Kew Gardens

After spending an great evening with some of Geoff's friends Gus and Lydia, we met Lucy's aunt Jenny for a day at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.


The gardens are large with well established trees and large Victorian Glasshouses.  We only managed half the garden in a full day!  It was so lovely to have a sunny day and to wander down long grassy avenues of trees with bare feet!

The Sackler bridge in over one of the lakes. Geoff had seen this in an architectural exhibition in Munich and was keen to find out what  all the fuss was about. It didn't disappoint. 

 One of our favourite places was the tree top walk through the Deciduous Canopy. Apparently Kirstenbosch is considering something similar - though we're not sure who would approve the EIA for this...

View down to one of the Victorian glasshouses from the treetop walk.

The temperate vegetation Glasshouse - view from the upper walkway inside.

We have been really lucky to use Jenny and Charles Smithermans home as a base where we can dump things, do washing, and come and go over the couple of months that we're away. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Geoff, Jenny, Lucy, Charles, Mary and Andrew.

Tea Clippers and timelines

A few days in London allowed us to see some more sights of London.  We made a beeline for the Cutty Sark museum in Greenwich.  Lucy grew up under a painting of this majestic Clipper and despite having seen it when she was 6, she was very keen to see it again.  She (the Cutty Sark and not Lucy) was launched in 1869 and was one of the fast Clipper ships built for the tea run from China to London.  Once steam (and the Suez Canal) displaced the sailing vessels, she was used to transport wool from Australia amongst other things.  Strangely, this is where she set the most records even though she is primarily known as a Tea Clipper.  She eventually was used by a Portuguese firm to transport goods until 1922 when she was restored to her original rig and eventually in the 50's was opened to the public as a museum ship and as a memorial to the Merchant Navy in her own custom built dry dock.
Sadly, by 2006 her hull was starting to deteriorate and so a major restoration was undertaken.  In 2007, while Geoff was in the UK, there was a major fire on board in which most of the ship was destroyed, although luckily the rigging, deck and above deck cabins had all been removed for the renovation. They have done an amazing job restoring her and she is now supported in a floating position with a glass roof at her waterline and her slick lines are clearly visible.  She really is beautiful once again!

The beautiful Cutty Sark

The deck has been restored as it would have been as a sailing ship.

"Aye-aye Cap'n"

The supports holding the boat in the dry dock

The copper plating below her waterline has been replaced and it looks really good. (Copper plating was apparently better at fouling barnacles than any paint that they had in those days.)

Find out more of her history at www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark


Next stop was the Royal Observatory where we were really looking forward to seeing Harrison's clocks. [For those of you who haven't read the bulk Longitude by Dava Sorbell, its well worth it.  The book tracks the challenge set out to invent a way of measuring longitude to aid navigation - before then navigation was kind of a shot in the dark unless you followed the land all the way.  John Harrison developed a timepiece that could keep accurate time and eventually won the prize.]  His clocks allowed accurate navigation (well, accurate tools) whereby a boat's position could now be placed within 1 mile of its actual position.
We were lucky enough to join one of the free guided tours and our tour leader was passionate and informative and told us the story while pointing out navigation aids and time pieces (as opposed to just talking about each thing we came across).  We found it fascinating and a great day out.

H1 - the first clock that Harrison built to win the Longitude Challenge

H4 - a pocket sized timepiece that eventually won the award and changed navigation for ever!  It cost 500GBP at the time - more than any ships captain would be able to afford.

Greenwich meridian 

Belfast

Northern Ireland, and Belfast, used to be synonymous with political violence linked to the ongoing fight to include the six northern irish counties into Ireland. It is also known as the city that built the Titanic, was integral in developing the linen trade and home of the Giants Causeway.


Most of Geoff's family on his mom's side, and some on his dad's side are based in Northern Ireland and we were intent on visiting all of them in the few days we had available to us. Geoff had lived in Belfast at various periods in the last 14 years and was fascinated at the continuing improvements and changes that had been made to this up and coming modern city.


Geoff's mom, Kay was in Belfast at the same time. The highlights of this trip were definitely having the chance to rekindle relationships with family. We stayed with Ian and Colette Pennick (Kay's brother) and they kindly let us use their house as a base. On the Sunday afternoon we had a fabulous afternoon out with Dave and Claire Pennick (Kay's other brother), Claire's folks and their granddaughter India at their cottage below Scrabbo Tower. India and we had a lovely dinner with Gail, Brooke and India Pennick and Karen Kishane.  It was really nice for Lucy to meet them and for us to see Kay with her family. 

With Ian and Colette

We spent a day out in the town of Hillsborough where Kay had spent her teenage years and she took us to the original family house and some of her old haunts.  We walked around Hillsborough Lake so that Geoff could climb his favourite tree there - it was really stunning! And we managed drinks with Janey and Ken Sproule at their lovely house.

Hilsborough Lake

Geoff in his favourite tree

Mike also has some cousins in the greater Belfast area and we enjoyed spending time with Biddy Roberson and with Sue and Kyle Stevenson.

Our 2nd biggest highlight was going to the Titanic Belfast (museum) with Ian.  The museum was fantastic and laid out the industrial history of Belfast before running through the construction and launching of the Titanic.  The museum building is very impressive and is built right next to the original dock where she was built.  The museum was one of the best that we've ever been through with fascinating and interactive displays. A definite must see for anyone heading Belfast way!

Just to prove Ian wrong when he says "Old Men Can't Jump"

Geoff seeing if he can hammer (step on) 1000 red hot (orange) rivets in 30 seconds - he did it!

The impressive Titanic Belfast.  We're standing on a marked out deck layout of the Titanic in the dry dock where it was built.

Geoff with Sampson - one of Belfast's two famous big cranes.

A wince and a certain Celine Dion song come to mind right now....    (yes, Geoff's in the air)

Antrim Coast

Inspired by the clearing weather we took a gap of blue sky and headed up the Antrim coast, north of Belfast, to the Giants Causeway and found a lot more besides!

Geoff's mom Kay was in Belfast around the same time as us so we joined forces and navigated our way up along the beautiful Antrim coastal roads. It is a very beautiful area - particularly with the sunlight on it and we had time enough to explore a few lovely little bays, climb the Torrs Head and walk the Giants Causeway. Hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves!

Carrickfergus Castle

Kay and Geoff at the beautiful Carnlough harbour

Geoff jumping over Scotland

The view from Torr Head

Stunning coastline at Carrick-a-Rede

The Giants Causeway is made of bizarre columns of rock

Every shape of pentagon, hexagon and heptagon that you can imagine!

The rock weathers(?) into these amazing stepping stones, some with concave, some flat and some with convex tops.

In Dublin's Fair City

Geoff started singing the first few refrains of "Molly Malone" as we peddled our Dublin-bikes into the Temple bar area - much to the scorn of the passerbys - some of whom may have been locals. We were to learn that evening that certain Irish folk songs are rarely ever heard outside the tourist areas.

Allan in a little street near Temple Bar

We had two nights in Dublin with Allan and Diedre and decided to spend an evening doing the musical pub crawl. There are two guided pub crawls of note in Dublin - the one with a literary focus - the other with a musical focus. Due to Geoff's interest in music we opted for the latter. It is a great idea whereby a couple of local musicians take you from one private pub to another where they then entertain and inform the group with a selection of local music, tales and explanations of the Irish music culture. Similar to African traditional culture the Gaelic people's culture was recorded via an oral tradition of stories, and particularly song. Musicians would have a repertoire of hundreds if not thousands of songs. Before the conquest of Ireland by the English such music was reserved for the courts and noblemen - however with the English attempts to ban Irish culture the musicians were forced to flee and a culture of performing for the general public - often in pubs became established. A differentiation between performing and sharing was also explained whereby in Ireland you rarely perform, but rather you contribute to a group and you play for each other. Geoff was very moved by the story and has promised to work harder on his campfire repertoire as a result!

The Dublin-bikes are a fantastic public transport system whereby you can hire a bicycle for period of time and cycle to your next destination where you then lock up the bike and someone else unlocks it for their use. The use of the bicycle - once you have registered with them - is free for the first half hour, and then minimal thereafter. The best part of the system is that it is well used. Allan reported that the system had paid for itself within a year of being installed, three times sooner than the business model had predicted! With our south easter and more intense gradients we're not sure the system would take off in Cape Town - just yet!!!

Geoff and his Dublin-bike in front of the Guinness brewery.

Not a Dublin-Bike, but a PediBus.  14 people sit around a 'bar' and pedal with their feet to propel the bus while enjoying beer on tap.

We also did a walking tour of the city to see Dublin from a Dubliner's point of view and it was fascinating to learn about some of the Viking history of the city among other things.

The entrance building of Trinity College

Lucy at St Patrick's Cathedral.

Dublin Castle.  The 'non-original' parts are painted bright colours so that 'you know they're not original'!

The Helipad at Dublin Castle

The Heineken cup final was on the Saturday evening of our stay when the two Irish teams, Ulster (NI) and Leister (RI) met. We weren't too much interested in the result, but enjoyed a sunny evening of big screens and a lot of enthused fans. The Dublin based team won!

We were very impressed with Dublin and would recommend it to anyone who was visiting Ireland. Don't spend too much time there though as the rest of the island has so much to offer - but a couple of nights would be well spent!!!

Ring of Kerry

When you hear "The Ring of Kerry" one conjures up images of jewellery, a circle of standing stones, a ring of islands, a series of mountains around a lake, or perhaps something a bit more exotic.  We weren't quite expecting it to be a circular road around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry.....


After a night in Killarney, we headed into the beautiful Killarney National Park.  It starts off with a road through beautiful deciduous forest - bright green new leaves with blue bells carpeting the ground.   The beautiful little road wound its way past tranquil lakes and up into the mountains.  Here the colour changed slightly to a more browny green as the forest become dominated by oak trees.  Beautiful old stone bridges took the road over numerous rives. 

Michael Flatley eat your heart out...

We headed over the mountains to the south side of the Iveragh Peninsula and found a beautiful old stone circle fort built 2500-odd years ago.  The walls were up to 6m high and the tops were over 2 meters wide.  There was a small entrance with big stone lintels, 2 large chambers built into the walls and a step system to allow access to the top of the wall.  The most amazing part was that the entire fort was made of dry packed stone - no mortar!

Lucy mimicking the shape of the stairways.

Geoff and Allan giving perspective to the size of the walls!

We continued around the Ring of Kerry, driving in a clockwise direction as the tour busses all have to drive anti-clockwise as the roads are so narrow that 2 busses often couldn't meet on a corner so they are only allowed to drive in one direction!  
At the north of the peninsula lies Valentia Island from which the first commercial trans-atlantic cable was laid.


Geoff "the expert back road navigator" then took us into the mountains which go by the fantastic name of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks.  Past the beautiful Caragh Lake and up over the Ballaghbeama Gap (pass).  It was a beautiful winding single lane (but two way) road which bends up and down and around so much that you often can't see more than 50m down the road!  Then up through the Gap of Dunloe and down to another night in Killarney.  Thanks Karl for the suggestions!

Allan desperately trying to make some calls to work while there was signal, and Geoff and Lucy trying their best to distract him! (this may or may not have involved funny noises, sheep droppings, bouldering and handstands...)

A stone bridge and tarn lake in the Gap of Dunloe.

At home we have ox-peckers to eat ticks off our wildlife.  Here the magpies do the same!  We watched this deer walking around while the magpie pecked at things in his ears, on his neck and on his back!

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle is a beautiful little fishing village on the Dingle Peninsula, with little streets lined by colourful buildings.  This area was home to the famous Antarctic explorer Tom Crean, who was  one of the crew members on Shackelton's dramatic voyage and adventure to the South Pole as well as expeditions with Scott and others. The local Dingle micro-brewery makes an amazing lager called Crean's - probably the best we've had on the trip so far.

Geoff and Allan in Dingle

We headed around the peninsula in the morning.  The scenery is really beautiful with blue sea on one side and green hillside with grey stone walls on the other.  This area is also known for its 'beehive houses', small stone houses used by the early farmers in the area.  It is amazing how well they, and some of the stone forts, are preserved - especially since they are all dry packed stonework.  Apparently one of the reasons that there are so many little higgledy piggledy walls is to get the rocks out of the fields so that the grass can grow for the sheep and cows.  

Higgledy piggledy stone walls with Dingle Bay in the background.

Stone walls and grain stores

One of the higher mountains in the area is Eagle Mountain which is right on the coast and is 500m high.  Geoff was keen to hike to the top, but after 20mins Allan and Lucy opted for the contour path while Geoff forged a path up to the top through the bog and scrub.  The view from the top was spectacular, looking down over the whole peninsula and the Blasket Islands lying off the end of it.  

The Blaskets

The black rocky coast is broken in places by inviting yellow sandy beaches and a turquoise and green sea.  Allan and Lucy enjoyed looking at all the old stone beehive houses, grain stores and forts which cluttered the grazing fields of woolly sheep with spiral horns.

After meeting up with Geoff again, we headed to the tip of the peninsula to admire the rock formations and next thing we knew, Geoff had stripped down to his swim shorts and was body-surfing the waves onto beautiful beach!  Despite Lucy in her fleece and windbreaker and beanie!  Geoff insists the water was no colder than Clifton……*sigh*.

Black slabs reaching out of the clear water with the Blaskets behind.

A beautiful beach - the speck in the waves is Geoff :)

We wandered on along the coast, past the 3 Sisters (3 peaks that rise out of the sea) and up O'Conner's pass (the highest pass in Ireland) to have a look at Mount Brandon, a 900m peak, and the lakes lying in this ancient glacial landscape.  The car showed that the outside temperature was 9 degrees C, but getting out to look at the view, it felt WAY colder!  Despite it being close to freezing, it was hard to imagine a time when this area was covered in glaciers and they were shaping much of the landscape that we could see.  Halfway down the pass we hiked up to a tarn lake formed by a glacier from a previous ice age which was stunning.

The 3 Sisters are the peaks just below Geoff.

Lucy's Nutella and Banana Roll was almost frozen at the view point above Brandon Bay.

One of the Tarn lakes.

The Boys getting jiggly with it!

The landscape is scattered with these beautiful little cottages.