less visible. That blue float is the target for a golf driving range where the hotel guests can drive…
Just pictures today
The local cattle are cute, friendly, and tasty. We were walking along the beach today, and a group of them came over to say hello. Paula tried being a cow whisperer, but they stayed a respectful distance behind the electric fence. I think I mentioned there is a art gallery in town devoted to cows. Just to be clear, the cows are not the artists, it’s just that the art is about cows. Right now I’m listening to Horslip’s The…
Paula neglected the legend of how her grandfather came to America flying on a battle swan. Since a swan cannot carry a whole human (that would be silly) he had to leave his legs behind, but unencumbered by a body they were able to run across the Atlantic and got to the North Side of Chicago before he arrived. (If you think that’s unlikely, just wait till we visit the Blarney Stone). After we had visited the ancestral territory of…
When the sun shines, as it did all day today, the grass in Ireland is not so much emerald green as florescent DayGlo green. You won’t get the full effect from this picture unless you sit in a darkened room with your monitor turned up to maximum brightness and contrast. This is the garden of the College of the Church of St Mary in Youghal. There’s been a garden here since medieval times. The college became a mansion and is…
My first impression of Ireland is that they are good at ruins. The little seaside village of Ardmore where we are staying has got a ruined Cathedral… … several ruined watchtowers… … a shipwreck… … a ruined hermitage… … a ruined shed oratory, heavily restored in the 18th century… …and two ruined wells… Yep, that’s Paula taking a nose dive into St. Declan’s Well, to see if the water really does cure scurvy. Of course, it’s not going to have…
This morning my brother took me foraging for food in the lanes and fields near his house. We scored big on wild blackberries and mushrooms and also a few damsons. The mushrooms made it home, but the rest were consumed on the spot. Then it was off to the visitor center of the Severn Valley Railway. These is the the Lady Armaghdale, a transexual steam engine that formerly masqueraded as Thomas the Tank Engine. [Archival photo] Of course, we all…
We’ve spent the past two days packing up our stuff on Wharram Percy, and have now handed it over to our manager. This year’s trip was 554.7 miles and 375 locks, so that’s an average of about six miles and four locks every day. Here’s the journey in Google Maps. At the start of the trip Paula bought some potted plants for the roof of the boat. The begonias have been in bloom ever since. Today we sacrificed them to…
We did the last few miles down to Stourport today, and are staying with my brother and his family. Their back yard has been taken over by a mother mallard, and eight rapidly expanding ducklings. They have a very small ornamental pond but a duck decided to nest there and raise a family. Pretty soon the baby ducks were big enough to start eating the pansies and other ornamental plants, so they decided to start feeding them to protect the…
Today I saw a wild badger for the first time in my life. Sorry, I did not get a picture as he went underground before I could get the camera out, so instead here’s a wood carving of Badger and Otter from Wind in the Willows. This was from the National Memorial Arboretum a few weeks ago. They have a complete set of Wind in the Willows characters that are not a memorial to anybody so far as I can…