Planning for Ireland

We do the 30 hour ferry crossing to Ireland in two weeks... May 7th, to be exact. So we've been doing some planning. We're going to be there for probably two months, although we've got some flexibility. If we want to stay longer, we certainly can. From there, we'll go to either Scotland or Wales. We haven't decided yet, and it can be a last minute decision depending on how long we stay in Ireland.

We cross on May 7th, and then we are at a wedding just east of Dublin on May 25-26. 

Then, I was perusing the Trusted Housesitters website and came across a listing just north of Dublin looking after Juno the dog on a 300 acre farm for five days. We applied, had a quick phone interview with the homeowners, and were accepted. So that will be from June 2nd to the 7th.

After that, we'll head over to the west coast to do the Wild Atlantic Way, a spectacular coastal road that runs for 1600 miles (2600 km). It might take us two months just to do that! We don't have visions on doing the whole thing though, because it would be too long. But we'll start it around the 1/3 mark and head south from there along the west coast. Then we'll play it by ear. 

Hoping to meet up with Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony when they join us in Ireland at some point later in June. Regular readers will remember that we have traveled with them several times in the past. 

Unfortunately they've changed the terms of our European SIM card, so when we leave Spain it will only give us 18GB of data in Ireland. For the price, it's not worth keeping at that point, so we'll use it until the 18GB is up, and then we'll have to get an Irish one. Which is fine, cellular data is pretty cheap in Ireland.

Unlike booze... apparently alcohol is not so cheap in Ireland. Fortunately, because Ireland is part of the EU, we are allowed to bring a lot of product with us from Spain without paying duty on it. So we'll be well stocked up with inexpensive beer and wine when we get on the ferry!

Yesterday, we did a nice walk to a viewpoint and then down along the river to the dam, then back through town. 

Ruth, at the viewpoint above the Douro River.

Zoomed in across the river we could see some big stork nests.

Looking downstream, there is a dam.

We walked over to, and across the dam.

Looking downstream from the dam.

Heading back towards town.

Another viewpoint.

This viewpoint had a signboard explaining about the birds in the area. They have a fairly rare type of heron, the purple heron but they also have herons, unfortunately we didn't see either type.

They don't look purple to me?

They are actually baby storks!

This is a stork, of course!

Part of our walk was done on the famous Camino de Santiago trail.

The Douro River.

In town, they have an area of underground storage (bodegas) mostly used for wine making.

The town church is old! 

Unfortunately it was Sunday morning and a service was going on.

Some of the stonework has been recently repaired.

Me, with the distances sign.

Sunset view from where Max is parked.

Today, we head further northeast towards Burgos. We're going to make a quick stop near the town of Tordesillas to match up another one of dad's photos, then do a bypass around the city of Valladolid. No idea how far we'll get, so we'll play it by ear.

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Digital Night Vision Binoculars. Very cool!

And in Canada...

Blink Outdoor Security Cameras.