Glasgow, Scotland

From Belfast to Glasgow
Farewelling Mum at the airport in Belfast, we then worked out how we were going to get to the ferry terminal to get to Glasgow. You see, we had chosen our accommodation excellently for Mum to hop across the train tracks to take her flight to London for further adventures with good friend Rhonda, but to get to the ferry terminal was another issue. In fact, it was what we like to call a DOLPHIN SANDS ROAD moment! (The most literal Dolphin Sands Moment we've had thus far!)

If you look at the map below you will see the marker on George Best Belfast City Airport where we said goodbye to Mum. Our accommodation was over the other side of the train tracks from the airport. The ferry terminal we needed to leave from is located at the very top of the map, labelled: "Stena Line Belfast." Short of swimming with our backpacks, we had to go the long way around!

Mapping a Dolphin Sands Road moment! 

So, we got on our way to Glasgow via ferry and bus, continuing our theme of sticking to land and water over air where possible. I tell you what, it is amazing what they have on ferries these days. Balloons, theatres, ponies, numerous restaurants and all for a short trip across the North Channel!* The bus ride was amusing for another reason. There was this loud, obnoxious siren noise coming from somewhere near Rob's head, "WaaahhWhhheeer". It didn't stop for 30 minutes.  The lady next to him asked, "Did I do that?" For quite awhile she, Rob and I could not stop laughing. Everyone else on the bus acted like it was normal for buses to make kind of noise. She was Irish and going to visit her daughter, who had moved to Glasgow a few years ago to find work.

* Ponies may be a slight exaggeration. 

After a short bus trip we found ourselves with Ben and Jenny, our Airbnb hosts for a few nights. They were very friendly and welcoming. Currently they are on their own 4 month trip which includes Australia. It was interesting hearing about their plans and hopefully we gave the some good pointers for when they get to Melbourne, as they did for Glasgow!

Glasgow
We had only booked Ben and Jenny's place two nights before we left Belfast. At this point in our trip we had next to nothing on our itinerary, just vague plans. The only future date and time where we actually knew where we would be was vague plans to be back in Melbourne in January 2016! It was both exciting and frightening and it meant our plan for Glasgow was...well...to spend time planning! We wanted to organise our time in Scotland, then potentially the Netherlands and France. I also had some research work that really needed doing. 

Our planning plans meant we did not see as much of Glasgow as you would expect in four days, but we did enjoy what we chose to see...

The People's Palace and Doulton Fountain
The People's Palace is a beautiful building that houses a museum of social history. It is set on the Glasgow green next to a big glasshouse and a beautiful fountain. The collections in the museum gave us some insight into the lives of Glaswegians over different periods. For example, we found out about tenement homes, the "steamie" or communal laundry and stories surrounding volunteers of the recent Commonwealth Games. Something that really struck me was the experiences Glaswegians had during war-time. I cannot imagine having to send your children to the country-side to keep them safe. 

Outside the grand Palace building is Doulton Fountain, the largest terracotta fountain in the world. In incredible detail, the fountain that was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's reign and features a statue of Queen Victoria over a wide basin and four statues of water-carriers representing Canada, India, South Africa and Australia (represented, as the Scottish viewed us, in the 1800's). 

Doulton Fountain

Australia

Hashing
Something I had managed to organise before arriving in Scotland was for Rob and I to go hashing. It was a gloomy, wet day in Glasgow and we nearly bailed on the whole idea but decided to brave the weather. (It was unlikely to get better...it was Summer in Glasgow after all!) We are very glad we went. As with our experience of doing a hashing in Phnom Penh, everyone was extremely welcoming. The location of the hash was at Mugdock Country Park, north of Glasgow and not easily accessible by public transport. We took the train part of the way and then one of the regular hashers had kindly offered to pick us up.

What made our time on the Glasgow hash fun was that included a castle, a loch and, naturally, a zombie dance:

When Zombies attack

Mugdock Castle

Braving the rain...sort of

Dinner and music at Maggie May's
Whilst in Glasgow we went to Maggie May's to hear some music. I had actually hoped there would be some dancing but not this particular night. We weren't in Glasgow long before we realised that we could only understand every 5th word someone said and they had no clue what we we were saying. 

Also, in a sad story; Rob loves to try local beers wherever we go; upset that we had just missed the Glasgow Beer Festival 2015, he asked the woman at the bar "What local beers do you have? Anything you can recommend?"  

She said "I have no idea, do you want to try Murphy's?  It's Irish"

Rob responded "...umm no, I'd like to try something local, you pick"

And he will never make that mistake again.


Sister Act 
I think we perplexed our aribnb hosts quite a bit with our choices of outings in Glasgow and maybe our Sister Act outing topped the cake. Although Rob and I enjoy seeing the important historical and cultural sites of a place, it can get a bit much after almost 7 months on the road. I think that is what prompted me to look on the "What's on Glasgow" website. I hoped to find something a bit different, perhaps a bit interactive, and definitely non-touristy. That is how we found ourselves at C7 Church for their production of Sister Act! Given we both love the movie we thought "Why not!" It was a pretty great community production, with mostly good singing. Embarrassingly, we got directly mentioned by the pastor (who hailed from Sydney), not because we were Australian but because when asked earlier we had told someone we had found the production on the "What's on Glasgow" website! Oh happy days!

Sister Act!

The Lighthouse
Originally it was the name of the Scotland's Centre for Design and Architecture that caught my eye. Reading a bit more into it I found that you could get some good views over Glasgow from the top of the Mackintosh Tower. Jenny had also told us a bit about the architecture exhibitions available. Although some of the exhibitions were interesting, we were probably more about the staircase and the views to be honest.

Rob getting dizzy

Glasgow

Watch this video that explains how the Duke of Wellington keeps getting a
witches hat on his head!

Old Head, Kinsale and County Cork - Ireland Roadtrip Part 3

Saying goodbye to our cosy airbnb apartment in Dublin, we set out to begin the road trip proper. After driving for awhile we set about having morning tea in a sudden downpour of rain and furious beach side winds! We stayed in the car...

Doesn't quite capture the ferocity of the waves and wind

After a few more hours of interesting Irish road, we stopped at Midleton for lunch and then decided to do the Jameson Irish Whiskey Tour.

Pre-tour at Jameson: the best selling whiskey in the world

Hanging out at Jameson

I did not know much at all about whiskey so I learnt a lot on the tour. Jameson Irish whiskey is distilled thrice (most scotch is distilled twice) and does not usually use peat in the malting process. This is meant to create a smoother whiskey. Rob was selected for a special tasting to compare different whiskey's. All the tasters were asked which was the best at the end and most guests gave the expected (read: required) answer: Irish! Rob found that it was a loaded question, really its all about the flavour you are after, isn't it?

The buildings at the distillery were rather beautiful and I was glad to see them after having just taken up residency next to the birthplace of Jameson whiskey in Dublin. Our tour guide had an in-depth knowledge on Jameson and whiskey and she could answer any question thrown at her. I suppose I was probably most interested in hearing about the history of the distillery and the challenges and competition Jameson faced over the years. Despite the damage that prohibition in the U.S.A did for whiskey sales, it is now Jameson's largest market.

Largest pot still in the world

Beautiful building at Jameson

Rob comparing whiskey's

We also hadn't known much about Midleton and realised we were standing in a town that we didn't know how to say. (The singular 'd' confused us!) Rob took up Mum's challenge to ask some town folk how to pronounce Midleton. (It is pronounced 'Middle-ton). Thanks Mum for raising another $20 for UNICEF's "Nepal Earthquake Children's Appeal".

Leaving Midleton we drove through a few coastal towns enjoying the colourful houses. We later realised colourful houses is a theme all through Ireland and it seems like no one town can lay claim to it. Driving towards Cobh, a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, I almost drove into the sea when I saw the dramatic St Colman's Cathedral hovering over us. It is apparently one of the tallest building in Ireland which did not really surprise me. 

Found out later that driving into the sea is more than likely in Ireland!

Seaport houses in Cobh

In the late afternoon we arrived at Kinsale and then followed very specific directions to "Old Head" where our Airbnb host lived. It was most exciting driving around the area looking our for an old farmhouse, feeling like we might fall off the edge of the world at any moment! (Refer to map below!) We were also pretty tired and ready to relax a bit. Upon our arrival our host, Liz, was having a cocktail with her friend and invited us to join her. She was keen to tell us about the area and a bit about herself. She had grown up in the USA with an Irish family tree and previously lived in Berlin before the Wall came down. 

Liz's house had views of the water on both sides, and a particularly spectacular view from the kitchen; it was amazingly snug given how exposed to the elements the Old Head is:

We almost fell off!

Wouldn't mind this view out my window every day

"I want you to pat me but only when it suits me of course"

We relaxed into our time at the "farm" and enjoyed meeting the animals of the house: 3 dogs (that needed to be separated down sex lines via a complex system of doors) and 2 cats. 

After a bit of relaxing, reading and skyping, we soon ventured out into the paddocks behind Liz's house. Our aim was to reach the beach. Liz had described the journey through farmland to the beach as a bit like doing an army drill. I pictured rolling under things and doing push-ups whilst avoiding gunfire. She said it less like a warning and more like a proud statement of "this is what I do for exercise when I go to the beach". Though the route wasn't quite as treacherous as she described, we were jumping over fences hoping they were't electric! 

It was definitely rewarding at the cliffs edge. Mum took some time to take in the view whilst Rob and I scrambled down the cliffs (maybe this was the drill) to enjoy the teeny beach at the bottom.

Cliff-side at the Old Head farmhouse

Scaling the cliff to the beach

Our beach!

From Kinsale we drove to the quaint town of Clonakilty to hear some traditional Irish music. An Tach Beag was our venue for the night: a cosy little pub famous for its music. We had a great time enjoying the intimate music session with fiddle, accordion, guitar and banjo. When the musicians found out we were Australian they decided to play Wild Colonial Boy, which Rob was just about to request anyway!

A huge surprise though (it shouldn't have been), the Irish version has a different take on the Wild Colonial Boy. The Australian version makes no mention of emigrating from Ireland, and further glorifies the role of a bushranger in our shared history (and changes his name from Duggan to Doolan). Interestingly, when previously travelling in United States, Rob had heard heard their version too. For more about the differences, read on here.

Beautiful Clonakilty

A photo that couldn't capture the atmosphere

Important message at the bar

During the rest of our time staying at Old Head we explored the coastal area and checked out Kinsale town. A highlight for me was taking part in a ghost tour. After our experience at the leprechaun museum I did a better job of assessing the reviews for the Kinsale Ghost Tour and we weren't disappointed. The guides/actors were very funny and informative, incorporating the history of the town with amusing anecdotes. We are all still laughing when we see particular roadsigns. My favourite was when he pointed up at a 'children's crossing' road sign which read "WARNING CHILDREN" and, as he passed, he said "Catholic sex education right there!" It always sounded off the cuff and his timing was impeccable, again proving to me the importance of delivery in comedy. (Shout out to comedians that don't laugh at their own jokes at the wrong moment!)

Grave robber

Was there a ghost in Kinsale after all?

A boat atop someones gate

Kinsale harbour

Charles Fort

Kinsale town

Spread-out cow meeting at Old Head