I plan to use a portion of our Christmas break to start making real plans for our summer adventure in Ireland. There's so much to do!
Lauren's last day of school is Friday, June 6th, so I think we'll fly out the following Monday. That'll put us in Dublin on the 10th. I think it would be wise to plan to spend the night and then hop a train the following morning to Tralee, which is where we'll begin our walk. It's about a three hour trip. So, assuming that works out, we'll begin walking the peninsula on the 12th.
Although it's only a little over a hundred miles, I'm planning to take ten days to complete it. I'd like to take time to smell the roses and by that I really mean enjoy the pubs. With the exception of two or three days, there were no pubs at which to stop along the way during our Walk Across England, which was a good thing because many of those days were in excess of twelve miles. A pub would have seriously screwed up our timing and we'd have ended up sleeping in an abandoned barn or in a field of tall grass. Neither would have been pleasant.
In Ireland, however, our daily mileage will be less, which will afford us time to soak up the local atmosphere and enjoy the people. I want to take a side trip to the Blasket Islands while we're in Dingle, too. They look like a prime place for ghost hunting.
When we arrive back in Tralee at the end of ten days, we'll hop a train to Castlebar (County Mayo) to search for some Lavells. I've heard they're known as "wankers", which isn't a huge surprise. Most of the Lavells I know fit that category quite well. I hope to find some of my Dad's people and connect with his past. It's something he always wanted to do but never had the opportunity to make it happen. Lauren and I will do it in his honor.
After a few days in Castlebar, we'll take another train back to Dublin for one last pint before flying back to our island in the sun.
Doesn't that sound like a great adventure?!? Stay tuned as we make preparations!
(By the way, my training is underway...I clocked 8 miles yesterday!)
