Ireland the hot
The Irish heat wave of 2018. Temperatures in the high 60's and the news on TV was about the heat wave, and locals that we talked with sympathized with us having to ride in the awful heat. I don't even have anything to say about that.
Ireland is indeed pretty green rolling hills to ride through. Visited a "dolmen" - a stone age standing stone burial site from 5000 years ago. Quite impressive that with no machinery they were able to move such large stones into place. The stones were just behind one of the greens on a very elegant golf course - presumably a tribal elder buried there to play golf in the afterlife.
Belfast in Norther Island is very much an industrial port city with some of the most prominent structures in the city being the cranes in the port - unusual to have huge yellow cranes that figure prominently in much of the artistic work that one sees in the art galleries.
The dolmen: entry way to a burial mound - now long gone.
Note the flag on the green between the stones.
The bull was quite impressive.
It really is green.
The Wall
The Wall - perhaps the USA should aspire to as much.
North West and South all in the same direction.
The neighbor on neighbor violence of "the troubles" remains prominent, and apparently
runs not too far under the surface despite the ongoing "peace process for the last 19 years or so. A large wall divides the catholic and protestant sides of the city - and that appears to be a superficial division since few actually go to church. The real battle is a political battle between the Republicans who wish to be part of the Republic of Ireland and the Unionists or Royalists who wish to remain part of the British Empire. The wall murals around the city range from the calls for peace and understanding, to the remembrances of those killed (generally the term used is murdered), to propaganda jeremiads that are only thinly veiled calls for retribution. It's hard to go far without seeing a mural with violence strongly portrayed. Rather a stark contrast between the tourist and business center of town, and the neighborhoods where the political strife is strong. Our taxi driver guide was a (catholic) republican, and appeared to be reluctant to be in a protestant part of town - except in the safety provided by having tourists with him. He wouldn't go to that part of town on his own. Chilling.
Had a chance to ride out in the country with a few local riders. Small town whose only industry was making the cardboard cup holders that you put around your Starbucks coffee cup to keep from burning your hand. Everybody else was farmers.
We rode along and saw small signs advertising the coal that is still widely used for heating homes. It reminded me of being a kid and having to help several times a day with shoveling coal into our furnace to heat our home in Pennsylvania.
Ireland is indeed pretty green rolling hills to ride through. Visited a "dolmen" - a stone age standing stone burial site from 5000 years ago. Quite impressive that with no machinery they were able to move such large stones into place. The stones were just behind one of the greens on a very elegant golf course - presumably a tribal elder buried there to play golf in the afterlife.
Belfast in Norther Island is very much an industrial port city with some of the most prominent structures in the city being the cranes in the port - unusual to have huge yellow cranes that figure prominently in much of the artistic work that one sees in the art galleries.
The neighbor on neighbor violence of "the troubles" remains prominent, and apparently
runs not too far under the surface despite the ongoing "peace process for the last 19 years or so. A large wall divides the catholic and protestant sides of the city - and that appears to be a superficial division since few actually go to church. The real battle is a political battle between the Republicans who wish to be part of the Republic of Ireland and the Unionists or Royalists who wish to remain part of the British Empire. The wall murals around the city range from the calls for peace and understanding, to the remembrances of those killed (generally the term used is murdered), to propaganda jeremiads that are only thinly veiled calls for retribution. It's hard to go far without seeing a mural with violence strongly portrayed. Rather a stark contrast between the tourist and business center of town, and the neighborhoods where the political strife is strong. Our taxi driver guide was a (catholic) republican, and appeared to be reluctant to be in a protestant part of town - except in the safety provided by having tourists with him. He wouldn't go to that part of town on his own. Chilling.
Had a chance to ride out in the country with a few local riders. Small town whose only industry was making the cardboard cup holders that you put around your Starbucks coffee cup to keep from burning your hand. Everybody else was farmers.
We rode along and saw small signs advertising the coal that is still widely used for heating homes. It reminded me of being a kid and having to help several times a day with shoveling coal into our furnace to heat our home in Pennsylvania.
I think my favorite sign is the one about crossing the field. Is there any reason one would need to cross the field?
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