Ireland

We have safely returned from our travels and I am sorting through about 2000 photos. Things are a bit hectic and it has taken a while to settle back into life here (not helped by a significant swarm of earthquakes).

One of the highlights of the trip was the week we spent in Ireland. We rented a cottage in County Clare,

on the shores of Galway Bay.

It’s a land of open spaces and sky

with human habitation and it’s accoutrements lying low to get some protection from the elements.

The chief crop seems to be stones – the fields are cleared by painstakingly moving the rocks to the edges where they become walls.

Geologically the area consists of limestone karst.

Known as The Burren it has been inhabited for probably ten thousand years. Poulnabrone dolmen is thought to date from around 4000 BC.

We were joined by daughter Jenny, Noreen’s mum, and her brother and sister-in-law.

Of course we had to sample the Guinness

and the local beer and stout.