UK Adventure 2024

Jackpot!!  We’ve made our way from Killyleagh to our new accommodation, Hare Cottage just out of the village of Dunloy.  For perspective, Dunloy is a 13 minute drive from Ballymoney (less if you actually go the 60 miles an hour that is the posted speed limit on the narrow country lanes).  Ballymoney, in turn, is 21 minutes from the Giant’s Causeway.  The Giant’s Causeway is 17,000 km northwest of Melbourne, Australia. Hare Cottage is amazing.  The owners have renovated a 200 year old livestock building, retaining the stone walls and rustic look, and then outfitted it with all the modern conveniences a traveler could want.  There are three such cottages on the property, and Chelsey & Rob have now moved into the one across  from us. Yesterday was a good adventure as we made our way north to the Giant’s Causeway.  There, the four of us met up with Jeremy, Angela & Avery, and were pleased to find the Irish weather gods smiling benevolently upo...

After a pretty blustery first day in Northern Ireland, we awoke Saturday to bright blue skies and sunshine.  Hallelujah!  We donned our most weather appropriate togs and set out to enjoy the day.  Frick!  It was still a bazillion degrees below zero.  Undaunted, we climbed into our rental car and set about mismanaging every roundabout between Killyleagh and Belfast. Due to lighter than usual traffic, we surprisingly made it to our destination, the Titanic Museum, with time to spare.  The museum took us a couple of hours to explore, and was a very moving and sobering experience.  The building itself was pretty cool, as well.  We followed up with a walk through Belfast to view the historic city hall and numerous other buildings of a similar vintage.  In the process, we got swept up in a pro Palestine march that sounded ominous but turned out to be entirely peaceful.    By the time we were ready to drive back to Killyleagh, the clouds h...

  We’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, particularly the top view of the ones over London  Heathrow where we spent an inordinate amount of time in a holding pattern, to be followed by an equally lengthy time on the underside of those same clouds as we sat in our plane hoping for a gate to become available.  All this cloud appreciation would have been fine except that it seriously eroded the available time before our connecting flight to Belfast.  We got lucky, though.  We did not have to change terminals for our next leg and just barely got aboard in time.  We made it to Northern Ireland safe and sound.  But now we have a rental car and are driving around on the wrong side of the road so all bets are off.  After a day of this sweat-inducing activity, I have this observation to offer.  Elon Musk has never been to Ireland.  Mr. Musk has been telling us for some time that it will be just fine to have automobiles driving around autonom...

This adventure began months ago with the wonderful invitation to attend the wedding of our niece Kaitlyn and her fiancé Ciaran in Northern Ireland. We can't wait to celebrate with them in Ciaran's home country and the birthplace of my grandpa. We will join family, including our children, at the wedding celebration in Ballymoney and toast to a lifetime of happiness for these amazing young people.  Then we move on to England to meet up with friends to travel together through Western England and Wales before we conclude our trek in Paris and drag our very tired selves home. We are in training now, walking as much as possible, to increase our stamina. Perhaps we should buy some Guinness and beef up that tolerance as well😉 We can't wait to share the adventure with you. Wish us luck!!! Ciaran and Kaitlyn's engagement in Ireland. Welcome to family Ciaran. We are darn glad to have ya'!