So here we are, scrambling. It is less than two weeks, um, one week, um, a few days before we depart on the next leg of our adventures and we are ready.
As we have expressed before, we always try to keep looking forward. Though we don’t like leaving our families, friends, and familiar surroundings, our sights are set on distant shores, and we are excited.
This time we are beginning in Ireland, the Emerald Isle. We will arrive in Dublin 02 March 2016 and explore the city for several days before heading to Killarney where we will have an apartment for about five weeks. From this home base, we hope to discover the countryside and culture of this country. Then after we check out of the apartment we will take more than a week to return to Dublin to travel by ferry and rail to Manchester, England.
The Irish weather is renowned for being quite chilly, damp, and variable, so we have been preparing ourselves mentally as best we can while we have been in Florida. More than once, while we were in New Smyrna beach we even went so far as to walk to dinner in a chilly rain. Unfortunately, warm and waterproof clothing is not necessarily lightweight, and we are trying to travel even more nimbly than in the past.
Once we get to Manchester, we will take the train to a small town called Clitheroe, then on by bus to an even smaller village named Waddington, where we will stay for about six weeks. We hope to not have a car, but we’ll see.
Beyond Waddington, we haven’t a clue where we will go. Yes there is a rough itinerary (available at the Slow Nomads Path), but we are easily influenced to make changes to our plans, just as life sometimes changes them for us.
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: ‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”” — J.R.R. Tolkien
PS – As I write this, we are sitting in a coffee shop near Orlando. At a table next to us some older gentlemen, obviously regulars are sitting and enjoying their coffee. Just as in cafe’s we have experienced around the world, the conversations sound exactly the same – obviously politics, weather, and life. Only here we can understand them. Ahhhh, life.
Alice Mathias
27 Feb 2016Are we going to get to see you before you go? Even for just a little while?!
Evelyn S.
26 Feb 2016Bon Voyage Lass & Laddie, may the road rise to meet you…
cathi
25 Feb 2016Adieu, ya’ll !!!
Wayne
25 Feb 2016I am looking forward to your adventure. I will be outside of London in early April and then on to Amsterdam and Brussels before heading home. Sorry we won’t overlap.
Roger Baker
25 Feb 2016Bring me back a piece of the Blarney Stone.
Mark Pomraning
25 Feb 2016I’m looking forward to your new adventure.
keith
25 Feb 2016best wishes. we look forward to the posts.
Linda
24 Feb 2016Looking forward to your pics in Ireland and England.
Niels
24 Feb 2016Happy journey! Look forward to seeing you this summer.
Best regards,
Jette and Niels