Hello friends and family! I’m in Ireland! This week I’m in Dingle, the westernmost peninsula on “the island of saints and scholars” π Since we have free internet in the hostel, I’ve uploaded more pictures…and now I’m going to tell you about them π
As I sit here and type, sitting down is painful. This is because I got to go HORSEBACK RIDING up a MOUNTAIN in IRELAND! I’ll take sore sits bones, thank you! I got to see a beautiful vista of Dingle Bay and the sun on the hills, and experience a canter up to the top of the mountain–completely terrifying, but totally exhilarating, too. You could see all the way out to the Blasket Islands, and it was gorgeous.
Wow, it’s been a while since I last wrote. It’s been a lovely week here. We’re staying in a youth hostel that we have all to ourselves, and we’re cooking for ourselves in the kitchen–enjoying Ireland’s brown soda bread (my favorite Irish food), Fruit ‘n’ Fibre cereal, Dingle Gold cheese, and massive 20-person, potato-free community dinners! Ah, spaghetti tastes so good when you’re far away from home π My group and I made Mexican burrito stack-ups using all ingredients from the Irish grocery store…it was a hilarious culture clash, but they sure tasted good!
The first few days here were quiet, what with classes and recovering from the 16-hour trip to get here. That’s right, our flight from the Lake District to Dingle was canceled, due to the volcanic explosion in Iceland. No flights into or out of the UK. Thankfully, though, we still had a way to get here. Left the hostel at 8 AM, and after 16 hours of a bus-ferry-bus combination through Wales and Dublin, we rattled our suitcases down Dingle’s cobblestone streets at midnight. It was really a miracle, though, because if not for our sweet Irish bus driver, James, we wouldn’t have been able to get on the crowded ferry. He spent the night in Wales just so we could get priority admission onto the ferry, and then drove us the 6 hours across Ireland. Then, 2 days later, he drove us around Slea Head on a tour of the area. Amazing! The view was amazing too π We’ve been blessed with such incredible weather on this trip–so far, we’ve had about 3 total days of rain in 3 1/2 weeks.Β We stopped at the monastic beehive huts, hiked out to the point of the peninsula (where I was the single westernmost person in Europe [see the picture of me looking out to sea :P]), learned about the Blasket Islands at the Blasket Center, and stopped at Gallarus Oratory, an ancient church built all of stones without mortar (that’s the picture of the dark stone window :)).
On Friday, Dr. Reinsma and Kirsten and I hiked Mt. Brandon, named after the monk St. Brendan “The Navigator”, who was not only a saint and a scholar, but a sailor as well–legend has it that he sailed all the way to North America in a leather boat a thousand years before Columbus. It’s known as “the sacred mountain,” and it was a beautiful climb. We found a chain of jade-green lakes cupped in hidden nooks of the mountain and half-walked, half-scrambled up the steep incline to the ridge. Stepping up to the top, there was a moment when we looked out and saw nothing but a flat horizon of ocean, going on forever. Then we crested the ridge and saw an incredible 360-degree panorama of the entire Dingle Peninsula: sun dappling the green hills of the Emerald Isle, turquoise waters sweeping up onto sandy stretches of beach, and at the very pinnacle of the ridge, a wooden cross planted in a cairn of stones. It was a very peaceful, sober place–with a view out over the whole world, and the cross over all. I read this verse that seems to go perfectly with where I am:
“From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. For you have heard my vows, O God; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.” (Psalm 61:2-5) Β Being in this place makes me so conscious of the spiritual heritage I come from. With all these sights of rocks and high places, “I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.” Sitting at the top of the 2nd-highest mountain in Ireland, looking out at the panorama of mountains and sea, watching the crows fly by beneath me in the lofty silence at the top, I was quietly aware of the Rock that is higher than I.
Hm, what else to say? There have just been so many lovely experiences. I’ve gotten to sleep in a few times while we’ve been here, which has been much-needed in the midst of so many activities. I tried Guinness and Bailey’s ice creams at the wonderful, local Murphy’s Ice Cream shop–they were OK, but not as good as the dark chocolate flavor π Their Extreme Hot Cocoa is also pretty killer…We went to one of the fifty-two local pubs to listen to traditional Irish music two nights, which was wonderful. There was an accordion, a guitar, a fiddle, a whistle, and a vocalist, and they made terrific music. Some drunk Irishmen actually got up and started Irish dancing and keeping time with the bottoms of glasses on their barstools. For people so out of their wits, they were really, really good!
That should explain most of the Irish pictures I’ve posted. The rest are the ones I couldn’t post in the Lake District: of tea and scones in Keswick, William Wordsworth’s grave, me hiking the fells (mini-mountains) overlooking Grasmere (a Norse name meaning Boar Lake…!), and our Sunday expedition to Hadrian’s Wall!!! (it was the day after my last post, so I didn’t get to mention it–a half-excavated Roman fort and section of The Wall from A.D. 122…we walked on 2000 years of history! (and shared it with sheep!) It was an amazing experience and I’m really glad we got to go.
Jeepers, I feel like I’m rambling all around. Maybe bouncing around on horseback this afternoon shook my brain up too π We’re leaving for Dublin in the morning, where we’ll be for about 5 days before heading to Wales. Taste and see that the Lord is good…and here it tastes like brown soda bread and looks like a view out over the blue ocean to the islands π
Love and hugs!
Aye lassie!!! These be wonderful photos and stories!!!!!
Love you!
Sounds like you’ve been having fun! My the road ever go on and sunshine beat down on you (or whatever, ;P)
(What’s wrong with potatoes? :P)