Visit to Co Donegal and Co Sligo

Pressure was building up at work place as I took on a new role which also means that I have moved away from my comfort zone and hence the pressure. The easter weekend was just around the corner. With a few of my colleagues we planned to head north of Ireland and make no further plan.

Booked the car and booked an accommodation in both places being ignorant to even check how far was this accommodation from the County capital. Ready with our luggage and snacks to eat on Friday morning, with prayers to good lord begun our journey. We did forget to pray to the GPS god and hence the GPS was not working, headed to the rental and got a brand new Garmin and off we went. The rental car was a Toyota Avensis. The car is fantastic; effortless drive. One can never hear the engine reving high or tyres screeching. But this was definitely not my kind of car. All the while I felt so disconnected from the road. It was like driving a virtual car, but the journey had to go on. Our First destination was Donegal and en-route we took an accidental detour which was the best accident. The road led us to mountain tops where carpets of snow enticed us to stop not once, but thrice. Literally we had a ball and then we realised that the accommodation is at the extreme corner of the county. That was the northern most tip of Ireland and this was again a fantastic accidental booking. The tiny village of dunfanaghy has inspired Artists and Poets for centuries.

Day two started off with a drive to the Horn head to see some of the deadliest cliffs. Some of them more than 650 high. Way back we decided to be a little more adventurous so decided to take a hike through a nature reserve to a secluded beach. Not many tourists get to this place. The nature reserve is three mile sand dune covered area with thousands of borrows of Hares.

The beach was like what Jodie foster saw after going though the space worm machine in the Movie 'Contact' .
Absolutely serene and pristine. Made me wanna stay there but had to move on and picked up a pebble that I have on my desk at office to remind me of the tranquility I experienced. There was lake called the "New found lake" on the other side of the reserve. Its' called so, because overnight a storm blew sand off the shores and closed the strait locking up water in the land. Earlier the sand was held by tall reeds which was cut during WWII for bedding. My friends wated to enjoy the scenic coast , we decided to take the Atlantic drive which is 40 kms longer. That was a bad idea. The Roads not only swung left to right but was bobbing up and down as well. Two of of three had to spill things out the way It went in.

Driving towards the destination Sligo we drove through the Glengesh pass.
More than the beauty of the valley what amazed me was the weather. In under five minutes we experienced bright sun shine, followed by few seconds of rain, then by savage hail storm pelting that made us run for cover then as we shut the doors the sun was out mocking at our helter-skelter run.We reached our second destination in Sligo, called the Arrow head.

Day three begun with much joy thanks to the hospitality of the BnB host.He guided us to a Raptor center and to some ancient tombs. The Rator center was the highlight.
The German family took care of more than 170 different species of birds of prey. Most of the birds that could easily disembowel a medium size mammal was in harmony with peacocks and cockerel. These birds hunt when hungry and not for fun. Some fantastic demonstrations of these skilled aviators made me feel my existence is insignificant. They could spot a shard of meat from hundreds of meters across and fly to it with such pace and accuracy that even my DSLR could not catch up.

I gained a new sense of respect for these aviators and realized their importance for the eco system. Some interesting facts

1 .It seems the eagles always hunts for the weak and ailing prey, not the ones that are healthy.

That is because they want the healthy to reproduce to provide more food.

2.The female eagle is 33% larger than male because, then in the same territory both can prey on different sized preys.

3.Vultures have bald head so that they can easily get into the crevices of carcass to pull out meat and they do not hunt. they have to soar in air for longer hence they have the longest wingspan so that they can stay in air without flapping.

After spending a couple of hours which was literally flew past us , we headed to the tombs at the creekwell. These tombs are more than five thousand years old and one can spot many of such tombs atop all the mountains nearby. I just wonder what was going though the mind of the people then. The weather turned hostile and we had to descend. On the final return had a minor accident which was totally accidental but not a favored one; while reversing the car bumped into a pole and broke the tail lamps.It did dampen the spirit a little. Thanks to the extra insurance which total covered us which was a great relief. We reached Dublin 860 kms later.

But honestly my mind still wanders there in the far north west Ireland.

For more pictures you can click on the link below

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/badri.nair/VisitToDonegalSligo#

Meetup at Stephens Green park

Nothing much to say, but it was another meetup activity by the Dublin amateur meetup group.

http://www.meetup.com/Dublinamateurphotographer/

It had been a long time since I joined them. The weather was reasonable and so I headed out. I met my Philippino friend Rey and his friend another Rey, who had brought along a fantastic D700 camera with some fantastic lens. the 70-300 VR!! Richard was the professional Nikonian of the group and he for one had superb exposure to every culture in the world. When I told him that I am from Bangalore he greeted me with "Namaskara" . My surprise was written all over my face. Ronanld was a German project manager who got into photography just the way I did and in love with it. We took some good snaps and here are the pictures if you fancy them

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/badri.nair/StephensGreen#

Visit to Dalkey Castle

Irish weather has turned around in the past few weeks and its been splendid. To prove the same the birds acknowledged with their sweet chirps and songs. To make the most of It, as usual I googled up a palce that is nearby. Dalkey is an island jsut off the coast of the seaside town of Dunloghaire and it has a great history. Before the Dublin and Dun laoghaire harbour were built to accomdate the larger merchant ships that needed deeper waters Dalkey was the main harbor to Dublin. Merchant ships offloaded their goods here and over road merchandise was carried over. After a few fatalities at Dalkey the harbour was built in late 1800's. To protect the warehouse at Dalkey small forts were built and the one I visited today was one of the best preserved Dalkey castle which is now a heritage center. To my surprise this was one of the best experience I have had of a historic site. There were two hostesses who were dressed the old ways and talked the old talk.

The first one was a housekeeper who told us how the archers would attack the ever present looters and what food was the most sought after. If you insist I will tell you that it was boar brain and boar eyeball stew. They even had an olden version of WC there which was in first floor, the house keepers duty is to flush it with a bucket after everyone uses it and shout out to notify soldiers below to stay clear and not to lookup or open their mouth. She even told her that she is totally looking forward to her bath which will be on her birthday every year. Following her amusing and entertaining presentation was the barber surgeon. Back in those days both profession was one and the same. She showed some of her archaic medical tools. Tools that she use to use to remove a tooth or amputate. Her philosophy is remove all the good tooth before they go bad and tonsure before you catch fleas. One of her first steps in diagnosis is taste the urine.'eeeewwwww'.
She sang the song ,which is to invite the people of the town to her for a medical treatment.

I loved how the atmosphere was created by these two artist, they kept addressing us as 'My lords' and for the contemporary answers I gave them they looked dumb found. The penultimate part of the heritage center was a DVD video presentation of Dalkey's history and then a tour by the grave yard and Church. I was impressed and it did get reflected on the Guests comments book.

I cycled around the Dun laoghaire town to end a very gratifying weekend.

For more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/badri.nair/DalkeyCastle#

St Patricks day, 2010

This is my second Paddy's day in Dublin. I remember the first one where it was a huge group of us who went together and this time it was just me. Its like recession took a toll. Most of them were'nt in Dublin anymore. On the contrary this year the Parade was much grander in scale. Bigger floats and more people. It really made Dublin come alive; if you ask me. The royal family did not make an appearance in the Royal chariot this time, but other than that things went about in a much more pompous way than I had expected. There was a huge turnout of people and clinging on to the rails were some Spanish folks, right behind them was me an Indian, left to me was a French family with their daughter and to my right was a Japaneese newely married couple and behind me was a Romaninan old couple. It truly brought a feeling of unity amongst different races across the world all trying to catch a glimpse of what beautiful Ireland has to offer. I adore this country.

For more pictures

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/badri.nair/StPatricksDay2010#

Rangantittu

It was last weekend in Bangalore and the last thing I wanted to do is spend it doing nothing at home.I was yearning to take my new cute little car out on the highway and see what she could do. At 8 am switched on the TV for some news and thats when i heard that many migratory birds have flocked down to one of India's finest bird sanctuary ; Rangantittu. Two birds , one shot!. Called up my sister and asked her to be ready within one hour and by 9 am we are out on the road heading to this destination 110 km from home. The news was true, there were more than 20 species of birds and the density was at least 3 birds for every sq ft.Most of these birds from Russia and Europe. Went around in a boat and saw these masters of air basking in the sun. With such concentration of birds, the stench was intolerable. The tall bamboo shoots was dotted with bats hanging upside down. I for one first thought it was bin bags lifted by the wind into the bamboo thorns. The river has more than thirty crocodiles which sometimes were very near to the boat but seemed to be docile. Atleast I was told that way by the boats-man. Just a few kilometers from there was my uncles house, dropped by there for a quick lunch and catch up and headed back home. For the ornithologist in you here are some pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/badri.nair/Ranganathitu#

Hogenikal falls

On one of my visits to my cousins place when they came down to walk us till the parking lot is when an idea of all of the bangalore settled cousins going out for a picnic struck me. From then on it snowballed into being a reality. I love long drives anyway and hence we decide to go to the border of karnataka and tamil nadu. One of natures wonders was there, the Hogenikal falls. Its a deep gorge with each shore belonging to the two rival states. My mom packed breakfast for 14 of us and in three cars five families headed off. Stopped for packed breakfast at a jungle and then we reached the tourist spot to hire three saucer shaped boats for a fantastic four hour joy ride. There were more than twenty different falls where with utter delight we were soaked in some of the lighter ones.

We stopped at a shore for a long relaxing swim/paddle in the shallow river. Fresh fish was caught by the local fisher men which was fried right in front of us for sheer pleasure for some of my hungry fish loving cat of a cousin.The 190 km long road was pothole less and pleasure to drive.

Honestly I did miss my partner more than once during the trip.

Here are some pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/badri.nair/HogenikalFalls#

First Wheelz

We had an old Diesel hatch back since donkeys years as the beast of burden. With my family I did go on yet another trip to my native place .i.e Kasargod. On the return trip, the final leg of the jorney, the last kilometre to my home is when the car broke down. That is when I decided that my parents deserve better and I had a few choices in the market, but you know when it comes to choices, it takes time. Time is one thing not on my side. I headed straight to the general Motors showroom and booked the hottest hatch in town. The bookings were way too high that I asked them for the high end Display piece. On 24 th of Jan I got my not so cute little red hot Chevy. It has a pointy nose and an aggressive stance. Its poise definitely stands out compared to the rest of all the small hatch backs. its peppy 1.2 litre engine, ready to unleash 80 horse display a very zippy performance in the congested, Bangalore traffic.I am enjoying it. Now I finally reveal the name, its the Chevy BEAT.

http://picasaweb.google.com/badri.nair/MyBeat#