Croagh Patrick

Monday, 16th September, 2019.

The view from my window at Kathy's in County Mayo.  So green!

Croagh Patrick (750 metres), which overlooks Clew Bay in County Mayo, is considered the holiest mountain in Ireland.  It is renowned for its pilgrimage to the top, in honour of St Patrick, Ireland's patron saint.  According to tradition, St Patrick fasted here for 40 days and nights in 441AD.

Each year, The Reek, as it is colloquially known, attracts about 1 million pilgrims. On 'Reek Sunday', the last Sunday in July, over 25,000 pilgrims visit the Reek and climb to the top, where mass is celebrated at midnight.  

Kathy has done the pilgrimage to the top ten times, Tommie can't remember how many times, but lots.

And here is St Patrick himself.

St Patrick's view of Clew Bay.

Heather on the hill.

"The oak and the ash and the bonnie rowan tree."
You just have to imagine the oak and the ash.

I'd like to say I am just on my way down from the top, but unfortunately that would not be true.

South Harrow to Kilmeena

Sunday, 15th September, 2019.

Getting from Ilona’s place in London to Kathy’s on the west coast of Ireland was a complicated process.  I had elected to travel to Ireland on Ryanair with just cabin baggage, but the maximum dimensions for one cabin bag were only large enough for not much more than a toothbrush, so I made a last minute decision to upgrade to two small cabin bags.

Ilona drove me to Harrow-on-the-Hill station as there was track work around the local stations, but there was also a road diversion and we had to drive round and round a bit.  Anyway, I caught the Tube to Liverpool Street and then the Stansted Express (just) where I finalized all the online form-filling-in to upgrade my ticket to two small cabin bags.

Stansted Airport is the largest people-processing establishment I’ve ever been processed in.  Even more complicated than the dreaded LA Airport, as I think that from Stansted you can fly to every town in Europe that has more than ten people.  There are signs up telling you how long it will take to walk to the various gates (e.g. 20 minutes) as well as gates where you take a train.  

I got into trouble three times at Stansted:

11.      For not printing my upgraded boarding pass.  (Well, I was on the Stansted Express when I ordered it, with limited access to a printer.)

22.     For not packing my security inspection crate properly.

33.     For having some undeclared face cream in my bag.  In my upgrading rush, I missed putting this particular cream into the separate see-through plastic bag for the security inspection.  This involved having this bag placed in a separate line and then having it completely unpacked in front of me (and everyone else) until the offending cream was found.  Luckily, I had arrived the stipulated two hours early so still had time for the long walk to the gate.

When we left Stansted, you could look down, on this beautiful sunny day, to England’s ordered countryside.  I was looking forward to seeing the Irish Sea, and then Ireland coming into view, but suddenly it clouded over, and stayed cloudy all the way to Knock, where it was raining lightly – a real novelty for me, as I hadn’t seen rain for weeks, maybe months.

Kathy, Amy and Tommie. 

It was so good to see Kathy and Tommie again.  Kathy worked out that we have been friends for 47 years.  We’ve had a few adventures in that time.

Amy and Hamish.

Amy is currently working in Dublin, staying with her brother Matthew.  She comes home every second weekend, a four hour drive right across Ireland.  Hamish (Amy’s dog) stays in Mayo, much to Tommie’s delight I think.  I was very grateful that Amy waited to say hello to me before driving back to Dublin.

Kathy and Tommie outside Matt Molloy’s bar in Westport.

Matt Molloy was in the famous Irish band the Chieftains, who(m) I had seen in Australia, many years ago.

We went in by the back door, down an alley. 

Tommie said I should photograph it, because of the Guinness sign.  The bar was tiny and crowded, standing room only, as there was a session on.  Everyone was very friendly.

Someone kindly gave me a seat in the front, because I was a visitor (and short), so I could photograph the musicians, who were very good.

Great music, great atmosphere, great night.

Iconic London

Saturday, 14th September, 2019.

The weather was still blue-sky spectacular, so Ilona, Alexis and I set off to check out some of London's iconic sights.  (So did a lot of other people.) 

First stop - Trafalgar Square.  Nelson is still on his column.

Children are still climbing around his lions.

The National Gallery.

When I lived in London, I used to pop in and visit Van Gogh's Sunflowers whenever I was in the city.  I was quite delighted to see that it is still a major drawcard (see above.)  Not that the gallery needs to advertise - it was packed.  More about the National Gallery in a later blog.

A London bus and a London taxi in the one shot.

We walked up the Mall to Buckingham Palace.  The cool shade of St James' Park looked very inviting on this very warm day.

Queen Victoria's Monument (she's facing us) and Buckingham Palace came into view.

The Royal Gardeners have been industrious outside the palace, and the people were obeying the polite "Please Keep Off the Grass" sign.

Queen Victoria's Monument without the palace.  (She's facing back down the Mall, on the right hand side.)

The Palace without Queen Victoria's Monument.  Looks as though they're doing some badly needed cleaning.  Only the Union Jack was flying today (well, hardly flying, more like hanging limply in the warm weather),  As the Royal Standard wasn't flying, the Queen isn't home.  Maybe at a beach somewhere.

With the Queen away, it looks as though some of the guards get to go to the beach as well.  Only token guarding today.

The balcony above this guard is the one where the Royal Family come out and wave on special occasions.  No Royal Family today, only one token guard.  These pictures are a bit blurry, as they're taken from a long way off, between the railings of the front fence.  And you have to queue up to get to the railings to poke your phone through.

And oh dear, the sign reads "No guard changing ceremony today."

These guards, who (I know it should be whom, but who/whom says whom any more?) we caught marching off when our turn came to look through the railings, must have changed unceremoniously.

We walked back through St James' Park.  If you look closely, you can see a squirrel at the water's edge.

The park also features cormorants (pictured) and pelicans (not pictured).

We walked across the large open space where they hold the Trooping the Colour, to see the Horse Guards on their potentially kicking, biting horses.

Being naturally cautious, I elected to have the obligatory photo taken with a Horse Guard without a horse.  Although he was behind a chain, I didn't think he would kick or bite.

Then onto 10 Downing Street.  This is the best photo I could get to prove I was actually here.

I thought "the door" was the one with the curved top that you can see in this picture, but when I checked with pictures online, I think that "the door" is along the wall near the flowers in this picture.  Oh well.

Didn't have much luck with Big Ben either.  Here it is all wrapped up in scaffolding etc.  The Houses of Parliament were similarly hiding.

At least Boadicea and her daughters were still galloping along beside the Thames.

And the London Eye was still majestically turning.

Standing on Westminster Bridge, we watched this cruise boat disgorging its crowds of passengers one at a time, while hundreds more waited to take their places.  We left before they did.

Going home, we had to leave the tube at Harrow-on-the- Hill and take a bus the rest of the way because of track work.  This was pretty special for me, as this used to be my station.

The Old Haunts

Friday, 13th September, 2019.

It was a stunningly beautiful day, and Ilona and Alexis took me out to see some local sights, as well as to my old stamping ground of Harrow-on-the-Hill.  Here they are at home, in South Harrow.

The Manor Farm House, Ruislip, built c1508.  Manorial courts were held here until 1925.

The Great Barn, Ruislip, is the oldest timber-framed barn in Greater London.  It was built c1500 during the reign of Edward 1 to store the crops and other produce of Ruislip Manor.  Today it is used for markets and other community activities.

Ruislip bowling green and library.

St Martin's Church, Ruislip, dates back to the 13th century.

Ilona was baptised in this font in St Martin's Church.

I've seen lots of English things already, such as holly (with berries!), oak trees and acorns, chestnut trees and conkers, and squirrels.

The Ruislip Lido Reservoir was dug in 1811 to feed the Grand Junction Canal and to provide drinking water to the Paddington area of London.  In the 1930s, the canal company turned the lake into the Lido with boating, swimming and fishing, and a family-friendly beach was added.
Today, there is blue green algae in the water, so there is no more boating, swimming of fishing, but there are very pleasant walks around the Lido. Lots of people were sunbathing on the sand, which English people seem to rush out to do on those occasions when the sun actually comes out.

We had lunch at the very floral Old Orchard Pub at Harefield.

Lunch outside, enjoying the flowers and the view.

Some of the view and some of the flowers.  The view was over the lake and canal with house boats.

Some more of the flowers.

The flat in Harrow where I used to live.  We had the upstairs, and downstairs was an Indian curry bulk supply shop, so the flat always smelt of curry.  One day, I went out without my key, and my flatmate had gone away for the weekend.  My friend Kathy knew someone who had a ladder and we borrowed it and carried it here from a few blocks away.   I climbed up to the window at the top left and scrambled through it onto the floor and was surprised to find my flatmate calmly sitting there reading a book.  She hadn't gone away after all.
Pat proposed to me in this flat on a visit from Australia, before he and Ian sailed their boat from Spain to Tahiti.  I said yes.

Sunrise to Sunrise

Friday, 13th September, 2019.

Viridian sunrise.

Heathrow sunrise.

I left Viridian as the sun was rising and arrived at Heathrow as the sun was rising the next day - but there were 31 hours between each sunrise, sitting in a plane and changing planes at Kuala Lumpur.