The Beginning
Good morning to you all, hope you're well and feeling blessed and/or hopeful...
It's a rainy morning here in beautiful Galway, and Atlantic Thread has finally begun! Of course, like everything, it's not gone exactly to plan...some things way better, others not quite so much!
I arrived here in Ireland on Monday, at Shannon airport and smoothly took the bus to Galway and walked through its really beautiful streets in the drizzle to be welcomed wonderfully by the aunt and cousin of my close friend Monica. I felt very lucky to be staying in such a beautiful home and treated so kindly by strangers. Kathrein is an expert knitter and has made many beautiful things in all kinds of craft, so it was great to spend my first evening here with a kindred spirit.
The next morning I set off for the Connemara...two hours by bus to Clifden through an awe inspiring landscape of lakes, ponds, mountains and shadows. Both days I was there were a mix of drizzle and sun, I guess the perfect combination to as it as the colours were ever-changing, the shapes ever-shifting. I stopped in a pub in Clifden for a Guiness and they played 'Ramble On', by Led Zeppelin as soon as I walked in...there couldn't have been anything more appropriate to begin the trip; I told the barman what I was doing, and he told me I was a mad bastard.
And so ramble on I did...I walked over 6 miles from there to my campsite.carrying all my stuff made it a little bit difficult, sweet wild blackberries made it a little bit easy! Clifden Eco Park is a stunningly beautiful campsite, and the guy who runs it really is walking the walk about environmental consciousness....it is very isolated, by the shores of the Atlantic. Tent pitches are in dips so you don't feel the wind, nor is your tent blown about by it. I've stayed in a few seaside campsites, but no one else has been so thoughtful. Of course, the first thing I did on setting up my tent was walk (like five steps) into the beach and had a freezing dip. It as marvellous.. but reminded me that I cannot live on blackberries alone! I always need to eat after being in the water, I don't know why. It was 4 miles to walk to the nearest village with a pub that did hot food...walking without backpacks feels quite blissful after walking with them, and the views were lovely, and I noticed my first Irish bog on the way back....I never really knew what they looked like...now I do. Am crossing my fingers that I don't fall into one....
Waking up by the Atlantic Ocean yesterday was marvellous! But my legs did feel the walking of the day before. So after packing up, I decided to get and hitch back to Clifden for the bus to Leenane. I haven't hitched in over 20 years, and only ever in Brittany, but to my amazement it worked within a mile. Of course he asked where I was from, he's off to a wedding in Stoke Newington next week and his daughter lives in Mile End. London is of course a city to which most Irish people have some connection. I had a delicious breakfast in Clifden and then set to wait for the bus to Leanne to the Sheep and Wool Centre ...which was to be the start of my journey...only for that bus not to come. After half an hour waiting, I popped into a shop across the road. The last bus to Leanne went three weeks ago and the next one would be next June. I'd been going by the Bus Eireann timetables on their website. The woman was rather sympathetic and told me they are totally useless...it's a state run company and people that work there don't really give a shit...jobs for life and pensions and I'd be better off using the private bus companies. This was echoed to me a few times by various people throughout the day and felt a bit uncomfortable...in the UK where just about everything but the air is privatised, and everyone's on zero hour contracts...state run companies for public services seems like utopia, and growing up with the misery of Thatcherism, I've always thought that would be much better...And supporters of Corbyn appear to agree. But listening to people, and my own experiences of this bus company (which were to get worse) got me thinking. ...this is how privatisation and Thatcherism happened isn't it....people being frustrated by public services letting them down and adding to the difficulties of their daily lives. Of course in Britain it's fine way beyond that now...public services are now being deliberately run down to asset strip, and job security is almost non-existent. But we have to be really careful of we do renationalise....because it's so easy for people to lose faith....it's not the magic bullet that will make eveything ok again as some quarters would suggest...
Anyway...sorry for that boringly political tangent...let's get back to knitting! I didn't feel confident hitching to Leenane, about 26 miles away and I didn't fancy getting stuck in any of those marathon miles, so I looked around Clifden and saw a clothes shop with some yarn in the window. Went in and was greeted by a beaming smile! I talked to the lady, Chinny, found some lovely merino in just the colour one of my pledgers had requested. I recognised her accent and I explained my aunt was Nigerian, my uncle lived there for 50 years so I had a lot of Nigerian family. She asked my aunt's maiden name and she was delighted....We are most definitely family she said. It felt very serendipitous....Of all the yarn shops I could have walked into...so my first yarn seller and we will keep in touch. She told me how much she loved the Connemara, the landscape and the people. And I can see what she means. It is very friendly, when you're walking, even every driver you pass waves and smiles...
So I got on the bus back towards Galway...but then I felt a bit bloody minded. Leenane was the first place I embroidered on my map...it is a centre set up to preserve the yarn traditions of the Connemara and I know I would regret if I missed it, so I checked my maps...one point in the route was much closer to Leenane, so I thought I'd risk hitching the 12 miles. I checked with the driver that there were more buses back to Galway. She said yes, definitely two more but check the website for the exact times. I laughed. So I checked at the hotel where the bus stop was, in the middle of nowhere really (it looked a wondeful, and very expensive, place to stay) the hotel staff said yes there were two more buses passing (though they were usually half an hour late. So I had 3 hours. I got to Leenane in two hitches...the first one also had a daughter in London and had just been there to a wedding (do they all say this to everyone????) The second were a Welsh speaking couple...interestingly as we passed the sign informing that we were entering the Gaeltacht (the Irish speaking place) and all the road signs started to be only in Irish instead of both, what I was hearing was Welsh. So I made it to the Sheep and Wool Centre ! I'm beautiful Leenane! But....I felt very rushed so I couldn't look around the village- what I saw of which was beyond gorgeous....but I felt too anxious about not getting a ride and missing the bus. So I whizzed in and out of the Sheep and Wool Centre, and didn't see their Connemara craft museum....And so maybe it wasn't really worth my journey ...because as a yarn shop....they were pretty limited, all Donegal yarns....which I really do like.. but you can find them in any shop in the northern half of this island....no Connemara wool despite the plentiful snow-white sheep all around. And as it turned out, I needn't have rushed, I could have seen the whole museum and the whole village....I hitched back with 45 minutes to spare for a bus that never came. Bus eireann again....I then had to wait another two hours for the private bus to come, and got rather cold. Was so grateful though when I did get back to Galway....Kathrein had made a wondeful roast dinner...we had a lovely talk about things....as wise as she is kind....that is a lovely combination....
Anyway, will stop rambling on here, and get back to rambling physically....onwards to Ennis now!
Love and light to you all, Billy xxx
It's a rainy morning here in beautiful Galway, and Atlantic Thread has finally begun! Of course, like everything, it's not gone exactly to plan...some things way better, others not quite so much!
I arrived here in Ireland on Monday, at Shannon airport and smoothly took the bus to Galway and walked through its really beautiful streets in the drizzle to be welcomed wonderfully by the aunt and cousin of my close friend Monica. I felt very lucky to be staying in such a beautiful home and treated so kindly by strangers. Kathrein is an expert knitter and has made many beautiful things in all kinds of craft, so it was great to spend my first evening here with a kindred spirit.
The next morning I set off for the Connemara...two hours by bus to Clifden through an awe inspiring landscape of lakes, ponds, mountains and shadows. Both days I was there were a mix of drizzle and sun, I guess the perfect combination to as it as the colours were ever-changing, the shapes ever-shifting. I stopped in a pub in Clifden for a Guiness and they played 'Ramble On', by Led Zeppelin as soon as I walked in...there couldn't have been anything more appropriate to begin the trip; I told the barman what I was doing, and he told me I was a mad bastard.
And so ramble on I did...I walked over 6 miles from there to my campsite.carrying all my stuff made it a little bit difficult, sweet wild blackberries made it a little bit easy! Clifden Eco Park is a stunningly beautiful campsite, and the guy who runs it really is walking the walk about environmental consciousness....it is very isolated, by the shores of the Atlantic. Tent pitches are in dips so you don't feel the wind, nor is your tent blown about by it. I've stayed in a few seaside campsites, but no one else has been so thoughtful. Of course, the first thing I did on setting up my tent was walk (like five steps) into the beach and had a freezing dip. It as marvellous.. but reminded me that I cannot live on blackberries alone! I always need to eat after being in the water, I don't know why. It was 4 miles to walk to the nearest village with a pub that did hot food...walking without backpacks feels quite blissful after walking with them, and the views were lovely, and I noticed my first Irish bog on the way back....I never really knew what they looked like...now I do. Am crossing my fingers that I don't fall into one....
Waking up by the Atlantic Ocean yesterday was marvellous! But my legs did feel the walking of the day before. So after packing up, I decided to get and hitch back to Clifden for the bus to Leenane. I haven't hitched in over 20 years, and only ever in Brittany, but to my amazement it worked within a mile. Of course he asked where I was from, he's off to a wedding in Stoke Newington next week and his daughter lives in Mile End. London is of course a city to which most Irish people have some connection. I had a delicious breakfast in Clifden and then set to wait for the bus to Leanne to the Sheep and Wool Centre ...which was to be the start of my journey...only for that bus not to come. After half an hour waiting, I popped into a shop across the road. The last bus to Leanne went three weeks ago and the next one would be next June. I'd been going by the Bus Eireann timetables on their website. The woman was rather sympathetic and told me they are totally useless...it's a state run company and people that work there don't really give a shit...jobs for life and pensions and I'd be better off using the private bus companies. This was echoed to me a few times by various people throughout the day and felt a bit uncomfortable...in the UK where just about everything but the air is privatised, and everyone's on zero hour contracts...state run companies for public services seems like utopia, and growing up with the misery of Thatcherism, I've always thought that would be much better...And supporters of Corbyn appear to agree. But listening to people, and my own experiences of this bus company (which were to get worse) got me thinking. ...this is how privatisation and Thatcherism happened isn't it....people being frustrated by public services letting them down and adding to the difficulties of their daily lives. Of course in Britain it's fine way beyond that now...public services are now being deliberately run down to asset strip, and job security is almost non-existent. But we have to be really careful of we do renationalise....because it's so easy for people to lose faith....it's not the magic bullet that will make eveything ok again as some quarters would suggest...
Anyway...sorry for that boringly political tangent...let's get back to knitting! I didn't feel confident hitching to Leenane, about 26 miles away and I didn't fancy getting stuck in any of those marathon miles, so I looked around Clifden and saw a clothes shop with some yarn in the window. Went in and was greeted by a beaming smile! I talked to the lady, Chinny, found some lovely merino in just the colour one of my pledgers had requested. I recognised her accent and I explained my aunt was Nigerian, my uncle lived there for 50 years so I had a lot of Nigerian family. She asked my aunt's maiden name and she was delighted....We are most definitely family she said. It felt very serendipitous....Of all the yarn shops I could have walked into...so my first yarn seller and we will keep in touch. She told me how much she loved the Connemara, the landscape and the people. And I can see what she means. It is very friendly, when you're walking, even every driver you pass waves and smiles...
So I got on the bus back towards Galway...but then I felt a bit bloody minded. Leenane was the first place I embroidered on my map...it is a centre set up to preserve the yarn traditions of the Connemara and I know I would regret if I missed it, so I checked my maps...one point in the route was much closer to Leenane, so I thought I'd risk hitching the 12 miles. I checked with the driver that there were more buses back to Galway. She said yes, definitely two more but check the website for the exact times. I laughed. So I checked at the hotel where the bus stop was, in the middle of nowhere really (it looked a wondeful, and very expensive, place to stay) the hotel staff said yes there were two more buses passing (though they were usually half an hour late. So I had 3 hours. I got to Leenane in two hitches...the first one also had a daughter in London and had just been there to a wedding (do they all say this to everyone????) The second were a Welsh speaking couple...interestingly as we passed the sign informing that we were entering the Gaeltacht (the Irish speaking place) and all the road signs started to be only in Irish instead of both, what I was hearing was Welsh. So I made it to the Sheep and Wool Centre ! I'm beautiful Leenane! But....I felt very rushed so I couldn't look around the village- what I saw of which was beyond gorgeous....but I felt too anxious about not getting a ride and missing the bus. So I whizzed in and out of the Sheep and Wool Centre, and didn't see their Connemara craft museum....And so maybe it wasn't really worth my journey ...because as a yarn shop....they were pretty limited, all Donegal yarns....which I really do like.. but you can find them in any shop in the northern half of this island....no Connemara wool despite the plentiful snow-white sheep all around. And as it turned out, I needn't have rushed, I could have seen the whole museum and the whole village....I hitched back with 45 minutes to spare for a bus that never came. Bus eireann again....I then had to wait another two hours for the private bus to come, and got rather cold. Was so grateful though when I did get back to Galway....Kathrein had made a wondeful roast dinner...we had a lovely talk about things....as wise as she is kind....that is a lovely combination....
Anyway, will stop rambling on here, and get back to rambling physically....onwards to Ennis now!
Love and light to you all, Billy xxx
Lovely post. You make me want to visit Ireland so much!
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear your stories once more and happy you are of to a good start; flexibility and acceptance that some things are preordained. Sending love and sunshine xx
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Looking forward to the next one!
ReplyDelete