Ireland, from sea to forest
Arriving in Baltimore, west county Cork, we were welcomed aboard the Atlantis Adventure, a century-old Norwegian wooden fishing boat, by her new owner the lovely Anne. She has undertaken repair work and will be re-rigging to restore the ship to her former sail-powered days in order to educate the public about environmental issues at sea. We were graciously offered a double bunk in the bow of the ship where we settled in with the general leanings of the dock. Jonathan was very excited to find a guitar waiting under the berth and was grateful for the chance to play.
Work on the ship had to be done with the boat tied securely to the quay (pronounced “key”). This was so the careful work of moving the engine back onto its blocks could be done while the tide was out and the boat resting steady on her long keel. We set to work with a few kitchen and cabin upgrades – shelves and a table, in addition to fetching water from up the road and swabbing the decks.
There’s no “bathroom” on the boat and toilet jobs were done in nature or at the local inn where we also fetched our drinking water from an outdoor spring (or well) tap. The pathway up the hill carried through a small horse field with a handsome mare and her goofy-looking colt. Some days the colt would get curious and come up to us, only to be scared at the last minute and jerk wildly into a retreat of sorts. This was only slightly unnerving. Thanks to Susan’s demonstration of how to behave around their pony, we had the wits to not be intimidated.
As the little bit of work continued, Jonathan did some other minor carpentry while Christine stripped off old paint from rotting wood. The work was varied and stimulating as were the stories shared by Anne, our first native Irish host, and another American helper. Anne was great and she could tell our heads were elsewhere (only five weeks before we fly back to the States!) Hah, some people go on whole vacations for less than three weeks and they wouldn’t dream of “going home” within days of their arrival. ‘Just goes to show what perspectives an odyssey can bring to mind.
By now we had dreams of making a home and starting our own project somewhere. Anne encouraged us to go off and explore the town of Baltimore and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the small bay. Off we rowed in her small dinghy!
We normally don’t like to stay less than two weeks at a helpexchange because there needs to be some settle-in time and adjustment to the rhythm. As our travels were coming to a close, however, we were anxious to cram in as much as possible and we’re grateful to Anne for granting us this leeway and for being understanding about our shorter than usual stay (and the fact that our brains were completely otherwise occupied). Ireland had open many doors for us and myriad more seemed to open with each passing day.
On our last day, a particularly fine Sunday, we took a small ferry to one of the islands off the coast for a guided walking tour to benefit the Irish heart foundation. Really lovely views and a nice boat trip that ended up being free!
Pictured above is the daytime beacon for the narrow channel that connects the open Atlantic Ocean to the Roaringwater bay. Baltimore is on the southwestern most tip of mainland Ireland so beyond this to the south is wide open ocean. On Sherkin island, we were guided through the remains of an old Franciscan monestery.
We also learned loads about the history of this area, including the pirate clan of O’Driscolls who’ve dominated this part of West Cork for generations. We saw an old ruined castle of theirs and were led up to the top of the island to where the lighthouse casts the nightime beacon into the darkness.
We also toured the small school, and walked by the old general store which closed down when the post office was closed. We learned that island life is not for the faint of heart – it takes a special temperament to flourish here – after a nice walk to the ocean we both acknowledge that we need to be close to a dynamic and integrated community.
Back on board the Atlantic Adventure, we were again grateful to Anne, this time for sharing her talent and love for astrology with us. She read us both our charts and fortunately, upon comparison afterwards, they seemed remarkably compatible.
Alas, our stay proved too short and we were off again. On our last evening, we were treated to some traditional Irish music courtesy of Anne with her flute and her friend Sean with his fiddle. He also taught us some Irish and they gifted us with Irish playing cards! Anne and company were really great to us and served us as a sage guides the wandering traveller.
The next morning we hitched into Skibereen and prepared at the natural foodstore for our daylong bus journey north. We were off to east county Clare to stay with Colm at his vegetarian tree plantation. After a suppertime layover in Limerick where we dined on mushroom fritters and chips (I know, greasy and artery-clogging) which were washed down with beer (fatty carbs, I know), we arrived just before dusk when Colm picked us up from their tiny village.
The young forest Colm has planted near Scariff by the shores of Lough Derg is a large estate of over 200 acres which is being transformed from cattle grazing to timber production and wildlife habitat. Colm has been for almost a decade planting Scotch Pine, Larch, Norwegian Spruce, English Oak, Ash, Alder and a sprinkling of nut trees on what used to be rough pasture. Jonathan was especially excited to see what a forester’s job entailed.
Day one however was relaxed and easy as we slept in and leisurely toured the area, ultimately picking lots of apples (half the time gleaning from the ground or chopping back the brambles to get to them). Next we had to come up with a way to use them as most of these were cooking apples. No problem! Vegan apple crumble to the rescue! This was Jonathan’s first attempt and with guidance from Christine, a delicious but not-too-sweet dessert/breakfast addition was the debut feature. The next round from Christine saw both another apple crumble AND, yes vegan apple pie – both very scrumptous.
Throughout our visit with Colm and his friend John, we were delighted by the presence of Brid (pronounced “Breed”), Colm’s 90-some year old aunt who was a constant supplier of potatoes mash, baked carrots, quiche, custard, and pastries. She was mindful of our diets and we were never hungry. While she didn’t prepare the quiches and pastries her energy and enthusiasm for happy bellies was inspiring and an instant special bond was created between us and this lovely guardian.
With our stomachs satisfied, we were happy to stroll out to work in the mornings. Our first work consisted of weeding around the youngest Norway Spruce saplings, planted this year. Our job was to find them amidst the agressive grasses and brambles and clear a small open circumference around for them to grow straight and tall. Basically, rescuing them from being smothered to death. The other work which Jonathan loved was shaping the oak trees planted seven years ago. These were soaring into the sky but in their earnest growth, had developed many split “leaders” which don’t make for good lumber. The lesser leaders and other large limbs need to be pruned from the main trunk. But first in order to get them, several rows needed to be cleared of bramble thickets, emphasis on “thick.” For this job we got to use a fun tool called slash-hooks which look pretty much how they sound – a long pole with a heavy curving blade on the end. With these two activities, one could stay active in two different ways, choosing and pruning limbs with a careful cut or whacking away at dense briars until your body temp is raised 2 degrees and you’ve stripped down to a tee-shirt. This makes water-drinking very desirable and we stayed well hydrated with the delicious well water.
Unfortunately, hiking to and fro from work through rough pasture (think cow-hoof potholes and ruts) took its toll on Christine’s hips. This coming on the heels of a week living on a listing boat (think no level gound) and you can imagine that she was a hurting puppy. Fortunately, Colm was leaving for the weekend to attend to affairs in Dublin which meant that we had a few days of rest. With good weather and not much else to do, Jonathan was off to shape oaks for a few hours in the afternoons, while Christine recuperated with stretching and bedrest.
When Colm returned, it was just a few more days of odds and end work before we would leave for Liverpool. Colm, in his great kindness helped us tremendously in our journey. We were sad to leave such a great place of beauty, caring and generosity as he waited with us for the early bus to Limerick.
What we thought would be a nice, hour long bus turned into three twenty minute busses with the last one dropping us seven blocks from the bus station, ouch! No rest for the weary, but we found a health food store along way to replenish our toothpaste supply. Groaning for the last 30 meters, we dragged our four bags up to the station to rest and wait for the airport bus. Once again we had packed some food with the help of Colm and Brid, and out in front of the Shannon airport we dined on yummy multi-grain bread with veggie pate.
Everything was wonderful in Ireland and we were on to our next adventure in Liverpool!
Tags: 2009-Sept., Tag Index
seeingspain
January 6th, 2010 at 8:42 am
I’m still following your travels, and loving the stories and glowing pictures of you two. Enjoy this final travel flurry!
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