Meeting Damien in Ireland

Yes this is a long blog but its because we really are having fun in Ireland I don’t know how we are going to do it in only two weeks.

Trevor had contacted another biker from Ireland on the net before we left, Damien, it was funny because I was saying I hope hes not some weirdo guy and we are never to be heard of again? Well when we got into our Hotel that night we gave him a call and we agreed to meet the next day and he would show us Ireland. We set out at 9am and it was nice and sunny, stopped to fill the bike up, it cost a wopping $36 euro the most expensive fill yet, yes Ireland is expensive! We set off to meet Damien and I could still smell gas so we stopped to check and it was spewing out of the tank, Trev thought it had been damaged in shipping but then we remembered the guys in Montreal replaced the fuel gauge monitor as it was sticking and it was the seal that had not been put back properly. Hmm what to do, so anyway we managed to find a 3’ hosepipe and Trev sucked back the gas and let it run on the road, not good but what else could we do, once it had got down past the seal it was ok. Trevs mouth burnt a bit and after a few swigs of water and a bunch of gum he said he was ok!!

Damien was there at the bridge waiting for us, he turned out to be a great Irish lad and took us all over, first we went for a coffee and he presented us with a family custom of his, when people go travelling, he gave each of us a silver ring with the Trinity Knot symbol on it. Significance of the endless Trinity Knot to travellers is noted throughout history as its use was to represent a journey (or The Journey) which has no end or beginning, where its path is intertwined with the paths of others throughout The Journey of Life, how lovely is that. It was accompanied by a scroll with the poem on it :-

The Travellers Prayer

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And the rains fall soft upon your tracks

And until we meet again

May God hold you safely in the palm of His hand.

Wow what a guy and what an honor we were both very touched indeed and had big lumps in our throats! and we’d only just met him.

We all got along great, he is a charming, happy, funny guy who was thrilled to show us his beautiful country, he was very knowledgeable on the local area and its history and very confident on his bike too. It was great for Trevor to be able to follow him seeing as how we are on the wrong side of the road here. He took us out of Dublin and within minutes we were driving along the coast road towards Dun Laoghaire, he said this was the ritzy area that Van Morrison and Enya have homes in, it is beautiful. Ireland is not very big so within minutes of leaving any of the cities you can be on country roads and just when you think you have seen the prettiest road it keeps getting better, it is very lush and beautiful here. There is still a lot of farming, this is where I have seen the most cows, mostly milk cows and it has fields and fields of barley and hops, apparently Guinness buys 45% of all hops and barley grown here for the beer. They are still very much into protecting the heritage of this country and the culture, along with the Irish language which is not English although so far most people speak English. Damien took us to heritage sites like Glendalough and the ruins of its 6th century monastery, founded by St. Kevin, then over the spectacular high passes, deep wooded valleys and rolling foothills of the Wicklow Mountains and thru the Sally Gap, this area is flanked by heather and blanket bog. This road was made to flush out rebels after the 1798 rebellion, in the winter it is impassable as it gets snow on it and can be closed for weeks. It made for a bumpy ride as the road is built on peat bog so its not a very good road, hard on the back. County Wicklow is known as the garden of Ireland, with its forests, lakes and waterfalls and its country estates, it lives up to its reputation, it’s a photographers dream. I have never seen such old and large gravestones before dating way way back. You really cant imagine what went on here all those years ago, Guinness itself was founded in 1759 and its just a beer. I promised Damien that I wouldn’t rat him out and tell anyone about the scones and fresh cream and jam we enjoyed at the resort he took us too, so I wont, oops! But I really enjoyed them myself.

We got back to the hotel that night around 10pm and crashed, then up the next day for more of a tour, first however we needed to get the bike leak fixed so we went straight to the local BMW dealership and they took us right in and fixed everything for only $47 euro. We rode out to Bray the town Damien grew up in had a coffee there before another two hour ride to his moms house in Rosslare Harbour for a late lunch. His mom was great she had a very nice lunch ready for us and it was fun to see Damien with her and how they are so alike, both very adventurous people and they obviously have a great relationship.

Then onto our B & B at Patricias house for the night, which was right on the water, his mom had booked us in, it was a friend of hers. Its was great and when we arrived these two other people came in and you are not going to believe this but they are from Nanaimo and she worked at the University and knew our clients who bought one of our houses in Hawthorne subdivision, small world hey. They are travelling for 3 weeks in Ireland, England and Wales, Damien couldn’t believe it.

We got settled in and then met up with Damien later for dinner and a pint and eventually ended up closing the pub down at one in the morning and had to say our goodbyes, its always the hardest part about meeting new friends, the goodbyes. We must have covered every topic that night, it was like we had known each other for ever, thanks again Damien we will not forget your willingness to carry us thru your world and eagerness to share your country with us and the pride you have in it, it really is very wonderful, come see us in Canada when we get back. Onto Cobh tomorrow, lets hope it dosnt rain too much.

One thing about this world we are travelling thru that never ceases to amaze me, is the people, how lovely they are and how we are really all the same and we all want the same things, peace, love, happiness and fun, it was great meeting Damien and there is no doubt we got to see things we simply wouldn’t have seen if we hadnt.

More of Ireland to come -chenty