Author: Leslie Roy

We got our day started with the Irish breakfast

Basic full english breakfast with the addition of black and white sausage. Pretty good but the breakfast was a bit delay because the hostess of the house had to go out to get the eggs. She said the egg delivery did not happen. Second incidence of the day.

The first incident was me trying to get a shower. The contraption in the shower, an instand hot water box had been seen before but I could not get it to work.

You will notice the blue light is on but that was after I had to roust Peter out of his room for help. There was a string outside the shower that you had to pull to turn on the power. I thought I had tried that but I guess I did not pull the string hard enough.

The day kind’ve went down hill from there. As we walked out to start the walk it started pouring down rain.

We are on our way down the Wicklow Trail. Actually we are go up trail. We are going South to North.

One of the days.

I am off to meet Peter for dinner. Then I wish finish the blog on the balance of the day.

I am sure Peter will have his interpretation of the day so it is probably best to wait to reply with my version of the story.

Put it this way — the English Crop circles have nothing on the Irish circles

After a day of touring around Dublin we took a taxi down to BunClody for the start of the Wicklow Walk.

As Peter indicated we both Hedged our bets today. I took the longer term beat and Peter took the shorter term bet.

Visited two Cathedrals today. St Patrick’s Cathedral as well as Christ Church Cathedral. Both within the a short walk from the Famous Templar Bar area of Dublin.

Both churches have been both Catholic over the ages as well as Anglican churches. Depended on who was in power at the time in Ireland.

An old picture of the Cathedral. And the current picture.

Some beautiful mosaic tiles on the floor of both churches.

I was able to find an empty spot for a candle for our walk – My bet. Lots of bets put on the table here. To my family and friends I wish you a grand day.

Peter picking his bets.

Money Back – Sounds like a pretty good bet to me. In the small print. “As a free bet IF”. Always an if.!!

Peter’s Bet – I bet someone knows what this means. My brother in law boiled it down to Justin Thomas.to win

Temple bar area.

Temple Bar area of Dublin is alive with pubs and Restaurants and all that serves the tourist traffic

Looks like it was a lovely night last night.

SP,Ethos get for everyone Locals chatting up the day.We ran out of town for the visit to the Leprechaun Museum. Maybe on the return trip.

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After a late lunch we headed for BunClody after a day of navigation I took a rest as Peter was busy quizzing the driver which allowed me some time to catch up on my sleep.

Definitely out in the country. Not sure if the tractor’s parking job qualifies for an illegal park.

Breakfast in an hour time to prepare for the first day’s walk. 12 miles but could be 16 if we decide to forego the ride to the official start of the Wicklow in Clonegal.

Let’s see how the breakfast is – Full Irish breakfast.

Finally a nice quote seen today

LAR

Our welcome in Boncloudy was overwhelming

I only captured part of them . There is 5 dogs, 3 Shetland pony’s and a cat . As the all look well fed breakfast should be good tomorrow . Lovely B&B .

Les is in negotiations to purchase this RV and ship it back to Moxee . I hope I didn’t spoil the surprise .

Cured Irish seafood platter

“THE KING IS DEAD LONG LIVE THE KING”

Let’s blame it on Jetlag !!

Just in case any of you didn’t know but the above is Dublin in Gaelic . Holly cow not surprised the drink a lot of Guinness or any kind of alcohol here. I think you need 3 Guinness just to pronounce the first word.

Anyhow Les is here and ready to conquer Ireland . We started today and went to Dublin and visit our offices . Les managed 2 and me 1. We figured out that we approach life a bit different , he invest a lot of time and money in the afterlife and me on the other invest in the present .

Here are a couple of pictures of our offices .

We both were praying not sure what he was praying for but me I was praying that one of those boys wins the British Open Golf tournament.

May the Golf Gods be on my side .

After a nice stroll through Dublin we decided to have lunch at the legal district at “The Legal Eagle”. We had a wonderful Irish cured seafood platter and washed it down with a bottle of Austrian red wine . A Zweigelt ,St.Laurent blend.

we are now on the way to Boncloudy where we start our hike . Weather looks pretty and we are ready to hike . I think we overate a bit .

I finally got to Dublin, Ireland after a pretty uneventful trip. Everything went along quite well other than a shortage of sleep.

I THINK I AM IN IRELAND

I quickly realized that I AM in a foreign Country.

It is tough enough understanding the locals. Throw in some Gaelic into the conversation and I am totally lost. I am not sure if Peter speaks Gaelic but I am sure I will find out later.

Peter and I, after our individual travels, meet up in Dublin. Peter has been here a couple of days already to take in some Golf.

We are staying out a bit from the city in a Golf Resort. I guess Golf is quite popular here. :). With the British Open being held up the coast, shortly, there is quite a Golf buzz around here.

Some folks, Danny and Jane, who we met on our very first walk, are walking up around the area of the British Open and have been sharing their experience up there.

Peter and and I met up at the hotel finally and then a short walk to the pub for a welcome beer.

I was a bit hungry from the long flight and decided to try the Beef for lunch.

Beef was fantastic albeit a large meal.

we caught up on our lives since our last visit. Walked back to our Hotel. A short nap for me to help even out my lack of sleep.

Then off to dinner. We chose to stay in the hotel and enjoy their the offerings

I chose the Shrimp pasta dish in a Lobster Bisque and Peter a sandwich. We started off with some local Mussels. All good with some wine to help us through the jet lag.

So today is a tourist day in Dublin. We each have our individual agendas.

I am pretty much into the tourist stuff. Peter, being a bit more refined, is on the search for the local betting parlor to make some bets on the British open that his friends have asked him to make for them.
We will eventually meet in from of some church I suspect.

slán agat (Good-bye)!

I safely arrived in Ireland , a misty day with one or maybe 2 rays of sun .

After a long journey from the Bahamas , nearly 24 hours I arrived safely in the land of

I reached at our hotel only to find out that check in not till 4pm , it was 11 when I got there . A bit of Jetlag and an empty stomach what directed me to the closed pub and started my training session early.

I should be in good form when Les reaches and should know a few pubs I can navigate him to. I know he want like me taken over navigation but what a man has do to he has do to .

Another pint and hopefully my room be ready and believe me I. be dreaming of the Irish emeralds .

As we get closer and closer to the day of The walk the weather report for area comes in play.

WELL

Here is The forecast for Dublin for the main week we are walking.

As Peter always says “nothing we can do about it”. Making sure the poncho is packed. I will be walking with my first pair of water proof shoes. A long story on breathable hiking shoes and my conversion to waterproof. Those that follow us might remember the post on water proof shoes and Peters comments on such from our walk in Corsica.

IF YOU CARE – Random info – Odds are not in our favor and A good reason that Ireland is green and called the Emerald Island.

Rainfall/ Precipitation in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin is provided with on balance 731 mm(28.8 in) of rainfall per year, or 60.9 mm (2.4 in) per month. On average there are 191 days per year with more than 0.1 mm (0.004 in) of rainfall (precipitation) or 15.9 days with a quantity of rain, sleet, snow etc. per month.

We will be walking in Ireland the home of the world renowned Guinness beer.

here is A bit of history on Guinness

The Guinness brewery began in 1759 when Arthur Guiness took £100 which we had inherited and signed a 9,000 year lease at a dormant brewery in St. James Gate, Dublin. Here he began producing beer and in the 1770’s moved into the area of porter. This move proved to be the making of the business with exports increasing steadily throughout the 19th century. Arthur’s sons went on to grow the business and by 1876 they were exporting 779,000 barrels of Guinness each year. In 1886 the company went public and saw itself become the largest brewery in the world.

The specific recipe for Guinness remains a closely guarded secret. It is little wonder the Guinness name is known throughout the world as 1.8 billion pints of Guinness are sold every year!

The brewery has had many logos over the years. Many have taken on a life of their own.

One of the classics logos from the 1920-30’s ad campaign.

It just seemed appropriate to title our walk “lovely day for a Guinness ” No comment on the characters in this ad and any resemblance to the two walkers.

Another appropriate logo For our walk from the 1930’s

Personally I think this ad is the best for us and our walk

The logo above, has its own Facebook page.

Great marketing

https://m.facebook.com/guinnessturtle/photos/a.290106561062267/290106567728933/?type=3&source=48&__tn__=EH-R

A bit over a week till we walk.   We will be in Ireland sharing our first Guiness. I am sure it will not be the only one.

Leslie

PS

A side story to the Guiness family

Guinness Book of Records

Now it’s the time to talk about the famous Guinness Book of Records, which today is known by all, young and old. Legend has it that the idea of its creation came to a managing director Sir Hugh Beaver (1890 – 1967), when one day he looked in a bar. During a conversation with friends, he told a story of how he recently had been on the hunt and was not able to shoot a golden plover. One of the Beaver’s friends said that this bird was the fastest in the world, and Hugh could not get even if he really wanted to. He was objected by other friend who assured that the plover is not the fastest bird.

Well it is getting closer , in a week from now I am leaving to Ireland . I be ahead of Les there that’s a first so I can get some beauty sleep and practice on my Irish . (Drinking)

I am packing very light this year one T-shirt should do me .

This will be the first year being retirement so I am rested , fit as a fiddle and really thirsty.

It should be a great walk through the hills of Ireland visiting great pubs, restaurant and of course Churches . Here is a list of cathedrals in Ireland .

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cathedrals_in_Ireland

Knowing my good friend and navigator of the year Les we or should I better say he be visiting a lot of them . I on the other side be outside mingling with the locals .

We be meeting outside of Dublin and than heading down to the starting point of our hike . 10 or 11 grueling days of intense navigating, guiness tasting , solving the world problems and a bit of hiking .

I think both of us are very excited and very pleased to have all of our followers with us once again on our Irish adventure .

I added a bit of Irish nostalgia, pour your self a pint and enjoy.

And as the say in Irish

Slán

P.S. in case you didn’t know Sláinte means cheers and Slán means goodbye .

We will be walking the Wicklow Way. We will be doing it South to North. The reason for this that we get a couple days of walking before we hit the mountainous part of the hike. North to South you start in the mountains. With jet lag and all it just seem a better idea. Hopefully Peter bitches less. Navigator’s prerogative.

The Wicklow way is around 85 miles with over 10,000 vertical feet of ups and downs. I suspect when it is all said and done we will be over 100 miles. Just the way walking works out. Side trips for coffee OR a Guinness and getting to our accommodations etc etc which are not always along the trail.

Here is brief history of the Wicklow.

The Wicklow Way (Irish: Slí Cualann Nua, meaning “New Cuala Way“)^[4] is a 131-kilometre (81-mile) long-distance trail that crosses the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. It runs from Marlay Park in the southern suburbs of Dublin through County Wicklow and ends in the village of Clonegal in County Carlow. It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the Irish Sports Council and is waymarked by posts with a yellow “walking man” symbol and a directional arrow. Typically completed in 5–7 days, it is one of the busiest of Ireland’s National Waymarked Trails, with up to 24,000 people a year walking the most popular sections. The Way is also used regularly by a number of mountain running competitions.

The trail follows forest tracks, mountain paths, boreens and quiet country roads. Mountains, upland lakes and steep-sided glacial valleys make up the terrain of the initial northern sections of the Way before giving way to gentler rolling foothills in the latter southern sections. The Way also passes the Monastic City at Glendalough, founded in the 6th century by Saint Kevin.

The Wicklow Way was originally proposed by J. B. Malone in a series of newspaper articles in 1966. In 1977, Malone was appointed to the Long Distance Walking Routes Committee of Cospoir, The first section opened in 1980 and the trail was fully completed in 1982. It became the first of many National Waymarked Trails to be developed in Ireland: there are now over forty such trails, covering a distance of over 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles). The Way forms part of European walking route E8 which stretches from the Atlantic coast of County Cork to Istanbul in Turkey. A memorial to J. B. Malone, who died in 1989, was erected on the Wicklow Way, near Lough Tay, in honour of his contribution.