RANDOM THOUGHTS -WEEK 1

WEATHER: Today (Tuesday May 12) has been the first really good day, weather-wise. A couple of days, especially Friday in Waterford, have been really rainy, and two or three others have been mixed - partly cloudy to scattered showers. I guess that's typical Irish weather, though. The next few days are supposed to be good, which is good for us as we'll be hitting some particularly scenic areas. After that, who knows?
DRIVING: Driving on the left side has not been as easy as I had hoped. On the open road it's not bad, but when getting started or when making turns I still have a tendency to want to get in the right lane. The worst part, though, is the narrow roads, both in the cities and in the country. Many of the roads are little more than a single lane, and shoulders are non-existent, with stone walls, dense hedgerows, or curbs right at the edge of the pavement. As my friend Marty warned, being unfamiliar with driving on the wrong side makes it really hard to judge where the left wheels are and where the curb or the edge of the pavement is. And God forbid when a large truck or bus approaches from the other direction. This all results in a great deal of stress.
One generally positive note, however, has been having our GPS. It has been a great help, particularly in the roundabouts, where it tells us which exit to take. Of course it is not without the usual foibles of generating strange routes and identifying many roads by local names rather than highway numbers as shown on maps.
HIGH POINTS: I'd have to say that our drive over the Wicklow Mountains on our first day was, in spite of being our first experience of left-lane driving, narrow roads, and rainy conditions, was a unique adventure. For the most part, we were traveling along high, treeless ridge lines, through sepia-colored moors punctuated by goldenrod-yellow gorse (a low, sage-like shrub that seems ubiquitous), under lead-grey skies spitting waves of rain. When we dipped into occasional hollows, the fir trees were whipping in the wind. All in all, it felt like we were driving through the setting for "The Hounds of the Baskervilles."
Secondly, our hike along the River Suir near Waterford with Anne Conway and her friends was a most enjoyable experience, in spite of the high water conditions that resulted in wet feet. It was a real introduction to the Irish countryside, with verdant green fields, wooly sheep, herds of black and white cattle, and a castle or two to boot.
We had an entertaining walking tour around Kinsale this morning. Our guide, Barry, mixed facts, history, and humor as he described this delightful small city. His description of the sinking of the Lusitania one hundred years ago this week was especially poignant.
WHAT'S NEXT: Tomorrow we'll explore the Beara Peninsula, then over the next few days we'll be heading up Ireland's west coast, taking in the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula, and points north. Stay tuned for Jeanette's photos and maybe another word or two from me.