Jan 2013 Happy New Year

Aug. 2012 Scotland Castles,Flowers,Lochs

Castles 

Flowers

Lochs

Scotland Photos

Aug.20,2012 Scotland

We arrived in Scotland and spent a month in this wonderful country.Scotland covers just over 30,000 square miles and has a coastline of 2300 miles.It has thousands of lochs which are magnificent.Edinburg is the capital.The worldwide number of people who claim Scottish decent is 25 million.I being one of them.I.2 percent still speak in Gaelic.We started on the western coast of Scotland working our way north all the way to John O' Groats and down the eastern side.We spent time on the Isle of Skye and saw dramatic landscape with miles of beautiful coastline.We spent time going to abbey's, castles and spending a lot of time in very north Highlands. This area is quite remote but what a beautiful place.When we arrived at John O' Groats we stayed a couple of days only because we wanted to go to Orkney Islands.There certainly isn't anything way up north.We took a ferry to Orkney and then did a bus tour for the day.We left the Rv in the campground at John O' Groats. .Orkney has 2 main settlements which we went to both.Small communities began to settle in the islands around 4000 BC and Skara Brae has the best stone age settlements in Europe. We were also taken to a small Italian Chapel that was made of salvaged scraps.It was made by a Italian prisoner of war.This small chapel is painted inside is very nice.It was a nice tour and if anyone makes it to the top of Scotland a trip to Orkney is well worth the time. We spent time in Edinburgh and stopped by the Whiskey center.Just had to have samples of the single malt. We also stopped and saw my cousins in St. Andrews and had a very nice visit.Of course for me a trip to Scotland wouldn't be complete unless we went to find my great grandmothers headstone.It turns out my great grandfathers sister was married to a very important man in Carnwath.They even put a monument to him.We spent time going to several castles where Mary Queen of Scots was born,lived as a child and also where she was imprisoned in Kinross Castle.She also had escaped from there with the help of Willie Douglas.No stop in Scotland would be any good if you didn't  go to a few Whiskey Distelleries.One was The Glenlivet and the other Glenfiddich.At Glennfiddich they took us on a nice tour and at the end to us into a dining room set up with for glasses of Malt Whiskey.We tasted 12,15,18,and 21 year old Scotch.Very nice.There is so much more I can tell you about Scotland but time is running short. Our next stop will be back in England.

Aug.4-9 Ireland

Moving further north in Ireland we came to Derry. We took a trolley tour around the town and learned some history about Ireland.They still have the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. It really is strange that this still goes on in Ireland.They have a lot of murals on walls that show about the troubles in Ireland.We went further north and came to a World Heritage site called Giant's Causeway. Layered basalt columns left by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.After leaving here went stopped at another interesting place.It's called Carrick-a Rede Rope Bridge.You experience the thrill of crossing over the rope bridge that is 30 meters deep and 20 meters wide.This was a real thriller for me as I don't like heights.One way to conquer  your fears. On the 9th we will take the ferry to Scotland.

Ireland July29-Aug 4 #3

We moved along to the Dingle Pennisula and we loved it here.Dingle has something for everyone beaches,walking trails,pure Irish music,beautiful scenery and Gaelic language.The coastline consists of steep sea cliffs broken by sandy beaches.This has always been a area of the Gaelic language and was hit hard during the potato famine.You can see along the highway where the stones houses were abandoned many years ago.Today because of poor conditions the government has stepped in and subsidizes the region in order that the Irish language and  culture survive.There are newer homes everywhere in Ireland and quite large.We spent a couple days in Dingle  because we wanted to go to a few pubs at night and  listen to their music.lots of fun.Continuing along we stopped to see the Beehive huts and it was raining heavily.The beehive huts have stood for more than 4000 years.It's hard to imagine stones setting here for that long.
              Beehive Hut

Driving along we came to the Gallarus Oratory which is a stone church built 1300 years ago.Everything over here is ancient.The next day we went to the Cliffs of Moher.The Cliffs of Moher are a Unesco World Heritage sight.For 5 miles the cliffs soar as high as 650 ft. above the Atlantic.The cliffs are dramatic and there are walking trails to walk along.

I may  have to post my photos later as I'm having trouble transferring to blogger. We spent the night along the beach and were rewarded  with a beautiful sunset.The following day we drove along the coast and the Burren area.The Burren is a unique,windblown limestone wasteland that hides flora,caves and history.As you drive along you will come to Poulnabrone Dolman.This is a portal tomb made with stones and looks like a table.It's over 4000 years old.This is a very desolete place but interesting.It continues to rain but it hasn't stopped us from sightseeing.We drove the Inishowen route and  stop in Donegal to see the castle and old friary.We spent the night at the visitors center and they were putting in electic for rvs traveling and spending the night.Very nice of them.

July 26-29 continued

We drove along the Berea Coast and had a interesting drive.We encountered narrow roads,breathtaking scenery and some desolete countryside.We made a few wrong turns and didn't know where the GPS would take us. We drove the 120 mile Ring of Kerry and wasn't to impressed with it.They had narrow roads and buses coming from the other direction almost running us of the side.We ended up in Killarney and went to see the Muchross House and National park.Tomorrow Dingle.