Tuesday 10 March 2009

all things irelandish

years of living with irish people was accompanied by the inevitable refrain - you've been to all these other countries but never to ireland? - so eventually i took heed of this advice, went and loved it. of course, i've never been back, but always meaning to and this time to do more than have a drink odyssey around donegal.

so a handy excuse appeared in the form of t, who also has never been to ireland but, it turns out, has a great grandfather who emigrated from cork. for me who is as scottish as a chunk of scottish that's been mined out of a lump of pure scots, genealogical speculation has never been something i've been up for but t's genetic inheritance is far more esoteric so a journey to somewhere she can actually put her finger on and say 'some of my people come from here' seems like a lark.

so a couple of weeks in ireland in june. now me, i'll be loading up the van with bikes, boards, kayak and fishing gear, all of which i'll be getting the use of, but the extent of my geographic knowledge of ireland doesn't extend much further than being able to point out about five counties on the map. advice is therefore required. what should we see, where should we go?
all handy tips gratefully accepted!

3 comments:

Niamh B said...

Good timing if you'll be around during the first week - dublin writer's festival is on from 2nd - 7th, should be good - was last year. Will try and think of more tips for ya anon,

Anonymous said...

You have to do the drive from Clew Bay in Mayo, down by Doolough (black lake) to Killary Harbour and on down to Clifden. You can finish up in Galway again, the real centre of Irish life.
Drama Queen
(and don't forget to bring good rain-gear, it's what we specialise in, rain!)

swiss said...

no luck, i'm there last week of june, first week of july

are there midgies in the west?