The Leprechaun Trail
September 11, 1981.
Suzanne
and I are off on the leprechaun trail. There is the Sarcee trail around
Calgary and the lighthouse Trail around Nova Scotia, so we’ve named our Ireland
tour the Leprechaun Trail.
We left
Toronto at 8:55 PM Eastern standard time and will arrive in London at 2 AM our
time, but 8 AM London time, and since we proposed to take a whirlwind tour of
London, (we have six hours) that means we won’t get any sleep since we will
have missed our night. It is 2 AM in the morning and we are nearing England
flying towards piled up clouds that are streaked with pink. It is beautiful to watch.
First a dot of pink and pale gold. Now the whole horizon is washed with
colours. We are flying into the day.
1:20 PM London time Saturday, September
12, 1981.
I am
sitting in Heathrow airport listening to messages over the PA system and
watching streams of humanity going in all directions, waiting for our AerLingus
flight to Shannon to be announced.
We arrived
here ok in Ireland, but Suzanne’s luggage went on to Frankfurt they think,
or maybe it never left Toronto, or perhaps it is in Stuttgart. But not to worry
they say it will catch up with us. Not very reassuring because “they” will not
commit themselves as to “when”.
A funny thing happened on the flight to
London. We were plied with food and drink. Suzanne mistook the brown Styrofoam
dish holding the desert for a chocolate shell and ate part of it before she
realized she was eating the dishes. The stewardess had no idea what was so
riotously funny about the food because we just couldn’t stop laughing.
An
unpleasant incident happened coming through the British customs. Suzanne was
ahead of me. The officer asked her how long she was remaining in London and she
said, “six hours” “Where are you going?” said he. “Ireland” said Suzanne. His
tone changed and he looked her straight in the eye and said “why”. Suzanne surprised;
said “I beg your pardon?” The officer cold as a fish, repeated “I said
why?”
Suzanne looked him straight in the eye
and said “why not! It seems like a nice place to go on a Sunday morning in September
“He snapped her passport shut and shrugged. I said we are travelling together,
and he looked at my passport but did not dignify me with even a grunt.
We did do
a great flash tour of London. 45 minutes from Heathrow airport to Piccadilly
Circus, after two hours of trying to find baggage information and custom
lineups so we had two hours to tour. Then we had one hour to get back to the
next flight.
We walked
swiftly with Suzanne several feet in the lead, through mobs of people, down
Regent Street, saw Saint Martin’s in the fields, the opera house, the
Haymarket. Then we spent some time in Trafalgar Square with thousands of
pigeons, old people dozing on the benches, a group of east Indians in beautiful
rainbow hued saris. A man was amusing his young son by stretching out his arms
so that the pigeons would land on them. The Lions, the stone ones, were
majestic, but the square was dirty the buildings were dark, and the traffic was
noisy and frightening.
We hailed a cab a “Royals Royce” at that
because Suzanne was determined to get to Buckingham Palace . The cabbie was
cool when he found out we were heading for Ireland, a definite noticeable chill
in his manner, but he got us to Buckingham Palace, and by great good luck there
was a band playing and crowds all over the place .It was the changing of the
guard. Suzanne disappeared into the crowd at one point with her camera and I
was just about to hoot her name at the top of my voice palace guards or
no palace guards, when she reappeared.I have no idea how to get back to the
airport I was just following her and I didn’t let her out of my sight again. I
stepped out of the crowd onto the road to take a picture and was advanced upon
frontally by a walking Bobby and from the rear by a mounted Bobby. I guess you
just do not step out of line at Buckingham palace. The Bobby’s were so
dignified!
We walked
through St. James Park, which was surprisingly unkempt. Clumps of dandelions,
patches of uncut grass, not what I expected of a London park. Saint James Palace
was very imposing with people queueing up for miles, waiting patiently to get a
glimpse of prince Charles and his young bride Diana’s presents. They were
apparently all on public view in St. James Palace. The wrought iron gates of
the palace were magnificent black and gold with huge coats of arms.
It is now
3 PM as I am writing this as we are flying over England The fields are not the
rectangles or squares as they are in Canada. They are a crazy quilt design; all
shapes and sizes and the cities seem to be laid in curves.
In London
travelling from Heathrow on the underground we spent some of the trip over
ground, and were amazed at the lush flower gardens, small as they were behind extremely
poor looking houses. Gardens everywhere, even though some of the houses looked
totally dilapidated. Two red buckets were standing at every station marked “fire
“obviously elementary fire prevention, maybe sand in them, I guess.
My feet
are killing me, they are swollen from the long flight so that I could hardly
get my shoes on, and then, we ran through London high heels and all.
The
stewardesses on AerLingus have lovely soft Irish voices, and the lady beside
Suzanne is keeping up a constant stream of chatter in a delightful Brogue .I cannot
believe that I am still awake! We have not stopped. Even on the plane something
is happening all the time as the pilot just told us that we are over Wales. We
can see clouds and a faraway outline of land.
September
12, 1981 Saturday.
It is now
late in the evening at Saint Jude’s bed and breakfast. We have come so far in a
short time and we are now in another world.
When you
land at Shannon airport and have to pick up your rent a car for a tour of
Ireland the first adventure is shifting gears with your left hand as you are
sitting on the right-side of the car behind the wheel.
You are figuring out the next adventure which
lasts for the full extent of your trip, that is driving on the left-hand side
of the road. “Think left, think left” was our chant from Shannon to Bunratty
and for many miles after that. The adventure is compounded into wide eyed
terror at times because many people in Ireland drive their cars in the centre
of the road leaving only spare room for a bicycle on either
side.
We got
lost several times on the way from Shannon airport to St Jude’s. Suzanne
talking to herself, keep left keep left and trying to get used to shifting
gears with her left hand. Thank God I am not driving. Finally, we turned off
into a little side road to try to figure out where we were on the map and a car
turned onto the road behind us. He drew up behind us and stopped.
A curly haired man leaned towards us. “Are you
troublin”. he asked, and then proceeded to give us directions as to how to get
to this place. I cannot believe the softness in the voices.
Bunratty
is a must stop as an introduction to the people of Ireland. The
bed-and-breakfast places that dot the road behind Bunratty castle are run by
Irish women who are proud of the service they offer, and in love with the land
in which they live. We stayed longer in Bunratty than we originally intended
because Suzanne’s luggage went on to Switzerland and Germany for a little tour
of the continent all by itself.
Una
McNemary of Saint Jude‘s bed and breakfast provided travel advice and walking
shoes to us, her own because high heels ours, did not suit the terrain. Her
daughters boots fit Suzanne.
This is a
pretty bungalow type house, with a high hedge, on a side road leading past
Bunratty castle on one side, and “Durty Nellies” on the other. The castle is
huge, and the tavern is picturesque, with palm trees clustered by the wall that
protects it from the road. One wall disappears into the river and one wall is
made up of dovecotes. It was established as the Village Inn in 1620.
We ate
there this evening on the advice of the owner of Saint Jude’s. Una told us to
eat in the pub “just order over the bar. You’ll get the same as in the
restaurant at half the price.” So, we did. We got our sandwich and Guinness
(Suzanne drank mine) and sat on a narrow wooden bench in front of the
bar.
The place
was divided into small rooms and swarming with people. Families at some of the
tables, with small children. A nun came drifting by, no one took note, leaned
on the bar, and received some kind of message, and went on. In one small alcove
there was a group of people and a big black-haired man playing a piano while
everyone sang. He got up from the piano steading himself on it, he had
obviously been there a long time and had downed many a Guinness and sang “when
Irish eyes are smiling” directly at Suzanne.
I
felt as if I was in a scene in a movie it was unreal. Low ceilings, stonewalls,
the heavy old black oak benches and tables, the moldy old prints on the stone
walls. The narrow one-person wide steep stairs sawdust sprinkled leading to
rooms upstairs. We went up and in the deep deep old windows there were caged
birds.
In another
room downstairs there was a band that took up half the room with a weird drum
with double edge drumsticks, some playing the spoons, and everybody’s laughing
and singing until at the end of a wild song one lone voice begin to sing “In
Belfast Town”, and except for the voice there was silence and all the laughing
faces changed and were closed. But as soon as the song ended there was noise
and laughter and other songs. I am reminded that my father used to say that the
Irish could laugh with one eye and cry with the other!
I could
not help but wish with all the shenanigans going on that Suzanne had been here
with all the young ones. How Jimmy Michael and John and Mary Jane would have
enjoyed all of this.
We came
back to Saint Jude’s early enough to check by phone for Suzanne’s luggage.
Apparently, there is a tracer on it, and hopefully it will follow tomorrow.
There is no Air Canada office at Shannon Airport, so all the calls must go
through to London. It is most disappointing because the empty suitcase came
with her and the one with the clothes film etc. etc. went touring Europe
all by itself.
We have a
pretty room with the flowered pink bedspreads, but the place is as cold as a
tomb. The welcome however is warm. Una is going to lend Suzanne a pair of shoes
so we can go touring tomorrow we had intended to set out for Galway but because
of waiting for her luggage we have changed our plans. Una suggests Killaloe a
village in county Clare so that is where we will go after mass.
8 AM Sunday, September 13, 1981.
We were up
yesterday we figured, about 32 hours. We walked about six hours of it in our high
heels. I lay in bed this morning, (slept from 7:30 PM last evening to 7:30 AM)
listening to the birds and having scenes from yesterday flashing through my
mind. The rainbow in the field, the perfect arch of a rainbow, and when we came
out onto the road we drove right through the other end of the arch. I couldn’t
dig for the pot of gold because there was too much traffic. The rainbow was a
good omen for our first day in Ireland. The big wide faced girl in a skirt and
heavy rubber boots walking the narrow road behind a herd of cows. The little
bit of an Irish lady who sat beside Suzanne on AerLingus, endowed so with the
gift of the gab that she never shut up from London to Shannon, but it was pure
entertainment from one story to another. She had opinions on everything. She
asked Suzanne if she was married. Suzanne said no I’m divorced. There was a
long pause then she looked at Suzanne out of the corner of her eye and said
softly “ah there’s no divorce in Ireland, two people live their wretched
miserable lives together fighting and snarling but there’s no divorce in
Ireland.” Then leaning close to Suzanne‘s shoulders she said, “And how is my
darling Trudeau?”
Suzanne mumbled “OK I guess.” Well she
continued “if you ever meet him tell him all of Ireland loves him. He had the
guts to get rid of the terrorists once and for all.”
She
had been visiting Germany and did not like the Germans. “Sure, they speak that
foreign language all the time all the time.” Of course, in between comments she
was ordering a bit of Irish for her coffee every time the stewardesses chanced
by which was quite often.
We have had
a most enjoyable breakfast. Orange juice, rashers of bacon, sausage, and eggs
with delicious homemade brown soda bread. Linens on the table which is “mahogany”
and served on Royal Tara fine bone China. Una’s 11-year-old does the serving.
She has three children. Her husband works at the airport, and they have a pass
on an airline and are going to visit America in October. They are a lovely
family.
We went to mass at “The Wells” an old old
small church in farmland down a narrow road. It was built on a series of Holy Wells
hence the name. The cars were parked helter skelter all over the road , and many
people were coming to mass on bicycles. The men were gathered together leaning
on a fence outside, and all the women and children went into the church. The
men entered in a solid body when the bell rang! From my limited observations so
far, I would say that Irish society is segregated!
Every pew
in the small dark church was marked with a wooden standard bearing a saint’s
name. We chose Saint Anne’s seat.
The air
was dank smelly and damp. I know why they use incense so much. The priest said
mass with his back to the congregation. We knelt for communion and tucked the pleated linen altar cloth under our
collective chins. What a step back in time this was.
The children’s choir was beautifully sweet,
the sermon was a touching one considering the times in Ireland about peace and
love and the sin of harbouring hatred and resentment against your neighbor.
They recited the Litany of the Blessed Virgin
after mass and had Benediction The swinging sensors “Tantum Ergo” the whole
bit. We missed the collection, I guess it was at the entrance, so I lit a
candle and put my pound note in there when we left the church.
We set off
on Una’s advice to search out castles on the road to Killaloe. We drove to the
countryside. We came to Dromoland castle which was
surrounded by a golf course. It turned out to
be a hotel, American
owned and very Americanized.
Knappogue
Castle next on our itinerary was authentic.It was a real
castle with stone walls, and stone
outbuildings, and an
archway built on the rise of land commanding the whole lovely countryside. Knappogue means “The Hill of the Kiss” and
was built at Quin in 1467 by an Irish chieftain.It also was
owned by an American couple who have restored it and live in apartments on the
top floor. Medieval banquets are held here, and the servants were laying the
tables in the dining hall. We saw a skeleton in the dungeon, and climbed
the tower to look out over the beautiful green green countryside.
Then we sat out for Killaloe. It was not far
on the map, but we got lost a couple of times, but no matter, it is beautiful no matter where you drive,
though the roads are destructively dangerous, very narrow and the turns
unexpected to say the least.
Killaloe was
picturesque, built up a hillside with the stores and houses right to the edge
of the narrow sidewalks. The Catholic Church on the hilltop is supposed to have
been built on the site of Bryan Boru’s establishment “Kincora”, when he was High King of Ireland. The remains of St Moa Lua’s Oratory have
been resurrected beside the church. At the foot of the hill is The Cathedral of
St Flannan, built in 1182 on the site of an even earlier church, probably the
one beside it, a small steep roofed chapel. The door of the church was once the
entrance(so the legend goes) to the tomb of the Munster King Murtagh O’Brien who died in 1120. The dates
throw me. Everything is so old, and so taken for granted.
The drive
up the estuary of the Shannon to Lough Derg was beautiful. Sailboats on the
lake, beautiful rolling landscape. We had corn beef and hot mustard sandwiches
in a little tearoom in Killaloe. The people at the other tables were speaking
Gaelic, and a little old man was very drunk and banging his teapot and cups
around on the table in front of him. The waitress gave us a wink. “Tommy was
drunk again” she said “you’ll have to excuse him every Sunday only”. It came
out of her throat as a soft Soonday.
On the
drive there were many handsome curly heads along the way. We tried to get to
Tipperary and ended up close to Thurles, but never arrived at Thurles trying to
do the following. We tried to follow our map! We also tried to get to holy
Cross and ended up in Tipperary after some difficulty. We kept going in
directions that did not jive with the map and the road signs.
We stopped at a sign
pointing to Tipperary, and asked a group of young teenage girls if that was the
right way . They laughed “ Ah No”and pointed in
the opposite direction with the explanation that the “kids” had changed the roadsigns
around.
In
Tipperary we tried to find Wilfred’s grandfathers grave. Family history has it that
he was buried in the military cemetery in Tipperary. We inquired and were told
that there was no military cemetery in Tipperary, but there was Saint Johns,
Saint Mary’s, and Saint Michael’s.
We roamed
St. John’s (a forest of tall Celtic crosses blackened by time). St. Mary’s was locked,
and we never did find St Michael’s. The directions given by Irishman vary
greatly, and no matter how far it is “it is within walking distance”. Just to
prove the fallacy of signs, I took a picture in Killaloe of a sign pointing the
way to Saint Flannans in two directly opposite directions.
Some of the old roads are
like driving down a green tunnel.. So narrow they are, andthe hedge rows meeting the
trees, and the trees
meeting over the road. Birds in the
hedges. Magpies and a
burnished fawn bird as large
as a crow. The tiny bird darting in the thorn hedges is the Irish Robin. It is much smaller and more graceful
than our fat robins and has a thrilling song.
The roads
are unreal. The hedges are solid banks of earth surrounded by the hedge. The
aerial on the car now has a 90° angle to it where we tried to take shelter in a
hedge to avoid having a collision with an oncoming car. I do not know whether
the drivers are Irish or tourists but they sure are inclined to hog the centre
of the road.
Suzanne is
a good driver and is becoming at ease with the steering wheel on the right side
of the car, and the car on the left side of the road. We met cows on the roads
and sheep, and cats and dogs and children. Men waved their black thorn sticks
at us. We had to ask our way several times and was treated with the utmost of
patience and unfailing courtesy.
The lads
have an eye for Suzanne. She is receiving many waves and winks. The young men
are handsome and full of blarney, the old men are drab.
The
streets in the towns were full of people today, Sunday afternoon. The men were
leaning up against the store fronts, and gathered by front fenced corners, and
in all the church yards. The women had children with them and many baby
carriages.
We drove “The
Devils Bit” and the Arra mountains on whirling twirling roads. The car only
left the earth once all four wheels when we went over a sudden unmarked rise in
the road.
We went
through Limerick in a traffic jam, and back to Bunratty to check by phone about
Suzanne‘s luggage, because it has not been delivered to Saint Judes as
promised. It had been traced to Zürich that morning, with the assurance that it
would be in Bunratty by afternoon. We ripped over to Shannon Airport, but
everything was closed, no luggage, and then we had to hurry to get ready for
the mediaeval banquet we were to attend at Bunratty castle which turned into an
absolutely delightful experience well worth the twenty nine pounds for the two
of us.
We were
lucky to get tickets. Una called for reservations and there had been 2 tickets
turned in otherwise it was all sold out.
Coming up
the road to the Castle in the gathering darkness set the mood. Torches set in
the walls of the Castle lighted the way . The entrance was up a narrow stone
stairway. At the top was a lovely young woman, dressed in a flowing velvet
dress of medieval times, who offered us a plate holding “the bread of
friendship”. Brown soda bread and salt. We gathered in a Great Hall. There were
people from all over the world, and were welcomed by a man in medieval dress
who described the furnishings in the Hall and some of the traditions of the
time, while we were served “honey and Mead” by the velvet clad ladies of the
Castle. This Castles Great Hall was very impressive, hung with French and
Flemish 15 century tapestries, and furnished with heavy oak of the period. An
intricately carved dower chest had the first carving made when a girl child was
born, and the last carving on it would be the coat of arms of her intended
husband, shortly before her marriage.
We then
went into the banquet Hall, tied on our red and blue bibs, and sat at long
tables to be served by the ladies of the Castle who were very pretty Irish Colleens,
who also doubled as musicians, playing harp violin and harpsichord, and we're also
choristers. During the meal we were sung such songs as “The meeting of the
waters”, Irish lullabies, and songs in Gaelic. The voices were high and pure,
and the melodies were haunting.
An
honorary Earl of the Castle was chosen from among the visitors, and he and his
party sat at the head table on a raised dias. The “Master of Ceremonies” or
whatever his medieval title was, had to taste all food in case of poisoning,
and it had to be offered to the Earl,
for his approval before it was served to us.
No wonder
we had bibs, we had to eat our delicious medieval meal with our fingers. Soup
first, vegetable soup made with cream and unsalted butter. We drank it from
pottery bowls. Spareribs boiled with herbs, capon carrots, green beans with
mushroom sauce, round loaves of soft coarse brown bread, and a green salad.
Ever try to eat shredded greens with your fingers? A pointed short knife like
the modern potato knife was the only utensil you were given. The wine was
served from earthenware jugs into earthenware mugs. It was red and dry but exceptionally
light.
During the
dinner a guest at our table was apprehended for some misdeed and dragged from
the Hall, then put in a barred cell where we couldn't see him, but we could
hear his pleading calls for help. He was left there for some time, and then was
brought back into the Hall, told he would be freed if he paid a fine. His fine
was to sing for the gathering. He started faltering “America” and since at
least 95% of the company was American he soon had a chorus going.
After the dessert,
a delicious trifle served with a small wooden spoon (thank goodness). Then we
went to another Hall and were served coffee with brown sugar and smooth rich cream.
Oh, the calories.
The people
at our table were mostly Bostonians, 1 Canadian couple at the table behind us
and many many Americans that were in Ireland on an ancestor hunt.
Monday
September 14, 1981
My mind is
so full of yesterday's scenes. Boys riding bareback on ponies on the narrow
road, the priest’s graves in the front or beside the church marked by stone
chalices and tall Celtic crosses. One whose bones had been returned from Perth
Australia, to his home place. Tommy drunk again because it was “Soonday”. The
streets filled with people and strolling children. Children children
everywhere. We are heading around the coast road in Clare. We got lost in Innis. It is 11:30 AM and we are on the way to
Kilrush and Kilkee it is a glowering day!