We walked and walked today so I am pooped. I will catch up tomorrow. 😉

We  met a couple from Utah at breakfast today.  They are doing a 1 week blitz of Ireland.  One night in Dublin then off to Killkenny.  We are very lucky to have so much time, even though we feel we are missing a lot.

We take our hosts instructions for the city bus and head into town.  We buy a 48 hour Hop On Hop Off ticket from a woman in the office who is clearly tired of tourist season.  Not helpful or friendly on top of a bad lip job.  🙁   We leave the shop and hop on our first bus.  We are on the “Blue Line”  as opposed to the “Red Line”.  There are a few variations in route, but the most distinguishing feature is that it has a Live Guide.  We are on the upper level with the live guide.  He is pretty funny.  Probably a frustrated stand up history buff.  He tells us that we are on the Blue Line, but don’t worry all lines lead to Guinness!!  Sooo true.  Not many people hopped off the bus until the Guinness stop, us included.

We purchase our tickets (22 Euro each, seniors rate, 3 euro discount!!!  Almost a half pint in a bar  🙂 )  This is a self paced tour with lots of interesting Guinness history.  We learn how they roast the barley, add the hops and the yeast.  How important the water is.  We see an old video on how the coopers make the casks, all by hand without automation.  Scary looking woodworking tools!  I’m sure many fingers were sacrificed in the making of these casks.

We hop back on the bus and as it is just after 3 pm, to get of near the Temple Bar area.  As we walk across the bridge over the River Liffey we hear loud cheering.  We think there must be a game of some sort going on a the good guys scored.  Minutes later we see this vehicle driving by while cheering loudly.  Damn Vikings!!!

Here are a few Dublin city photos.

I have heard of Temple Bar, but I thought it was the name of bar.  Not so.  It is a large area that is full of bars and restaurants.  It is quite amazing.  We walk down one of the streets and here are some of the sight we see.

We wander around Temple Bar for a while and decide to go into a bar called the “Auld Dubliner”.  There is a young man performing here and we are fortunate to get a seat near the door and the stage.  It isn’t long before seats are at a premium.  The young performer has the bar a rockin’.  He is singing songs that I am not familiar with, but everyone else seems to know all the lyrics and all sign along.  The atmosphere is amazing.  It is between 4 and 5 pm, Friday night and many people are in good form already.  Can’t imagine what 9pm will look like  🙂

We leave looking to have a bit of dinner.  We find another place with live music, the Merchants Arch.  We share a Beef and Guinness pie with seasonal veggies.  A bit different style of music here.  More Dublin Fun.  This is the awesome staircase in the Merchants Arch,

Fun day in Dublin!!  We’ll see what tomorrow holds  🙂 !

Not much to tell for today.  We enjoyed our last breakfast at The Gregory.  We choose from these items each morning.  They also have fruit salads, yogurt and cereals and of course juice.

I had the pancakes each day, they were so so good!  They weren’t too big as some of the breakfasts we have had in Scotland.  Stu had had the poached eggs and again, the portion is definitely sufficient but we don’t feel like we are wasting a lot of food, or the pressure to eat sooo much!!

We go to the reception desk to ask them to call a cab to take us to the bus station so we can get the bus to Dublin.  We see this entry in the guest book.  Gave us a chuckle.  🙂  Check out the fourth entry.

We get to the bus station in plenty of time.  Stu sees the bus pull up and we board the bus for the slightly more than 2 hour trip to Dublin.  We pass through some nasty weather along the way.  Hopefully it is short lived.

We have  been packing this medication for the past 3 weeks, keeping it cold.  A pain in the butt.  It is time to have the injections.  I contacted some Dubliners that we met in Croatia and they were able to recommended a clinic.  So after arriving at our next B&B, I am able to make an appointment in just over an hour.  We pack up the cooler for the last time and start walking to the clinic.  We arrive 40 minutes early, go in to see if I can leave the medication while we wander about, but it turns out that I can get in soon.  Bonus.  Injections done, we are on the hunt for food since we haven’t eaten since breaky.  We find this interesting (what we think is little) place on a corner.  It has lovely flower boxes.  The door has a list of prices for drinks.  I tell Stu that I didn’t think they had food.  We go in to a small tavern.  No one is eating.  Stu asks if they have food and the barman says “Yes”, just through those doors.  We go through the doors into a huge space.  A very large Irish Pub/Restaurant.  Very surprising.  Our server tells us that there are over 40 tables, most seating 4.  Not too many people just now though.

Stu captured just a few photos on our way to the clinic.

We are making our plans for the next 3 days in Dublin.  We now are spending Euros.  Tomorrow is waiting.

We took lots and lots of photos today!  We have a couple of subjects so I will pull the all of the Game  Of Thrones images together first. The Game of Thrones production as well as the spin off tourism around the series has been a huge boon to the economy of Northern Ireland.  We were told that the GOT people went to Scotland looking for  rugged scenery and nasty weather.  Asked if they could provide some funding to get them started.  Scotland declined, so they moved to Northern Ireland who looked at the project and gave them 11m gbp’s to incent them to film here.  They have recouped their initial investment many times over.

As well as the Game Of Thrones sights we saw some other beautiful locations in this part of Ireland.  The Giants Causeway is one of them.  I was here in 2005 with my Mom.  I recall being here with about a dozen other people.  Today was soooo much busier!  Large crowds of people.  It is also a lot longer walk than I remember.  At the time my Mom was 80.  She could not have made the walk that we had to do today.  I really want to compare the photos from that trip to these.

We had a beautiful day for this tour.  We had some rain, but mostly sunshine.  This is an incredibly gorgeous coast as you can see.

Back in Belfast we walk back to our neighbourhood and catch these shots.

This was another incredible day.  We logged over 13km on our feet an it was a BUS TOUR DAY!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Dublin, The Republic of Ireland.  We need to change from GBPs to the Euro.  We have purchased bus tickets for 8 GBP each, for approximately a 2 hour journey.

We shall see what tomorrow brings!!  🙂

We had an action packed day today.  Last night we booked a “Black Cab Tour” and also purchased the Hop On Hop Off tickets from our guesthouse.  The cab was to pick us up at 9:30 so we were up and getting mobile by 8.  Downstairs for breakfast we run into a couple of ladies from Alberta (Calgary and Pleasant Valley) who have found it cheaper to fly to Belfast to take a cruise to eastern Canada.  Newfoundland and the Maritimes.  The cruise will return them to Belfast and then they will fly back to Alberta!  It is hard to imagine that this could be cheaper than travelling to the Newfoundland and the maritimes from within Canada!!!

Our cab arrives right on time and parks in the car park behind The Gregory and begins our tour right there with information on what he will cover.  It will be mostly the “Recent Conflicts” which begin in 1969.  We start in the predominately Catholic Republican area of Falls Road.  In this first photo you see a section of what is called the “Peace Wall”.  This abuts right up to the back yard of some of the homes along the border between the “The Falls” and “The Shankill” areas of Belfast.  The house in this photo is on The Falls side.  The wall had been lowered in an attempt to soften the divide between the two areas.  When it was lowered (before the wire section at the top was added) bricks, stones and other objects were tossed over the barrier.  The cage on the homes were then added to protect their backyards from the projectiles flying over the lowered barrier.  After that they added the wire fencing to stop the projectiles from being thrown over it.

Our guide Jackie describes how police and British Army officers used plastic bullets to subdue protesters.  Many were killed by these plastic bullets.  He shows us and example of one.  He says they were intended to be shot towards the ground a few feet from the target.  It was supposed to bounce off the ground and hit the target below the waist.  He tells us that many were killed with shots to the head.  This is what a plastic bullet looks like.  I get to hold this and the weight is substantial.  Definitely will do damage.

We travel through the gates between the two areas.  These gates are still closed at 9PM these days.  They still feel that young people fueled by alcohol can still cause issues even though the peace pact was signed in 1997.

After Jackie dropped us back in the center town we joined the Hop On Hop Off bus tour.  One of the stops on the bus that we were advised to take in the the was the Crumlin Road Gaol.  This facility was opened in 1846 and operated until 1996.  It has a very interesting history.  In the early years housing petty criminals (male, female and children).  Most recently it held Republican and Loyalist protesters.  The guide led us through the building and told us tales of the lives of the prisoners, some of whom were imprisoned for some very minor crimes.

As we walk the streets we come across this old church that is starting to be restored.  The Carlisle Memorial Church.

Here are some photos of spots in Belfast we found interesting.

Taking advantage of wifi tonight.  🙂

I just have a few photos of “The Gregory”  our guesthouse in Belfast.  It is very nice!!

We ate lunch at a place with a “Carvery” special for 6.95 GBP and again we eat quite a late lunch.  For 6.95 we get soup and a full dinner of large variety of choices.  Braised Beef, Turkey and Ham with Stuffing, Roast Chicken.  This all comes with what ever veggies you want.  Way too much food.

So now, we aren’t starving, but we should have something to eat.  We walk down to the corner and choose the “Barking Dog” as they have a variety of Tapas and tasty sounding Starters.  We choose a couple of Starters and feel wowed!!  So good.  We even found room to share a Sticky Toffee Pudding.  Yum Yum!!

We have another great home cooked breakfast.  Our host arranged a cab to take us to the airport for our 11:20 flight.  Our plane is not large. 21 rows of 4.  The propeller is just outside my window.

We arrived at our guesthouse and they are having some wifi issues. This is all I am able post for today. Tomorrow hopefully I can catch up. We have a Black Cab tour tomorrow followed by the Hop on hop off tour. Actioned packed day. 😜

We don’t have far to go today.  We are staying in a town called Ardersier.  It is just outside of Inverness but close to the airport for our flight to Belfast tomorrow.

We make our way to our next B&B so that we can drop off our bags and head back to the airport to turn in the car.  We need to fill the car with gas but discover that the nearest gas station is in Nairn.  If you look at the map above you can see part of Nairn  if you  look directly east of Fort George.  In Vancouver at least, there are gas stations are close to the airport so that you can fill up your rental car.  Here (at least in Inverness, not the case), it is about 15 minutes away. Odd.  We drop the car and grab a cab back to Ardersier.  The fare comes to 8.20 GBP, so give the driver a 10er.

Our B&B is called Inchrye.  I will enquire about the name at breakfast.  We have a nice room.

Fort George is a 30 minute walk.

The beach walk is amazing!  Here are some of the photos from the 1.6km walk.

From the map above you can see Fort George out on the point.  The construction of Fort George was begun in 1748 after the Battle of Culloden.  King George II had this fort built as a secure base in the Highlands for the Kings army.  To suppress any other Highland uprisings.  It is a very imposing structure.  It occupies an area the size of five football (soccer) pitches.  We have an audio tour of the fort.  It is quite enlightening.

On our way back we see a kayaker out in the surf.  The tide is coming in and it looks like a lot of work in the kayak.  She comes to shore, but it seems she wants to paddle further.

We heard from Jess at our B&B that there are dolphins in the firth.  We see this sign along the path.  Maybe it is a good thing we haven’t seen any dolphins (which would be really cool).

It very blustery on our way back.

We walk to the nearest pub for a beer.  It seems like an imposition to serve us.  We both have a half pint, 2 different beers.  Stu’s is good, I don’t care for mine, so I drink is slowly.  We look over the dinner menu as this place is one of the 2 options that we have in this town.  It seems to specialize in game meat.  One dish is described as pheasant, pigeon and another bird that if don’t recall, but there is a note that the dish may contain “shot”.  We pretty much crossed this place off the dinner list.  Stu decides to have another half pint as he is finished and I am not.  He goes to the bar and  waits for over 5 minutes.  The bartender is nearby, but does not seem interested in serving.  There is another “punter” there who also isn’t being served, but he doesn’t seem concerned.  We decide to just leave and check out the next option for dinner.

This place has much more going on.  There are 2 sides to the bar.  It also has a restaurant section.  No tables available, so we sit up at the bar next to a local lady who advises us that we should have a reservation if we want to have dinner.  We make a reservation for 7:30.  This place is called the Star and is so busy, while the other place is empty.  They serve us a very nice meal.  We walk the 4 minutes back to the B&B

After breakfast at the Royal Hotel we head back north to Dunrobin Castle.  We have seen the signs since we headed to the Orkneys a number of days ago.  Our Outlander Tour guide told us that this was a worthwhile castle to take in.  The Falconry display was particularly good,  So off we go in the drizzle, that evolves to rain towards Dunrobin Castle.  By the time we arrive the rain has lessened.

We arrive at the castle about the same time a tour bus.  We manage to purchase our tickets before they arrive at the entrance.  We begin our self guided tour, but are soon surrounded by the bus tourists.  There are many signs in the castle advising that photography, still or video is not allowed.  The majority of the bus tourists are Italian and  a lot of them have their video cameras, phone cameras all in full view and photographing everything.  Boggles my mind 🙁    Rant finished 🙂  We asked one of the information people and she said we were allowed to take photos out of the windows.  This is what we see.

The castle is beautiful!  There is a Falconry demonstration at 11:30.  We cut short the tour of the castle to take this in.  We make our way out to the garden where the demonstration is taking place.

The demonstration is amazing!  Andy is so interesting and informative.  If only the Italians were listening.

The sun comes out and it becomes very warm.  The castle is stunning in the sunlight.

After the Castle we drive north towards the Glenmorangie Distillery.  I have always heard is pronounced Glen Mor Angie.  It is difficult to type phonetically  :).  How the guides pronounced it is “Glen morangie”  Like orange.  “Glen m-orange-ee” .  Haha I hope that even makes sense.  🙂

We drive back to Tain where we are staying at the Royal Hotel.  This was originally built as a Masonic Lodge.  The rooms on the main floor, where the lobby is and the lower floor held workshops.  The second floor had the dining room and bedrooms on the floor above that.  Our room is on the 3rd floor in an eastern tower of the building.

We decide to have a drink in the bar in the hotel.  There are local newspapers there.  Here is a sample of the ads for vacations from Scotland to various exotic locations.  Ones that would cost us a lot money from Canada.

A couple of examples.  239 GBP = $385 CAD for a week in 7 nights in Portugal All Inclusive!!  Not bad  🙂

Back to Inverness tomorrow and a flight to Belfast on Monday. Bye bye Scotland, next stop Northern Ireland,

We have been on the road for 2 weeks now, so we think it is time we got cleaned up a bit.  We have gathered the dirty laundry and googled “laundry”.  Along the route we are taking there doesn’t seem to be anything available.  There is a place in Thurso which is about 15 minutes to the west.  We decide to go, do the laundry and then head east again.  We find the laundry.  It is a very busy place, doing laundry for B&Bs and small hotels.  There are bags and bags stacked up every where.  We can either do it ourselves which will be faster, or let them do it.  We opt to do it ourselves.  Weird, but all we do is load the dirties into the washer.  The lady adds the soap, turns it on and says to come back in an hour.

We go for a walk in the town of Thurso.  It is quite a quaint town.  There is a route called the North Coast 500.  We didn’t know about it until we seemed to be travelling some of it.  One of these MX5’s has a sign with “Scottish 500” on it.  This is a fairly recent tourism initiative to bring people to the north of Scotland.  It seems to be working as accommodation in the north right now is very hard to come by.

We stop in a grocery store to pick up toothpaste and fixings for lunch, oh yeah a bottle of wine.  This store arranges the wine like this.

After an hour we arrive to find our laundry washed, dried and folded!!  We did that ourselves  🙂 !!

We stop along the way at the Castle of Mey.  This castle was purchased by The Queen Mom after her husband King George the VI passed away.  She spent a lot of time here in Scotland.  We took the tour of the castle.  It was very interesting.  It sounds like the Queen Mom was quite a character.  There is a walled garden at the castle with lots of amazing plants.  They sell some of the veggies in the gift shop as well as using them in the dishes they have in the Tea Room.

We leave the castle and head to a village called John O’Groats.   We have heard of this place many times on this trip.  We didn’t know what the significance was.  The name is quite intriguing to  me.  There are a couple of theories on the name.  One is that man nameivd Jan de Groot, a Dutchman ran a ferry from here to Orkney and that he charged one groat for passage on the ferry.  The other is that is derives from “de groot” meaning “the large”.  It is also the northern most inhabited British point on the mainland, the southern most being Land’s End.

We arrive at our destination for today, a town called Tain.  We have a reservation at the Royal Hotel.   It is very old and I need to find out more about it’s history.  We have a room (not a large room) on the 3rd floor.

We are here for 2 nights so will get more details tomorrow.

Had a fabulous dinner tonight.  We sat next to a group of Americans on a golf holiday.  Very nice chatting with them.  They have played 5 rounds of golf in that past 2 weeks.  Lugging their clubs.  Not traveling light we think.

We think a whiskey distillery will be happening tomorrow.  Glenmorangie is close by.  The morning will tell.