I'm a day behind in blogging, mainly because I came down with a nasty cold and spent yesterday in a miserable state of fever, cough, sore throat, and snotty nose. This seems to be a tradition for me in Ireland, since the last time I was here I came down with a 24 hour flu. I have fond memories of being tucked up in a cozy B&B, watching an old video of "Titanic" and being fed brown bread and soup. I was not so lucky with Hannah's Close!
The situation was not helped by the fact that none of us slept a wink our first night there. Maybe it was something to do with all the creaky noises, or the musty moldy smells, or the fact that I was in the top bunk of a rickety old bunkbed....in any case, it was a rough 24 hours.
Mother was so convinced she was surrounded by dangerous mold spores, she insisted on wearing a mask to bed. In spite of all that, we did see some beautiful things.
We drove along the coast up the mountains to a place called Silent Valley, a reservoir built to supply the city of Belfast with water from the mountains. The general public isn't supposed to be allowed in there, but the guy at the entrance winked and said "I didn't see a thing" and waved us through. Most of the group hiked up a bunch of steps to the top of the resoivoir, but I decided not to push it with the way I was feeling and instead enjoyed a quiet half hour looking at the flowers and grazing sheep.
We then split up for different activities - some of us went Pony Trekking (Irish for horseback riding) and some of us went kayaking or mountain biking. For the rest of us lazy or sick folk, we stopped at a grocery store to get some lunch fixings, and then to a national park where there were gardens to walk through or a lake to walk around. I was starting to feel really lousy by that time, so I passed out on the grass and took a much needed hour long nap.
After we all met up again, we went to the town of Newcastle for some shopping time. Newcastle has a pretty port and seaside pier, so it was fun to walk along that.
I was feeling pretty perky after my nap, so mother and I popped in and out of a few places. My favorite place was the pharmacy, where I stocked up on throat lozenges, and where mother got some free samples of some sort of sea mussel extract pain reliever. Very Irish! Our bus driver Niall was very excited to stop at his favorite icecream place.
My perky feeling was short lived, and by the time we were on our way back to Hannah's Close to freshen up, I knew there was no way I'd be going out to dinner with everyone. When we got back to our sad little cottage, it was suggested I sleep on the love seat in the living room, which was small, but far superior to the bunkbed, so we pulled the bedding off the bunk, and made me a comfy little nest on the sofa.
Everyone else headed out for dinner, but I took a long hot shower, turned on the BBC, and passed out on my cozy sofa. I was running a fever, so I took some Advil, drank lots of water and watched a few episodes of "Eastenders", which was very therapeutic.
The rest of the crowd got back from dinner which everyone said was delecious. Mother even brought me back a piece of cheesecake, and on the take-out box they'd written, "Ruthann, feel better soon." Alas, cheesecake was the last thing I wanted to eat, but I thought it was a nice thought.
One thing I forgot to write about earlier was that we passed into Northern Ireland yesterday, and so far every place we've been to seems completely untouristed. I haven't seen another American since Dublin. Samuel Chestnutt says that tourism here just hasn't taken off yet because the area is still recovering from "The Troubles" and all the violence. The government has only just started investing in tourism infrastructure and Samuel said that business owners have been over the moon when he's arranged to bring a busload of Americans to their hotel or resturaunt. The only other tourists I've seen have been Irish or British.
When we were in Newcastle, a group of teenagers walked by and eyed us and asked if we were from Canada. When we said we were from the US, their eyebrows all shot up and they looked surprised. "You are??? Well have a good time!" I get the impression that we're a bit of a rarity. Anyway, all that to say it's been fun to feel like we're experiencing something new and undiscovered.
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