Hello! I hope noone was too perturbed by my extended absence. It's been difficult to find email access off late due to the places we've been travelling. Who knows if it will get better or worse when I fly to Spain next week.
Tony and I are in Dublin tonight, and it's the evening before Tony leaves. We arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon, but I need to go back a bit and fill in a few gaps.
From Edinburgh, we drove the car up to Aberfeldy so that Tony could visit his ancestral home, Castle Menzies. We spent hours wandering around the castle, getting photos from various vantages. From Aberfeldy we drove to Inverness, and then onto Kilvarock Castle where we stayed the night. It wasn't a particularly impressive castle, but there's something impressive about staying in a castle anyway, so we already had baseline of impressiveness.
From Kilvarock, we drove across Scotland to the Isle of Skye. On the first day we drove down a road that was single file most of the way with two ways of traffic. If you saw a car coming, one car would have to reverse back to the 'passing point' to let the other past. It was worth it for the view, but it was a pretty scary trip! We had a couple of days in Skye, but due to the rain my most memorable moments were reading 'an easy death' and 'girl with a pearl earring.'
From Skye we drove to Kinlochlevan. Unfortunately we stayed in the hotel from hell, which left us both shell shocked and unable to enjoy Glencoe much. Well, that and the fact that we couldn't see it because the rain clouds hadn't lifted above ground level for a few days.
Our last night in Scotland was in Glasgow, which is a town that loves to shop. From Glasgow we flew to Galway, where we had an excellent hotel experience that reinvigourated our faith in lodgings.
Yesterday we were in Inismore, which is the largest of the three Aran Islands that lie off the coast of Ireland. I went there last time I was here, and its my favourite part of Ireland. The weather was stunning and I quickly remembered why I liked the place so much: the barren landscapes full of rock walls, tumble down cottages and cows; the rough seas and the smell of salt on the air...its a grand place. I'm glad that Tony enjoyed it too.
We arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon, around about peak shopping hour. I had forgotten how mad the town gets, with everyone pushing and spitting. It's really not that pleasant. I have a couple more days here to try and remember why I enjoyed living here. The vist to the Guinness factory today was good, I thoroughly enjoyed drinking my pint before lunch.
I know that you're all keen to know whether I've used my emergency towel. Well, not yet, but I have had some near misses (including when Junko the Japanese passenger on my Moose tour accidentally sprayed analgesic in her eye - they were some tense moments). I was very impressed at the Guinness factory today when I found an emergency Guinness tshirt and Guinness socks. You never know when you might need some Guinness socks!
