Rossan Point

The last walk we took from Oideas Gael was around the coast to Rossan Point. We were mostly looking for wildlife. Tony pointed out a stream the otters use to wash the salt water out of their fur. Sadly, none of them showed up while we were crossing the stream. Mostly what we saw were nesting sea birds and a lone seal. But we did see something on this walk that we had not seen all week. Sunshine!

I can’t believe how blue the water was and how white the wave caps were.

The walk wasn’t quite as difficult as the hike up to Glen Head on the first day.

That's Glen Head, waaay over there with the tower on top.

I really enjoyed the time I spent tramping around Gleann Colmcille. It’s going to be really hard to leave tomorrow. But, I’m not going to think about that now. Tonight, we have dinner with the Belfast Lasses and the final Ceilimhor. After this walk, I hope I can hold up for at least a dance or two!

Frustration

Thursday turned out to be a very frustrating day. The Music Man (an fear na cheoil) and I stayed out way too late on Wednesday night. (We got to bed at two am) On the way to the language class, he started feeling really bad and went back to the room. I couldn't concentrate on the lesson and walked back to Teach Gleann Dobhar at the tea break. He was feeling a little better and wanted to drive to Killybegs to get some money and find a pharmacy. 

I wanted to do at least one of the set dance classes and since it was still cloudy and very windy, I thought today would be the day. An added incentive is that the President of Ireland is at Oideas Gael this week and is in the set dance class in the afternoon. I'd like to say that I've danced in a set with her. Maybe I'll get the chance at the Ceilimhor on Friday night!

My husband said we could be back from Killybegs in a couple of hours. In my heart I knew it was going to take longer than that. It did. It took nearly three hours, which meant I missed the start of the dance class.

So, we decided to visit Tra Ban (Silver Beach) at Malin Bhig, just a few kilometers away. We had heard that there were 150+ steps down to the bottom. That's a lot of steps but it was so worth it!

 

From the car park.

 The famous steps. There might be 150+ I didn't count.

 

 Atlantic waves

 

Tomorrow is our last day, so it's language class in the morning and hillwalking in the afternoon. I'm already gearing up to say goodbye. Sniff.

Coastal Walk

In Alabama when somebody talks about a coastal walk, you know they’re going to be in Gulf Shores walking along the sugary white sands in their bathing suit. Coastal walk here in Gleann Colmcille means something quite different.

On Wednesday, the weather was cool and wet, again, especially on the heights, so Tony opted for a walk along the headlands just to the northwest of the village.

I’m sure he sighed heavily when he saw Sean and myself waiting in the parking lot with the others. Slow pokes again. Sean said it seemed to be the natural order.

This walk wasn’t anywhere near as strenuous as the first two, in the beginning, at least.

We saw sea caves.

We saw quartz outcroppings.

 

We saw rocky areas that looked like they could be on the surface of the moon.

This is our housemate, Elisabeth.

We climbed down rock faces. Well, some of us did.

We were going back by the beach, but the tide was in and we had to tromp through a farmer’s cow pasture. That was the steep part on this walk and while sheep are prolific, um, poopers, they got nothin’ on cows.

My boots stayed in the car all night. I hope they don’t charge us the extra fee for cleaning it out. 

Belfast Lasses

We’ve met some wonderful people here. After the orientation on the first night, we met three women from Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is their first time here at Oideas Gael, too. They are Helen, Michelle and Ruth. I don’t know anybody’s last name. It’s like they don’t really exist while we’re here. The Belfast Lasses, as The Music Man and I call them, are a little younger than we are and a lot of fun for me to hang out with while my husband plays in the pub sessions.

Session at Roarty's on Wednesday night.

We have explored the Church of Ireland graveyard.

The Belfast Lasses and me in the church graveyard.

We save seats for each other at the evening concerts.

Michelle and Helen at the Wednesday night concert.

Ruth at the concert.

 

We’ve talked about our children, our pets and our jobs. It's fun to see them around the village and wave hello or stop to chat in the miniscule grocery shop. Makes it almost like home.

Tomb Walk

Our second hillwalk was to a five thousand year old Neolithic tomb. The weather was cool and wet again.The climb over the hill was a long one and I lagged behind all the others just like the first day. Luckily, there is another slow walker in the group. His name is Sean and he’s a retired member of the Irish Parliament from Dublin. 

We started out at the Oideas Gael campus and took several back lanes to get to the road over the hill. It finally leveled out and then started downhill.

Once on the other side, we could see the tomb, or what’s left of it, on the other side of the road, in a bog.

Our guide, Tony, said this kind of tomb is called a court tomb. It has small antechambers and was rather large. There are spiral carved into some of the larger stones, but they are very hard to see, especially on a cloudy day. Archaeologists found burned and unburned bones inside, but can only speculate on what that means. 

 

 

Further along the walk, he pointed out a collapsed dolmen in somebody’s sheep pasture and told us about an uncollapsed dolmen that a local farmer uses for a dog kennel. Why not? Dogs gotta have shelter, too.

Relax, You're In Gleann

When we arrived at Oideas Gael, Siobhan greeted us and we followed her to the B&B they assigned us to. It was a pleasant surprise to be staying with the Cunningham family at Teach Gleann Dobhar. The house is big and it is definitely a family home. There are two boys, two girls and Bailey the dog. Martin and Margaret Cunningham, the owners are warm, accommodating people. In fact, The Music Man came down with a cold on Monday and Margaret fixed him a hot toddy. There are six of us from Oideas Gael staying at the house, Jim from Belfast, Paula, from Italy, Mert and his French wife, Elisabeth, who live in Dundalk, my husband and me. There are also people taking this course from Japan and Russia. 

The orientation was Saturday afternoon and the first class was Sunday afternoon. The Music Man is in level one and I'm in level two. We have language in the morning and the chance to take an elective in the afternoon. I opted for the hillwalking and of course, my husband is taking a Gaelic song class.

The first hill walking session was quite a climb and we passed by several stations of the Turas Colmcille, which is a pilgrimage walk, usually done in the summer. The tradition of it is very old and most likely predates Christianity. 

 

The Kneeling Stone.

Tober Colmcille or Colmcille's Well. All the stones around this well

were brought by pilgrims.

 A watch tower from the 1700s I think. I missed the history lesson.

 

 Sea cliffs northwest of Gleann Colmcille.

The weather is very changeable. Down in Gleann it was cloudy, but this was 600 meters higher and the atmosphere was very different. It's a wild and beautiful place.

To iPad Or Not To iPad. That Is The Question.

In one week until we leave for Ireland. Of course, I'm trying to decide what to pack. Not just clothes, but electronics. I'm not exactly a techie but that's the biggest decision facing me about what to take in the way of  devices. A girl's got to blog, after all.

The Music Man got me an iPad for my birthday and I love it almost as much as I do him.   I thought I'd just take it and leave the big honkin' laptop at home. I got a neat little toy to get pictures from the camera to the ipad. BUT I don't know how to load, store or edit video on the iPad and the camcorder is definitely going! There's not enough room on the iPad to store videos anyway. And yes, they do have broadband access at Oideas Gael.

So, I take the laptop, but do I take the iPad, too? I'm still undecided. I can use the iPad as a reader with iBooks or Kindle, leaving the Kindle at home. But, I don't want to show up in Ireland like the main character in the movie Local Hero. He shows up in a small village in Scotland with all kind of technology, only to lose it as he "goes native". Not to mention I don't want to have to keep up with all of it either.

I've got seven days to decide.