Gareth John's Blog

The Irish Rover (or more accurately, 'Fiesta')!

Before I go any further, let me just wish you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I first visited Ireland as a 17-year-old, having just passed my driving test. Together with an old friend, we took my little Fiesta on the car-ferry from Holyhead and spent two amazing weeks discovering a country which I’ve loved ever since.

And there is so much to love about Ireland: its culture, its rugged countryside (especially in the far south-west around Kerry), its musical heritage. But two things will strike you more than anything else when you make your first visit to the Emerald Isle: the people and the blarney. Boy can the Irish tell a story. The tales are more than likely of the tall nature, but that never stops them being compelling and hilarious. Actually, there’s a third thing that will strike more anything else...the Guinness! It’s all in the Liffey water. As one old Irish fella told once in a dusty Dublin bar “the only way Guinness travels is in your stomach!”

It’s a wonderful place to visit, so rich in life. And if you fancing wetting the appetite on the eccentricities of Ireland, get yourself a copy of Tony Hawks 'Round Ireland With A Fridge'. The stories he recounts in this tale of thumbing a lift with only a piece of kitchen furniture for company will have you in stitches. And unlike some of the blarney you’ll hear when your actually there, his stories are utterly believable.

Go visit!

Love
Gx

Posted by Gareth John on March 17, 2008 at 09:31AM

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