St Paddy's to the fullest in Ireland

(Ireland) Kilkenny - Bray, Dublin - Cork - (England) Birmingham - Bristol - Torquay - Totnes

After 10 days of house cleaning and baby sitting, I went off to Bray, Dublin and visited my lovely Lithuanian mate Ed who was living with Dan, who's local and amazing and Kumiko, who's from Japan and such a sweetheart. We spent the whole night watching Mighty Boosh and talking, then decided to get up really early the next day to go to Ireland's tallest waterfall which is located in Powerscourt.

We were running late to catch our bus to Powerscourt, so we had to run all the way to the bus station. I was running behind the boys with a peanut butter toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. The girl's gotta have her breakfast!

We got to the bus a bit early and met some interesting characters on the bus, including a drunk man (this is 9am in the morning by the way) and Bray's Elvis who was singing all the way.

We got to Powerscourt and had to walk 6 kms to the waterfall. So as we walked, we stuck our thumbs out and got a ride. Yes! My first hitch hike in Ireland. We got to the waterfall, and it's a beautiful place. We also took the time to be children again and played on the playground until a bus of school kids came and took over the place. 

That night, we went to Harbour Bar where I met local Bray people who are awesomely fantastic people. The band was amazing, they were songs they were singing were humorous Christian songs. They were hillarious and I love how the main vocalist was wearing a night gown and a lamp on his head with a bushy red beard. Really felt the St Paddy's vibe.

The next day, we went to Dublin and cruised around the city where we met beautiful Tayo, Dan's friend. We all then went back to Bray and went to Harbour Bar again that night. Different people came and it was a different band, but still singing hillarious Christian songs. I absolutely love Bray.

After another late night, the next day the 3 of us went to the beach and jumped in to the ocean. Ireland's the coldest place I've been to so far, but I had to jump in to the sea in Bray because I felt like it was my home. After being all fresh, Ed and I hitch hiked down to Cork. We had 3 rides altogether and waited beside the road no longer than 1 hour. 

From left to right: Foggy day in Kilkenny; The band playing at Harbour Bar, Bray; Foggy Bray; Bray pebbly beach; Dan and Ed being little boys playing in the playground; Me beside the river of the waterfall; The three of us walking to the waterfall before hitching a ride; Ed, me and Dan posing away; Me and Ed in front of the waterfall; Ed and Dan; Dan in his cubby hole; Dublin with its green buildings

When we got to Cork, met up with super lovely Simona and her housemates, Fladdy who's such a sweetheart and the charming, extremely intellegent and hillarious Daryn. Ed and I stayed at Simona's place. The three of them were such great hosts. We were extremely spoilt with food and drinks.

The first night in Cork, we went out to a pub. The live music that was happening there was a jam session, so it was nice a spontaneous. Then we ended up dancing our heads off at another pub with DJ playing some tunes. When we got back to Simona's place, Daryn and I jammed all night long, which was really nice.

The next day, St Paddy's day!! The day that I was suppose to get absolutely pissed since the afternoon. So I planned to start early. To complete the maximum St Paddy's experience, lovely Daryn cooked us an Irish breakfast in the morning. Then after that it was just liquid diet. I dressed up in a very non St Paddy's costume, which is a Japanese Manga style dominated by the colour pink but needed a little token of green, or something to do with St Patrick's day, but didn't have much luck when going in to shops on the way to the pub. But as I walked out of the first pub, a girl who was fixing her bike on to a pole, saw me and gave me a tiara that says 'Irish Princess'. Perfect! It completed my St Paddy's costume.

It was 15 of us that  night and we were pub crawling. I had my guiness, beamish and murphys. I must say that Irish guiness does taste different from you have it somewhere else and it's so much better. I actually really like it. 

Having drunk so much, I managed to get myself sick all over the city of Cork. I was feeling really terrible for doing that at that time, but it was really comforting when as I was feeling sick, people around me were talking about their st paddy's and throwing up all over the city experiences. 

The next day, it was another day for everyone. People went back to their day to day activities. Accompanied by Daryn, I walked to the bus station to go to the airport. 

Goodbye for now Ireland. I definitely shall return one day.

From left to right: Simona with her Beamish and Fladdy; The beautiful church in Cork (something about this church); Me in my St Paddy's outfit; Having Irish breakfast with Simona, Ed and Daryn; My Irish Princess tiara; Me and Ed hitching down to Cork; Me and Daryn on the way to the bus stop; Birmingham; Another picture of the church in Cork; One of Banksy's graffitti in Cork; Birmingham.

After not meeting for 2 weeks, I finally met Mats in Birmingham where we spent a couple of nights there. Then we head to Bristol and spent the night with Heather and Libby.

The next day, spontaneously, we decided to head to Torquay before starting to help out at a place in Totnes. We spent a couple of nights in Torquay and saw amazing things such as Sandy Man's art work on the beach, a couple of swans on the beach who came really close to us and of course the amazing views of Torquay, the English Riviera.

On Sunday, we headed to Totnes and met Richard and Sandra to have a nice picnic with them. We had our picnic in Dartington estate, where the trees were starting to flower. It was a beautiful place.

From left to right; Beautiful beach of Torquay; The magnificent swans; Torquay beach; Sandy Man's art work on the beach; Geoff, the Sandy Man; Mats blessing the water in Torquay for the World's Water day; Torquay; St Matthias Church in Torquay; View on the way to Totnes; The flowering trees in Dartington; Richard, Sandra, me and Mats; Richard and Sandra

After an amazing week of catching up with friends, we finally got to our home for the next 2.5 weeks in Totnes. 

Farewell Ilfracombe, England. Lookout Ireland, here I come!

Lee Bay (England) - Ilfracombe (England) - Totnes (England) - Bristol (England) - Dublin (Ireland) - Gowran (Ireland) - Kilkenny (Ireland)

Leaving the Grampus Inn at Lee Bay was one of the sadest thing I've done so far in my trip, especially separating from Lucy the dog. But life goes on and it's a risk I have to take as a nomad.

The last week I spent at the Grampus had been a spectacular week. While working for the day or night shift, I have managed to fit in some time to say goodbye to the coast, Ilfracombe and some of the locals I have grown to love.

The walk along the coast was amazing. The weather varied from a nice warm sunny day, grey cloud, windy, rain then rainbow, and not just a normal rainbow, but a double rainbow. To top that off, Lucy managed to roll around on fox shit that she successfully able to cover her whole body with.

The next day, I had another surprise visit from Phil Prophet aka Papa Bear. Phil was the member of the big family from Shangrilagos, Lagos Portugal. It was a really nice surprise, unfortunately it turned out to be a very short one. Phil only hung out with us in the afternoon til night, but it was really good to see him.

The following day, accompanied by Mats, I walked along the coast to Ilfracombe. It was a really nice walk where we passed some friendly sheep who were very keen on our snacks. In Ilfracombe, we visited Sara, as well as Mat and Arthur to say hello and goodbye in case I don't see them at the Grampus Inn on Friday night.

From left to right: The first 5 pictures are the view of the coastal walk from Lee Bay to Ilfracombe; Sara's awesome retro record player, absolutely love it!; Sara and adorable Dudley; Mats making friends with one of the sheep; Lucy in front of the double rainbow, a bit hard to see the second one; The next 3 photos are the coastal view from our walk along the coast from Lee Bay to Mortepoint; Me and Lucy at the edge of the cliff posing away; Mats gets daring with the waves.

The last Friday night at the Grampus was not too busy but it was nice. I was really happy to see the lovely, beautiful and bubbly Sara, the naturally funny Danny, gorgeous Holy (Sara's daughter) and the lovable Arthur, with the most beautiful eyes anyone can have, come in to Grampus. It was a sad night saying goodbye to them, as well as wonderful lovely Sandy, and Neil, the hillarious and cheeky chef who loves to pull your leg constantly.

For the first time at Grampus, I managed to get Sara, who is an amazing pianist to play the piano. It was the best farewell gift I could ever ask for. Thank you Sara, you really touched my heart deeply.

From left to right: Danny and Sara chatting away with Phil aka Papa Bear; Last Friday night at the Grampus with the highly talented boys jamming away together, Cristobal on his sax, Danny on his Base and Arthur on his guitar (you guys are amazing!); Me between Holy and Sara; Sara dressed up playing on the piano (such modesty of a great talent which I really admire Sara for, you're truly amazing, Sara, love you heaps); Me and Bill, the man who made it all happen; Me and Mats on our last shift working in the kitchen with Neil (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of Neil); Beautiful Sandy and her masterpiece coffee; Me and Ronan, who's an awesome chef and such a sweetheart; The unforgettable Lucy who will always be my soulmate; Me and fantasticly highly talented musician Cristobal; Me and Laurin who instantly became my bestfriend from day 1, love ya girl!

Saturday morning, I had my bag all packed and ready. I woke up with Lucy snuggling on my feet and cuddled her for as long as I can before leaving her. I went downstairs and joined the others for our last morning porridge. It was 10am and time to go. I said my farewell to Cristobal, Ronan and Laurin. Walked to Bill's car with Lucy following me whereever I went. I finally got her to catch a ball so that I can close the gate behind her, I hopped on the car and there she was, behind the gate wondering where I was going. I couldn't help the tears running on my cheek seeing her as the car drove away from the Grampus. Goodbye Grampus, my England home. I will be back one day.

Totnes was the next destination where Richard and Sandra is house sitting at the moment. When I got to Totnes, we met infront of the Seven Star pub. It was really good to see them after our meeting in Edinburgh. We then headed to their place which had an amazing view and luxurious rooms. It was a B&B and I was absolutely spoilt with the room I was staying in for a couple of nights. Their friends, Chris and Lisa were staying there as well for the night. It was really nice to spend time with them as well. Richard and Sandra made sure that we were well fed and comfortable. Thanks so much guys, you are the best. I'm so happy we keep meeting on our travels. I love you guys so much! You're truly amazing.

From left to right: Crossing the river on the way from Totnes to the house; View from the house; Another view from the house; Richard chillaxing on the balcony; Vending machine for umbrellas, only in England!; Harry the dog Richard and Sandra are taking care of with his funny sleeping position; Our last day together, At the pub; Our first night together

After spending two nights in Totnes, the journey continues on to Bristol where I spent the night at Heather and Libby's place before flying off to Dublin the next day. Thanks for always letting me stop over, Heather. You're the best!

The next day I flew to Dublin and caught the next bus to Gowran where my host that I will be staying for a couple of weeks is. So far, Ireland has been the coldest I've been with very moist air. The landscape around me reminds me alot like England.

The second day, I went to Kilkenny where most of the buildings are grey because of the local material in the area which is lime stone. As my main purpose of visiting Ireland besides experience the local culture is for St Patrick's, I was walking down the road of Patrick Street and met a man who then walked with me around town passing Patrick's Graveyard and introduced himself as Patrick. How bizzarre!

From left to right: A river I took a photo of on my walk in the area; The barn of my host's farm; View from the house; The house I'm staying at; Along side the river in Kilkenny; Church in Kilkenny; Patrick's Graveyard where I met Patrick; Hmm.. Something's not right with the map; Church on top of the hill in Kilkenny; Me around the castle; The entrance of the castle; The castle in Kilkenny; Kilkenny; Kilkenny.

My next blog will be about St Patrick's Day. Yaaaaaaaaay!