And oh how it rained....
Aside from the fact that I could barely walk (I don't know what was worse - the climb up or the climb down!) we didn't let a bit of rain deter us and we all put our wet weather gear on (including Nola!) and headed off to look at the Peninsula.
First stop was the Prehistoric Beehive Huts, then it was on to the beach where scenes from Ryan's Daughter were filmed. Bit of footie on the beach, bit of a crawl around for Nola, then it was off for lunch. To a cafe showing Ryan's Daughter on the tele - with no sound so it was a bit hard to work out what was going on!
Then on to the Gallarus Oratory - a church from around 1,000 years ago. Then our tiredness and the rain finally caught up with us and we headed back for a bit of well earned rest and relaxation. And funnily enough Ryan's Daughter was on the tele so I got to see the same scenes again with sound!
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Climbing Mt Brandon - the aftermath...
Julia and Finbarr had it in their head to go for a swim - long story as to why, so we got back, dumped our stuff and headed off to watch them do it. And to their credit they did - although they also turned the air blue with their language as they hit the water!
In the evening we ate dinner at the hotel - Craig & Sarah put Nola to bed and then used their baby monitor to come and join us downstairs. The pub had Karaoke on, and following a conversation with Sarah about Neil Diamond her and Finbarr dedicated 'Sweet Caroline' to me...
Craig and Sarah retired and we went out to another pub to listen to some Irish music - until finally the day caught up with me and I dragged Kevin home around midnight. All in all, an action packed day!
In the evening we ate dinner at the hotel - Craig & Sarah put Nola to bed and then used their baby monitor to come and join us downstairs. The pub had Karaoke on, and following a conversation with Sarah about Neil Diamond her and Finbarr dedicated 'Sweet Caroline' to me...
Craig and Sarah retired and we went out to another pub to listen to some Irish music - until finally the day caught up with me and I dragged Kevin home around midnight. All in all, an action packed day!
Kevin and the others - just before the hard scramble
You have to look hard to see the others but they are the little dots - this was not long before the scramble!Kevin and the others - just before the hard scramble
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.
And some photos from the top
The view at the top was fab - we were literally above the clouds which was quite amazing. I'm not sure I've ever been above the clouds before - aside from in a plane!!
Climbing Mt Brandon
So on Sat after a large 'Irish Breakfast', and once Kevin had managed to get his suitcase open (a handy bike shop with a decent hacksaw!) we headed off to climb Mt Brandon.
Amid lots of 'Lets have one last photo taken' (as in Wolf Creek/The Descent/it all going horribly wrong fahsion) we headed off and up. And up and up and up. It was pretty grey and misty when we headed off, but as we got higher up the clouds gradually thinned out. There was a sharp ascent, then a nice flattish bit, then another sharp ascent, and then a horrid scramble to get to the top. Didn't enjoy that bit so much.
Finbarr kept saying it would be worth it at the top and I do have to agree with him - it was stunning. The walk up was hard but really beautiful and the views were definitely worth it!
Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea...
(I know these photos are a bit small, but if you click on them you get a larger image.)
Amid lots of 'Lets have one last photo taken' (as in Wolf Creek/The Descent/it all going horribly wrong fahsion) we headed off and up. And up and up and up. It was pretty grey and misty when we headed off, but as we got higher up the clouds gradually thinned out. There was a sharp ascent, then a nice flattish bit, then another sharp ascent, and then a horrid scramble to get to the top. Didn't enjoy that bit so much.
Finbarr kept saying it would be worth it at the top and I do have to agree with him - it was stunning. The walk up was hard but really beautiful and the views were definitely worth it!
Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea...
(I know these photos are a bit small, but if you click on them you get a larger image.)
Friday, April 28, 2006
Friday - London to Cork
Kevin and I managed to get to the airport INCREDIBLY early - but as my motto is that you can never get to the airport too early I was quite happy! We picked up the rental cars at Cork airport and headed off. Stopped for lunch at a pub in Killarney which did great food, at a great price. And as the pubs in Ireland are non smoking it was most enjoyable and meant that Nola (our mascot from Trailwalker) could run about quite happily - well be walked about happily to be technically correct.
The drive down was lovely - beautiful scenery, and the houses as well were lovely. All brightly coloured and really well maintained. Julia's theory being that as the weather is so miserable in Cork/Kerry that they have to be bright to cheer people up...
Got to Dingle where we were staying at the Dingle Bay Hotel which was lovely. Hit a slight snag when Kevin realised he had padlocked his bag, but had forgotten to bring the correct keys along... Bit of dashing around for a hacksaw until we realised that we couldn't do anything until the next morning so we went out for a drink in Murphys Pub and then on for a fish and chips dinner!
The drive down was lovely - beautiful scenery, and the houses as well were lovely. All brightly coloured and really well maintained. Julia's theory being that as the weather is so miserable in Cork/Kerry that they have to be bright to cheer people up...
Got to Dingle where we were staying at the Dingle Bay Hotel which was lovely. Hit a slight snag when Kevin realised he had padlocked his bag, but had forgotten to bring the correct keys along... Bit of dashing around for a hacksaw until we realised that we couldn't do anything until the next morning so we went out for a drink in Murphys Pub and then on for a fish and chips dinner!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Marathon clappers
Got up unforgivably early this morning - had to set the alarm for 7.15 which is just unnatural on a Sunday morning in my book! But it was the London Marathon and we were off to Craig's house to watch. He lives about 2 mins away from the 6 mile mark so it was a good base to watch the runners from.
At 6 miles they didn't need a lot of encouragement but we had a good time clapping and cheering people on! I decided to focus on those runners who had the same names as family members - which was a wise choice as there wasn't that many people to cheer for. Alex was a particuarly popular name so I gave up on that after a while. A few Adrian's and Tracey's but that was about it. I felt guilty whenever I wasn't clapping but it just wasn't possible to continuously clap - the hands got too sore!
Saw some great costumes as well - quite a few Elvis', Wonder Woman and Batman. Also a Wookie which I thought was great - must have been a bit hot though!
I was also keeping my eye out for any NZers - one guy went past who had 'G'day mate' on his shirt so I called out 'Go NZ'. It was only afterwards that I realised he could have been Australian! Oh well - never mind. Saw another NZer who I cheered on but as they were walking by the 6 mile mark I'm not sure they would have completed it!
Busy week for me - off to Sweden tomorrow for a night (for work - so airplane, office, hotel, office, airplane, home) and then we are off to Dingle on Friday to go walking. Yay!
At 6 miles they didn't need a lot of encouragement but we had a good time clapping and cheering people on! I decided to focus on those runners who had the same names as family members - which was a wise choice as there wasn't that many people to cheer for. Alex was a particuarly popular name so I gave up on that after a while. A few Adrian's and Tracey's but that was about it. I felt guilty whenever I wasn't clapping but it just wasn't possible to continuously clap - the hands got too sore!
Saw some great costumes as well - quite a few Elvis', Wonder Woman and Batman. Also a Wookie which I thought was great - must have been a bit hot though!
I was also keeping my eye out for any NZers - one guy went past who had 'G'day mate' on his shirt so I called out 'Go NZ'. It was only afterwards that I realised he could have been Australian! Oh well - never mind. Saw another NZer who I cheered on but as they were walking by the 6 mile mark I'm not sure they would have completed it!
Busy week for me - off to Sweden tomorrow for a night (for work - so airplane, office, hotel, office, airplane, home) and then we are off to Dingle on Friday to go walking. Yay!
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Easter Friday = Rugby League
Went off to watch the Harlequins Rugby League team play the Catalan Dragons... We had been hoping to see Stacey Jones play for the Catalans but he was injured - although he was sat just in front of us so we did see him!
The Quins won quite comfortably and we saw a couple of good tries. Funny game tho - compared to football it was pretty amateur. A slightly disfunctional scoreboard, a shockingly bad band of dancers (The Harlequin Harts...) and transfers were signalled by a piece of laminated cardboard being held up - but a pretty loyal support base. And lots of NZ/Island looking boys in the team!
The Quins play at the Twickenham Stoop - baby stadium next to its more famous neighbour...
The Quins won quite comfortably and we saw a couple of good tries. Funny game tho - compared to football it was pretty amateur. A slightly disfunctional scoreboard, a shockingly bad band of dancers (The Harlequin Harts...) and transfers were signalled by a piece of laminated cardboard being held up - but a pretty loyal support base. And lots of NZ/Island looking boys in the team!
The Quins play at the Twickenham Stoop - baby stadium next to its more famous neighbour...
Monday, April 10, 2006
Fun websites
Wasted a bit of time today on these... for reasons I won't go into (nothing to do with my weather fixation...) Craig sent me this today - I particularly like the Cloud Lookalikes and the 'Attention all cloudspotters - news thats rocking the cloud world...'. Check out the Cloud Appreciation Society here.
Second fave website of the day is Kitten Wars - vote for your cutest kitten by clicking on their picture. The site then tells you which of the two cats is winning. This is a great time-waster :-). I recommend doing a search for Adolf as well - that cat really does look like his namesake - quite spooky! Satan Himself is also worth a look! Check out Kitten War here.
Enjoy!
Second fave website of the day is Kitten Wars - vote for your cutest kitten by clicking on their picture. The site then tells you which of the two cats is winning. This is a great time-waster :-). I recommend doing a search for Adolf as well - that cat really does look like his namesake - quite spooky! Satan Himself is also worth a look! Check out Kitten War here.
Enjoy!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Hassocks to Lewes
So we did our walk from Hassocks to Lewes - 11 miles, difficulty 4/10. Great walk - up on the South Downs, covering some of the Trailwalker route as well which was cool. We walked past Ditchling Beacon - when we'd been there on the walk it was early morning - we had just walked through an amazing sunrise. Then we carried on and went past Black Cap for the 4th time - Kev's got some photos of that so once he gets them off his camera I'll post them.
It was just me and Kevin so I had to navigate the walk - a bit tricky at times but I got us around ok. Its normally Julia with me as back up so it was a big responsibility! Especially as the distances seemed to be a bit skew-iff and I'd be looking for something that we had passed 10mins ago...
Both very tired on Sat night tho - all that sun and fresh air. And it carried over to Sunday as well as I realised when I got back from supermarket shopping that I was wearing my cardigan inside out - neither I or Kevin noticed! VERY embarassing!!
It was just me and Kevin so I had to navigate the walk - a bit tricky at times but I got us around ok. Its normally Julia with me as back up so it was a big responsibility! Especially as the distances seemed to be a bit skew-iff and I'd be looking for something that we had passed 10mins ago...
Both very tired on Sat night tho - all that sun and fresh air. And it carried over to Sunday as well as I realised when I got back from supermarket shopping that I was wearing my cardigan inside out - neither I or Kevin noticed! VERY embarassing!!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Friday night chores
So at the end of a very busy week I've collapsed at home after tidying my flat, washing my dishes and doing my laundry! Oh - and updating my blog :-). Also managed to finally finish 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' which I've been ploughing through for a while now. Took a while to get into it, but I did enjoy it - in the end!
No rest for the wicked tho - Kev and I are off walking tomorrow!
No rest for the wicked tho - Kev and I are off walking tomorrow!
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Marah and Nick Hornby
We went to see Nick Hornby and Marah at Dingwalls. Great show - Nick Hornby reading essays coupled with musical interludes from Marah. Then Nick finished and Marah just carried on playing. The essays were very funny - a great one about music fans who love a band for years, but the band is never that successful but they can never work out why. Then the band gets successful and the fan isn't happy at all the 'new' fans who like them. Described Kevin's love affair with Wilco perfectly! But you probably had to be there... :-)
This article sums it up quite nicely...
Dingwalls is quite a small venue and we're back there to see Starsailor in a couple of weeks - really looking forward to that!
This article sums it up quite nicely...
Dingwalls is quite a small venue and we're back there to see Starsailor in a couple of weeks - really looking forward to that!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Melissa in London
Had a lovely evening catching up with my friend Melissa (and her friend Clive) who was passing through London en-route to Barcelona. We met in Brown's in Islington for a drink, and then went on to dinner at Masala Zone. I met Melissa when I worked at TPK and we've kept in (somewhat sporadic!) touch ever since then. And seeing as how I know she reads the blog I thought she warranted a mention!
Islington is North London and seeing as how I'm a 'souf london' girl I don't get up that way much unless its for a gig so it was nice to have an evening out in a different area. And Melissa did amazingly well in terms of her jet lag - much better than I think I would have been able to!
Islington is North London and seeing as how I'm a 'souf london' girl I don't get up that way much unless its for a gig so it was nice to have an evening out in a different area. And Melissa did amazingly well in terms of her jet lag - much better than I think I would have been able to!
Monday, April 03, 2006
Mark Olson gig - or was it musical therapy?
Went to see Mark Olson again at The Borderline, this time with his wife Victoria Williams. He had just been fab when we saw him last year (June 2005) so we were looking forward to it. Plus he had VW with him as well which we thought could only be a good thing. So Andrew, a mate of Kevin's came along as well.
Not quite the gig we were expecting. It was more like the Victoria Williams gig with Mark Olson playing a few songs - and she was all over the place. Playing the bongo drums with a note pad and her elbow, coming in to songs late - you name it she seemed to do it! Yet when she just sang she sounded great. Andrew enjoyed it but did say afterwards that it was a bit like watching a session of music therapy in the community... which pretty aptly summed it up! So next time we'll give it a miss if VW is playing with him!
Not quite the gig we were expecting. It was more like the Victoria Williams gig with Mark Olson playing a few songs - and she was all over the place. Playing the bongo drums with a note pad and her elbow, coming in to songs late - you name it she seemed to do it! Yet when she just sang she sounded great. Andrew enjoyed it but did say afterwards that it was a bit like watching a session of music therapy in the community... which pretty aptly summed it up! So next time we'll give it a miss if VW is playing with him!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
New photos
I've just had one of my films developed which had been in my camera a while... So here are some of my faves below, but also check out my Flickr account. I've created new sets for Pompeii, Stromboli, Dublin and walking so take a look!
Getting ready, Hever Nov 2005
Getting ready, Hever Nov 2005
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.
The die hard walkers - Sarah, Craig, Nola, Julia and Kevin
View - Hever to Leigh Nov 2005
View 2 - Hever to Leigh Nov 2005
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.
Lovely autumnal view from a walk late last year...
Body cast
One of the bodycasts we saw at Pompeii of someone caught in the eruption - apparently there were loads more at the Naples museum but we didn't make it there.
Body cast 1 (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.
Me, Tyrone Shirts, Croke Park
Me, Tyrone Shirts, Croke Park
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.
Not a great one of this but thought I'd put it up. In this dressing room they had the Tyrone shirts as they won the Gaelic Football (I think) in 2005. In the dressing room next door the Cork shirts were hung as they won the Hurling in 2005. I was disappointed we weren't in the dressing room with the Cork shirts... Look out for the photo of Kev in the shower room as well!
Spring has arrived
Quite amazing how fast nature works when it wants to. In the last week the daffodils have appeared everywhere and now all of the cherry blossom is coming out as well - with the clocks going forward last weekend (time difference between the UK and NZ is now 11 hours...) it really does feel like we've finally emerged from the depths of winter and spring has arrived!
Ceilidh Club - what a fab night!
So on Friday night we went off to the Ceilidh Club (pronounced kay-lee) to help celebrate a friend's birthday. And I have to admit that I was pretty sceptical. Having looked at the website, and not being big on dancing I wasn't sure about the whole thing but it was great! A bit like being back at school and doing folk dancing but better! Completely rubbish I was, but I loved it! My fave one was when I was the 9 pin - in a square of people with everyone dancing around me, and then it ended up a bit like musical chairs where you had to try and end up with a guy so as not to end up in the middle again. Very very cool and I'll definitely go back!
On Sat we are sat here feeling quite worn out and a little bit creaky! A very physical evening - nothing like getting hot and sweaty with a room full of strangers!!
On Sat we are sat here feeling quite worn out and a little bit creaky! A very physical evening - nothing like getting hot and sweaty with a room full of strangers!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)