Our final travel destination was Dublin the capital city of Ireland. It was quite a change coming into a big city again, after 2 weeks travelling around rural Ireland, with nothing more stressful than meeting sheep on the road! This is a lively city with plenty of tourist adventures happening but also a fascinating history. There are many beautiful Georgian houses and gardens from the period of British rule, but of course much of Ireland is now a republic and ...

As you may be aware, Rod has been tracing his Irish family connection while we have been travelling in Ireland, looking for the history of his great grandparents, on his father's side of the family. However, in our travels around the country we have discovered numerous references to the Quinn name, engaged in various entrepreneurial pursuits! These have included; Quinn's Craft Shop, Spare Parts Dealer, Quinn's Charity Shop, Health Store, Quinn's Supermarket, Sa...

We are now in County Sligo, on the central West coast of Ireland, staying in a small beachside B&B, about 20 km out of Sligo town. This B&B is right on the water front with amazing views of nearby Benbulben and Knocknarea mountains. It is also right next door to an authentic Irish bar with a thatched roof and interior wood panelling and a whole variety of jars, pots, teatowels, photos and trophys on every available space, including a 16 lb stuffed trout...

It seems the Irish spend a lot of time talking about the weather - a serious topic of deep conversation. And I can understand why, now! We have certainly experienced 4 seasons in a day over the last few days, from a full blowing gale with chilling air to very warm moments and clear blue skies. Looking out the window each morning does not help in choosing clothing for the day, so we just put a wardrobe in the car to cater for all eventualities, just in case! T...

Since leaving Killarney we have spent time exploring the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry and The Burren in County Clare - two beautiful but distinctly different regions on the west coast of Ireland. The Dingle Peninsula has many ruins of 12th century, romanesque style churches and walled houses, but also in more recent history, the ruins of cottages where many Irish scratched out a very meagre existence in the 1850s and millions died from starvation or emigrat...