Ireland, easier to get a bet on here !

[Canada Bob]

Almost done our first two weeks here in Ireland, {County Mayo right now}, and it's easier to get a bet on all in the one shop without having to run from one place to another like they make you do in England.

I had a decent bet on Arsenal & Celtic [both of whom gave me a bit of s fright, but I got that bet on easy enough, and I've just put 3,250 euro on Cowdenbeath to beat Berwick tonight. I think Cowdenbeath have all the incentive they need as a win would put them on top of Division 3, add to that Berwick haven't played a game since the 27th December, add to that far as I can remember Cowden have beaten Berwick twice already this season, so I'm on at 8/13, best odds in Ireland, although I think you can get 4/6 in the Untidy Kingdom.

I looked at the Rangers game, and at Forfar, but shyed away from getting involved in either of them...

Not much chance of watching the game tonight though, but... Clacher, I'd appreciate a text when Cowdenbeath score. It's a quiet old part of Ireland this is, but nice enough if your into fishing, or walking the dog, but the pubs are lively enough at night so {other than yesterdays fiasco} we're having a good time here.

At the moment I'm hobbling about with a sore knee...

We {for that read I} decided to mount our assault on Croagh Patrick yesterday, I think it's the biggest "mountain" in Ireland, or at least close to it. The weather was fine at 13C with almost clear blue skies, just the odd cloud, I'll take that in anytime in early January...

On arriving at the base of Croagh Patrick {do a google image search, it's an impressive sight}, we parked the car, with rations of couple of sandwiches, a banana each and a flask of coffee, we started out for the summit. It didn't start out all that well, even though folks have been climbing the mountain for 4-5,000 years {right from Neolithic times} there's no path at all {at all}, you set out following a stream bed, trying to avoid the water, picking our way through the turnip sized cobblestones.

I don't think we'd gone more than half a mile before "Sherpa" Pauline, {seeing as she was carrying the rations and the flask} started to complain, about how steep it was, and how she couldn't walk on the stones. We made it to the base camp, where they statue of St Patrick is, probably around 400ft up, no more than that. We had a couple of minutes there, then {after more stick then carrot}, we struck out on the next leg, a more prophetic statement than I'd intended...

There's 7 legs to climbing Croagh Patrick, and you're supposed to stop and pray {typically 7 Hail Mary's, 7 Our Fathers, and the Nicene Creed just the once}, I think the idea is that if you have the breath to recite the above, chances are you'll make it to the next stage. I should mention that Croagh Patrick not only looks impressive, but it's 2,500 ft tall, to put that into perspective, that's like climbing 5 of the tallest pyramids in Egypt one after the other {not to mention having to climb down as well}, or, another way of looking at it is, it's more than double the height of the Eiffel Tower, or the CN Tower in Toronto, or 5 Blackpool Towers !!!

The only difference between the second leg and the first was that the stream {commonly known as the path} was starting to get narrower so half the time you're walking in the water, add to that the boulders were now the size of mini cars, so we were already like spiders climbing up and over them on all fours. One thing that I noted though was, as the altitude increased so did the volume of complaint.

None the less we made it to second base, but I have to admit that by the time I plonked meself down on a rock my heart was going like a rabbits, and even though we had stout hiking boots on, our feet were already wet...

We took a 10 minute break, the flask of coffee seemed to help, so we set out for 3rd base, we didn't get far though, before we knew it there was no walking at all, it was all scrambling on all fours for every yard of ground, I started to get concerned about Pauline missing her footing and falling down, especially as by this time I'd sent her ahead of me, as when she was behind me she was acting as an anchor, dropping further and further behind, so I rejigged that, sending her to the front, but realizing the error of that strategy on this stretch, and the danger {to me} if she came barrelling down, I called for a halt while I reassed the situation.

I don't know if the air was starting to get thinner, but we were less than 1/3rd of the way up, both us of were knackered, hearts pounding and gasping for air. This isn't a "hill walk", unless you're a mountain goat, at 21 I've no doubt we could have made it, maybe even at 41, but at 61 it was looking like a bad idea, the mind was willing but the body was weak.

As we sat in the shelter of one of the huge boulders {it was starting to get cold and windy up there}, we decided to give up and head back to the car park. I think that if we'd gone any further we'd never have got back down, not this side of a mountain rescue, which by the way they do an average of 80 a year off Croagh Patrick, almost two a week ! year round...

The downward trek wasn't any easier, it's one thing climbing up a slippery boulder, but it's worse sliding down one, well that's my experience anyway. I was on me back sliding down one when {maybe due to the

gravitational effects of 190 lbs, on a 60 degree slope}, I seemed to gather speed so I made a jump for the last bit, landed on me feet but half on and half off one of them turnip boulders and gave me knee a bit of a twist.

Thankfully it wasn't a bad one, I managed to make it all the way back down to the car park where we finished off the coffee and the rest of our rations, watching the younger folks in the distance scrambling up and

down the mountain, I should add that we weren't the only ones to quit, from what they say at the visitor centre less than 20% make it to the top, aye, well, I'd have been in that percentile in me youth, but time does take its toll on yer...

When we got back to our digs it was straight in the bath for me to soak me knee, thankfully it isn't swollen or anything, just tweaked it a bit, hopefully the internal application of a pint of Guinness later on will do the trick, better still a win by Cowdenbeath will have me dancing...

Canada Bob.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Canada Bob

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Well done Bob - if you have either the time or inclination you should head north to Donegal and take on Slieve League - it is a great day's hike with amazing scenery. There is also a great little pub at the Teelin end where you can have a well deserved pint of the black stuff and maybe catch a wee session - Cuil A' Duin (used to be the Rusty Mackerel)....

Slieve League

Enjoy your time in Oireland....

[clacher_holiday2]

Couldnt of followed any of those bets! Won midweek with Cowdenbeath and Forfar and happy with that.

Irelands a beautiful country, need to watch yourself though it can be a bit rough in winter. Near hurricane force gales forecast for the weekend so I wouldnt go chasing up any mountains!

[Caley Braveheart]

1 - 1 FULL TIME :thumb04:

I was on HT / FT

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Bob - I hope the major storm front meant you couldn't get your bet on and you're now sitting with a glass of porter drinking to your good fortune - but something makes me think that a little storm wasn't going to prevent you getting to the bookies....

[reefinweedallday]

Hard to ****in' believe aint it, that Elgin City shool boys score against the league leaders !!!

Add to that, IF the regular team had played they'd have got thumped 5-1, they know how to lose, but {quoting Captain Mannering} these Stupid Boys feked it up.

Now if that's not bad enough, I made it to the Bookies alright, but I aint venturing out tonight, it's gale force 9 on the doorstep, so it's a night in for me, but that only added to my chagrin when I just looked at what went on in the match...

Imagine how I felt when I read this...

What a gobshyte...

FFS...

As they say round here, it's the Divil himself running the Betting Shops.

1,200 Euro doon the ****in' drain there, hard to ****in' believe aint it, another example of why Bookies don't live in Council Houses, or go to work on a bike...

That just sums up the life of a gambler Bob lad,when your lucks out its all ways a last minute sickner don't know how many times i've lost coupons on injury time goals,those bookies must have a magic F*****g spell,they wave their magic wad of cash at 90 minutes and F*** the punters over!!

[Scarlet Pimple]

What an exciting life you lead Bob?

allivanting all over the U.K. and Ireland, fishing, falling off mountains, quaffing Guinness by the barrel, more fishing, having run-ins with security blokeswith kalishnakoffs at the ready when you trespased on to hallowed ground, more fishing, betting and losing , betting and winning, selling big nice houses in Canada, buying more.

Flying business class on doomed airlines. Buying up their shares to bolster their kittys.

Coming back to Canada must be a veritable let-down . Smile.

Still, being a landed gent in the beautiful wilds of Nova Scotia is NOT a bad life if you love remoteness and beautiful atlantic shorelines. Bird watching must be good there though? And the whales...ohhhhhhh!

Are you coming over to Vancouver fer the Winter Olympics in 2009 Bob..you can buy the tickets and I will help you climb up the slopes on the ski hills. But then again it would be like the blind leading the blind since I have a very loose and vulnerable knee (bad skiing accident 28 years ago) so we would simply have to remain what we are --two older blokes trying to look cool Ha! Ha!. Much better to spend all our hard-earned savings on taking the Gondola on the scenic route between Whistler and Blackcomb which is now open and apparently a helluva rush sinc e it is high suspension with a bang and the view is spectacular.

Anyway let me know.............LOL (P.S. I will let you drive my car, I'm really nice you know!) :thumb04:

P>S> Heh Bob--don't do anything I wouldn't do.. Ha!

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Bob - I see the trip is still going well then.... hope you are enlightening the locals on the rejuvinating powers of your product range....have you given any impromptu demonstrations as there is more than a few over there who may benefit from a good shave....

The tip about the marshmallow I will have to remember to try out - surprised you didn't catch anything but then if the surf is up it makes it a little tricky.

Reminds me of a story about my brother-in-law who even today still fishes at the same point he did when he was a young lad and still pulls them in. On my first visit to Donegal to see the wife's family she phoned ahead to tell them when we were going to be arriving and the conversation got to food and I chose the fish option. What I didn't know was her mother then sent the young lad (as he was then) down to the Duan (a local rocky outcrop) to catch them. So to my surprise when we arrived we were greeted by a large plateful of freshly fried fish and irish potatoes.

So where does the intenary take you next - or are you just playing it by ear?

PS - hope you do well with your punt on PSG but they are that unpredictable you could be going for a swim in the river....but then you won't be the first (or last).... :thumb04:

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Glad to hear it Bob but even against 4th div opposition you never know with PSG especially as they scraped through the last round but at least you have some more supping cash for the rest of your trip....

Huidies Bar looks like the inside of many an Irish Pub - strange this is when you go into one overseas they are never quite like that - the one's that double as the corner shop and pub are the quirkiest....

Huidies reminds me of my own favourite Irish pub "Biddy's" in Glencolmcille (first thing you come across when you come down the hill into the village) - although like you say wouldn't like to go there every night - but when you do it is a great place especially when the wind is blowing outside, the fire is blazing inside and the craic and music are in full swing and the porter flowing.... yah just can't beat it....

The pound is so poor against the euro at the moment so it will mean for once it is cheaper for those from the south to nip across the border and get their fuel instead of the other way around as is usually the norm....

Some pub/session tips for Donegal and Antrim - a little bit dated but may help you on your travels....

Antrim

While the Antrim Glens offer breathtaking landscapes, this was also the last Irish-speaking area of Northern Ireland and the region is still noted for its traditional musicians.

McCollam's Bar, Mill Street, Cushendall (evenings only; sessions Tuesdays and Fridays), is known to all as Johnny Joe's, and is more like a family home than a bar, with customers and musicians squeezed into its tiny rooms. The best seats by the old cast-iron range are snapped up early (especially in winter) and sometimes even the musicians end up standing.

The welcoming Skerry Inn, Newtowncrumlin, is in an isolated village a dozen miles inland from Cushendall, just off the A43 Ballymena road. Attractive in its own right thanks to its stone walls and floors, and roaring fires in winter, the Skerry draws some of Northern Ireland's finest traditional musicians to its Wednesday night sessions.

If you're staying near the Giant's Causeway, then Ballycastle is the place to head for, a traditional music bastion that also hosts a major festival in June and the Ould Lammas Fair (the oldest fair in Ireland) on the last Monday and Tuesday in August. Most of the town's pubs hold regular sessions and special favourites on Ann Street include The Central Bar on Wednesdays and, across the road, McCarroll's, where The Henhouse Sessions take place in a wooden outhouse at the pub's rear on Thursdays.

Donegal

Donegal's music can seem as rugged as some of the county's wild landscape. The fiddle is the predominant instrument and the music is heavily influenced by a long affinity with Scotland, so the keen listener will be able to detect less-familiar forms of dance music such as the Highland or Strathspey.

Slieve League's superb cliffs attract many visitors to the county's south-west region: in summer, it's also a musical hotbed, not least from August 2-6, when the Donegal fiddlers' summer school takes place in Glencolmcille and pubs such as Roarty's and Biddy's ring with music. You can also find sessions in Carrick, Teelin (in the garishly coloured Rusty Mackerel) and Kilcar.

Elsewhere, the Donegal Highlands and Gweedore are popular destinations, while Inishowen, in the far north, has equally long-standing musical traditions. Each of these areas has its own session highlights.

The Highlands Hotel, Main Street, in Glenties, is an essential venue, if only for its splendid lunches. Paintings by the landlord adorn the walls and there's a famous session here every Sunday night, drawing musicians from the nearby glens of the Blue Stack mountains and farther afield.

Hudai Beag's, Bunbeg, in Gweedore, has a year-round Monday night sesson that is unquestionably one of Ireland's finest. It takes place in the lounge, a fortunately spacious setting as it's common for more than a dozen musicians to participate, sometimes including a player of the war pipes (a larger and, consequently, louder precursor of the Highland bagpipes).

The Inishowen peninsula is a less well-known area of Donegal, but possesses one of the country's finest music bars. McGrory's in Culdaff hosts excellent Tuesday night sessions and its walls bear photographic evidence of the many major names to have graced its Back Room stage.

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Bob - give them a call before hand - +353 74 9 53 1016 - should be no reason why it won't be on as it is a bit of a fixture but you never know....

Session clip 1

Enjoy

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Glad to hear you had a good night - sorry I should have mentioned most of these don't kick-off too early in the evening - between 9 and 10 is fairly normal. By the sounds of things it looks like you will have to brush up on your gaelic for your next visit also....

Off to Dublin myself tomorrow so I hope there aren't too many of those storms you described still hanging around....

Sl?inte :thumb04:

[Canada Bob]

What a day Sunday was, we'd set out early from Rathmullen to have a look around Derry, and then on to the Antrim Coast, we've moved to here now...

You can see Stranraer from here...

Derry went well, it's a place and a half, well worth a visit aint it, some history and troubles there, that's for sure...

Anyway, we were maybe 4-5 miles outside of Derry on the A6 when all of a sudden "pop", the rear drivers side tire gets a puncture, amazing how a rear tire can find something that the front tire misses, anyway...

The traffic was almost non existent, so no problem pulling off the road, I managed to find a gateway to a farmers field, 5 bar gate thing and all that, so I pulled in there to get off the road...

Managed that alright, but had to walk up the field to get a decent signal on the cell phone, followed by 20-30 sheep... I got a call through to Casey Car Hire in Castlebar, {amazed anyone was there on a Sunday}, but she wasn't sure if they had anyone in Northern Ireland that you could call out...

Over the noise of the sheep I managed to tell her where we were, I then went back to the car to see if I could find a decent bit of ground to jack the car up {still followed by the sheep, sigh}.

I found a flat stone big enough to put under the jack and started to jack the car up, by this time the sheep who must have thought I was supposed to be bringing them breakfast, were baa'ing away at me, I muttered a few choice words under me breath I can tell you, 30 or more {by now} sheep all noisily baa'ing away at me, that's all you need aint it, what with the wife going on about "why can't I sit in the car", ffs...

By this time we have the suitcases out, {did I mention it was chucking it down}, and rather than get wet on me own I had Pauline acting as a second handbrake while I took the wheel off...

Thankfully the spare was a full sized one, so on it went, the flat is now in the boot...

Anne @ Casey had done what she could for us, calling me back within 15 minutes, but by the time the AA called us I was already putting the wheel rim back on, so we cancelled them.

"It's all go" aint it, grin, well it was once we'd got the spare on, so today finds us on the Antrim Coast, I was thinking of going on that rope bridge,

Not today, thanks...

but... considering how the day had started I gave it a miss...

Canada Bob.

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

If you get a chance try the chilli beef - legendary at Portrush but you may have already passed through that way....

Portrush - Harbour Bistro