New Plan!

Since we began dreaming this adventure, I'd planned to train from the Dingleberry Forest to County Mayo and then cab here and there.  That is no longer the plan.  Brace yourself.  We're renting a car instead!!!

The great part about that, aside from the fact that the steering wheel will be on the wrong side, is that we will be in complete control.  We won't have to plan around train schedules or stop doing something we're enjoying because we've got to catch the last train out.  We can wander wherever our hearts lead, stay as long as we want and let Ireland decide where we go.

I'm so very glad I hadn't booked accommodations for the second part of our trip, because now we don't have to plan to be in any particular place at any particular time.  The freedom of that is exhilarating!!!  That means whenever we see a pub that looks like it needs our company, we pull over and have a pint.  Whenever we stumble upon ruins or castles that call to us, we'll be free to reply.  I think that's how Ireland is meant to be traveled; free from schedules, without a plan and with a carefree spirit.

I definitely want to spend part of a day doing the Atlantic Drive on Achill Island, which is in Westport.  It's not too far from Lavell's Bar...convenient.  The island is about 60 square miles, but it's actual coastline, including all the inlets and spars, measures over 80 miles.  In many places, the road follows the shoreline and two particular stretches are damn near legendary because of the spectacular views they afford.

Along the route, we'll find Kildavnet Tower (Cill Damhnait if you speak the lingo) overlooking the waters of Achill Sound.  The name means "the small church of Davenet" and refers to the 7th century Saint Dympna who built a small church nearby.  I'll have to get busy building something cool so that when I am sainted, it can be named after me.  I think Pub Saint Pattie sounds nice.

The tower is three stories (about 40 ft tall) and is believed to be built by the O'Malley Clan in 1429.  That's older than Dougie for those of you keeping track.  Its most famous tenant was the legendary pirate queen Granuaille.  That is until, of course, I move in and change all that.

Rumor is that the stretch from Cloughmore to Dooega offers the most spectacular coastal scenery in Ireland - except for that found on the Dingle Peninsula.  Lucky us...we get to see both!  Along the way we'll find some wonderful pubs and traditional music.  As this area is part of Gaeltacht, meaning Irish speaking, we'll be swimming in history.  I look forward to hearing the speech of my forefathers...and drinking their national drink.  Often and with regularity.

Castles, hawks and pubs, oh my!

I've been researching my Lavell family history and am pleased to say I've found several Lavells still living in County Mayo.  I've spoken with a relative living in Great Britain - my great, great, great grandparents Martin and Bridget Lavell are also in his family tree.  His last name is not Lavell, but I've forgiven him that.

I'm continue an internal debate about where to go and for how long after Lauren and I complete our walk of the Dingleberry Forest (the Dingle Peninsula if you're trying to locate it on a map).  I want to go to Westport to Lavell's Bar and meet a famous storyteller named Mic Lavell...if he's still in fact on this side of the grass.  The reports are mixed.  County Mayo is a big place and there are lots of places to look for/find Lavells, (pubs) but I continue to be drawn to Castlebar.  I can't explain it, but there's been a constant pull from that market town for far too long to ignore.

Castles will definitely play into where we visit and how long we stay.  I've started to compile a list of castles and castle ruins in County Mayo and well, let me say this: we'd have to stay several weeks to see them all.  We're going to have to pick and choose and that won't be easy.  Lauren and I are passionate about castles.  Our favorites are those without other visitors, through which the wind blows, where the imagination takes over and the past seems close enough to touch.  Ruins can be magical if you're in the proper frame of mind.

Lauren and I would be content to wander around ruins for days on end, but we'll have Dougie with us at that point and we'll have to keep him entertained.  He'll tolerate climbing over walls and rocks for a bit, but not very long.  I'm thinking horseback riding (can you picture Doug on a horse?) and Ireland's School of Falconry would be great family fun.  The oldest established Falconry school in Ireland is on the grounds of Ashford Castle, which is mind-blowingly gorgeous.  On their one hour, private "Hawk Walk", we can have a hawk land on our gloved arm and set it to fly around the grounds of the castle.  Very cool.  For a mere $2,000, we can spend two nights in the castle, too.  Bargain.

I still have a lot of work to do, but one thing is for certain.  In nine weeks, Lauren and I will be on our way to my Dad's homeland.  Ireland, you've been warned.

14 Weeks And Counting...

14 weeks until we begin our next big walking adventure across the pond.  14 weeks!!  That'll be here before we know it, which should probably scare the hell out of me because there's much to do, but I'm not frightened at all.  I'm excited!

We need to inventory our gear, make sure our packs are in good repair and break in the boots again.  I know we have excellent rain coats, but we need better rain pants.  The ones we (meaning I) wore for our Walk Across England were hideous things.  They were heavy and made from burlapy/plasticy fabric and pretty much defeated the purpose of wearing rain pants.  Let's see, we wear rain pants to ... stay dry, yes?  Well, those particular little bastards were confused because within ten or fifteen minutes of donning them, it began to rain inside the pants!  No kidding.  As my body heated up from the exertion of climbing up and down mountain sides, condensation built up.  Within minutes, it began to rain inside my pants and by the time I stripped out of them at day's end, I was soaked.  The only difference between me and Lauren (who refused to wear her rain pants) was that my soaking wet leggings/socks were warm and hers weren't.  Oh, and she was happier.  In addition to being hot and rainy inside my pants, they were bulky and uglier than the red backside of a macaque monkey.

Maybe the joke is on me?  They were "rain pants", right?  Well, they were pants and it did, in fact, rain inside them.  Clearly, I'm the one with the problem.

See how easily I get off topic?

Once we've confirmed we've got all of the necessary gear, we're most of the way there.  Then it's just confirming accommodations, exchanging dollars for euros and booking trains.

But preparation is more than gear and trains.  It's also about beer and since I like to be prepared, I've been practicing drinking Guinness, singing loudly and swearing.  It's hard work, I assure you, but it's necessary.

Back to work...

Makes Perfect Sense

In preparation for our Irish adventure, I'm tearing up blacktop and researching the Lavelle's of County Mayo.  I'm fascinated by what I'm finding.  Fascinated but not surprised.

For example, the Irish Meaning of the name Lavelle or O'Maolfhábhail (how does that read as Lavelle?) means fond of movement or travel.  Well, isn't that fitting?  I'm certainly fond of travel, as is my traveling companion, in spite of the fact that her surname doesn't match my own.  It matters not because her spirit certainly does.  No one could ask for a better walking partner than my girl.

Then there is the fact that no Lavelle has ever reached the status of saint.

I'll give you a moment to adsorb that.  I know it's hard to believe.

In truth, the only Lavelle relatives I know are nothing like me.  They are serious, straight-laced and wouldn't say "shit" if they had a mouthful of it.  Since we're being honest, I really don't enjoy their company.  It's mutual though, so I don't feel badly about telling the world.  They've essentially done the same on occasion.  It's cool.  

In spite of the fact that the Lavelle's I know are endlessly boring, I'm totally convinced that there are Lavelle's of kindred spirit just waiting for me to stumble upon them in County Mayo.  I've found Irish storytellers, barkeeps and campground hosts all named Lavelle.  I think we can all agree that Irish pub owners are probably not boring people.  

It occurs to me that I've spent most of my life insisting I "wasn't a Lavelle" because the only ones I know are so...ugh.  I've been claiming to be a Magin for 46 years.  But the more I research, the more excited I become about being a Lavelle.  Just beyond my current reach - I'm quite sure - are charismatic, lively, engaging people related to me who aren't named Magin, but are in fact, named Lavelle.  Shocking, I know.

There are pint-swillers who share my surname and affinity for beer, laughter and cursing.  We are separated by a large body of water....for now.  Pretty soon, I'll find those people and embrace them.  I hope they're ready because for the first time in my life, I'm happy about being a Lavelle.

Dreams of Green

We're about four months away from setting foot on my family's original homeland;my Dad would be happy about that.  I'm dreaming about wide open, green spaces.  Hills that gently roll down to meet a frothy, cold sea, blue-grey sky and salty breezes.  I hear music, too.  It's a kind I've never heard before yet it almost sounds familiar.  There are smells, too.  Peat fires, fish, potatoes and Guinness.  Oh, I get it... I've been dreaming of Heaven.

I wonder if others dream like I do. My dreams are vivid and often exhausting.  I predict they will become more so between now and June, but when my boots finally hit Irish soil, the dreaming will stop.  That's how it was with England.  I dreamed of castles and bogs and mountains and pints with great clarity until we landed in Manchester and then the dreams stopped.  I suppose my brain was filled with so many incredible images, the dreams didn't have any room to build.

For now, I will happily settle for my Irish dreams.  I wonder how they will compare to the real thing.  I was excited about our English Coast to Coast to be sure, but this anticipation is different.  I am anxious to smell Ireland, to touch it and know my family once did the same.  There's something of a visit with the past about this trip that stirs the mind differently than other adventures.

What's waiting for us?

Feet and other things

Things are getting pretty damn exciting around here.  Dragged the hiking boots out; they are still caked with England's mud and sheep dung.  That makes them so much more attractive to me than brand new, sparkling clean boots.  These boots look like they know what they're doing, like they can find their way through the bogs and over the moors...and, in fact, they can.  They've already walked from Britain's west coast to its other coast.

I thought it was time to break them in again.  Turns out, it's more like breaking in my feet again.  Two years of wearing flip flops most of the time has made my feet rather ornery about being confined into any sort of enclosed shoe.  They began to get disagreeable when I put on the first pair of socks, but then I added a second sock to each foot and they got downright ugly.  After cramming them into the heavy, stiff hiking boots and doing six miles of blacktop, they fought back.  With blisters.

I let them have their way.  I pulled off the boots and the socks, found a spot in the shade and called Doug for a ride home.  I'll have to use baby steps if I'm going to win this battle.  I have from now until early June to make my feet see reason and adjust to life inside a boot; at least for a few weeks.  Once Ireland is behind us, they can go back to living in flip flops.  Until the next adventure.  (I'm thinking France or Scotland...)

Back to the exciting stuff -

I've booked all of our accommodations for the Dingle Way.  In addition to a safe, dry place to lie our heads each night, I've also arranged for our bags to be transferred from place to place.  We'll carry one backpack (or shall I say I will carry a backpack) with our rain gear, first aid stuff, extra socks, toilet paper, water and food.  I admit, there's always a wine bottle opener in there, too.  You never know when you might need one.
Everything else will be left behind for the proprietors to pack up and drop off at our next night's stop.  Isn't that wonderful?  That means we can bring crap we don't really need because we won't have to carry it on our backs all day.

I tried booking our train tickets from Dublin to Tralee (where the Dingle Way begins), but the online ticket system doesn't allow bookings more than two months in advance.  Hopefully, I don't forget to do that come spring or we'll be forced to rent a car and drive.  I've heard this is expensive and, quite frankly, not very appealing to me.  I do, however, love the idea of climbing aboard a train and watching the countryside change from bustling city to quiet farm country to seaside splendor.  We shared the train to St. Bee's (where England's Coast to Coast begins) with some chickens.  That was different.  Maybe we'll share our Irish train with a cow.  That would be a fine thing.

Stay tuned as we ramp up for our next adventure!

Flights are booked!

Finally, some solid plans being laid for this Irish Adventure!  Our flights from Miami to Dublin have been booked and we leave the Sunshine State on Monday, June 9, just two days after my daughter finishes her freshman year of high school.  (For the record: I spent my freshman summer helping my Dad bale hay, going to marching band practice, marching in small town parades and trying to make out with older guys at the carnival.  She has no idea how lucky she is....)  We arrive in Dublin on Tuesday and will tear it up for a day and a half before hopping a train to Tralee in Dingle.

Dublin; you have been warned.

I've booked our first few nights' accommodations and like our experience in England, we'll need to carry a load of cash to pay our way.  Few places accept credit cards.  In fact, they'll accept the credit card info to hold the room, but final/complete payment must be made in cash.  Great!  Who doesn't want to walk across a county carrying a shit ton of cash?!  And now that I'm blogging that, every criminal in the world will lay in wait behind the very first shrub of our walk, just waiting to jump out and rob us blind.  Be warned bad guys; we'll be packing.  I'll leave you to decipher exactly what that means.

Aside from that little snag, thing seem to be moving along smartly.  I'm looking into taking a side trip from Dunquin to the Blasket Islands, but I've learned that Mother Nature has something to say about that.  If seas are rough and the weather is poorly, we'll stay on the peninsula and find something else to do.  I think the idea of holing up in a pub by a roaring fire while the wind blusters and blows outside sounds damn near perfect.  Luckily for me, my traveling companion is a lover of pubs.  She doesn't like beer (I know, right?) but loves pubs.  Did I luck out or what?

So it is will a big smile that I share our tentative itinerary:
June 9: Depart Miami's heat and humidity
June 10: Arrive in Dublin's fair city of pubs and culture
June 11: Train to Tralee
June 12: Tralee to Camp, 11 miles
June 13: Camp to Anascaul (this night is spent above a pub; our favorite way to camp), 10.5 miles
June 14: Anascaul to Dingle, 13.6 miles
June 15: Dingle to Dunquin (two nights in a pub; even better), 12.5 miles
June 16: Blasket Islands or bust
June 17: Dunquin to Ballydavid, 7 miles
June 18: Ballydavid to Ballycurrane/Feohanagh (yet another pub night), 7 miles
June 19: Ballycurrane to Cloghane, 13.6 miles
June 20: Cloghane to Castlegregory, 18 miles (this will be a really hard day)
June 21: Castlegregory back to Tralee, 16.7 miles
June 22: Train to Westport to visit Lavelle's Bar, Doug joins us
June 23: Hike cemeteries and trails around Westport by day, pubs and music by night
June 23: Train to Castlebar, search for more Lavelle's
June 24: Train to Dublin
June 25: I fly home; Lauren goes on to England and Switzerland w/Doug

As you can see, when we've completed walking the Dingle Peninsula, Doug will meet us in Westport.  We'll visit Lavelle's Bar, where local legend/storyteller Mic Lavelle made his name and see how many other kinfolk we can find.  After a day or so, we'll train up to Castlebar to search for more Lavelle's.  I don't know what's pulling me there, but its haunted my dreams for awhile now, so that's where we must go.

On the 25th, I fly home to get back to work at the Academy while Doug and Lauren head off on their own adventure to England and Switzerland.

Stay tuned as the details become more sorted.  This is going to be one for the books...