IRELAND - THE EMERALD ISLE

As usual, I manipulate the dates and post times to keep the blog in chronological order when you open the blog. Read top to bottom and the newest postings have the oldest dates. At end, or bottom  of page, click on "older posts" to get the newer posts.

I was originally going to walk the Camino  Francaise again this year, but a chat with good friends who wanted to do a marathon walk, in the wine bar, ( well, not a marathon walk IN the WINE BAR, the talk was in the wine bar) resulted in a change of plan due to a restriction of time. I am so fortunate to have these friends, and Im excited to say that my best buddy from hawaii, the Hawain Hurricane, Caroline, is coming along with us.
 The plan is for four of us to walk both the Dingle Peninsular in Southern Ireland, and then three of us to branch onto the Ring of Kerry trail for the rest of the hike. This will be a total of approx. 250 miles, or 400 Kilometers.
 Most people dont realize that when talking about Ireland and England in the same breath, they are talking about Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland is an independent republic, better known as the Republic of Ireland.
Ireland as a whole was settled many thousands of years ago, but it wasnt until the Norman invasion in the late 12th century, that began the rule buy the English monarchy.
After many subsequent parliaments, uprisings and rebellions,  Ireland became  known as the Irish Free State , but after the death of King George V in 1937, a new constitution changed the name to Eire (Ireland), and removed all mention of the monarchy. In 1949 Eire was declared the republic, and the only part of the main island that retained the monarchical system is Northern Ireland.

 The patron Saint of Ireland is Saint Patrick, who I was named after, people who know me can attest to that,,,,Im sure.

Saint Patrick was a 5th century Romano-British missionary ( he wasnt actually Irish). As a 16 year old child, he was kidnapped from his home in England by pirates, and taken to Ireland to work as an animal handler, where after  6 years he escaped, and fought his way back to his family in England. Because of a vision he had ( his family were very religious), he returned to Ireland and became a bishop during the 5th century. There is very little information in the archives which indicate  where he exactly served in Ireland, but  folk law about him abounds.
 He is credited with banishing ALL snakes out of Ireland, and he used a Shamrock during an illustrated parable, which then led to the Shamrock becoming the national Irish symbol.
People use all sorts of names to talk about the British Isles, from England to Great Briton, to The United Kingdom, whats interesting to note is that ALL these places exist, but are different.
So, to clear that up, Great Britain, is really England , Scotland, and Wales
England is just exactly that, England


United Kingdom, is England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the proper name is actually,"The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"
 The national flag is the "Union Flag", more commonly referred to as the Union Jack. The Union Jack is really believed to be a reference to  the Naval forces of the British Empire, or the naval flag.
Anyway, the Union Flag (Union Jack), is made up representing three of the four areas
The red cross in the middle  represents St George of England
The white saltire is for St Andrew of Scotland
the red saltire is for St Patrick ( they could have used my photo) of Ireland
and poor Wales doesnt get a mention.

This is going to be fun to walk with these friends, truth is, that when you walk these trails, you are very rarely walking with someone. After the morning starts and chitter chatter fades out, you walk at different paces, and generally  retreat into your mind.

This isnt one of those ancient spiritual journeys like the three Caminos I have done, or the 88 Temple walk in Japan, or even the West Highland Way in Scotland (my favorite). Having said that, all these hikes do bring to one an awareness and clarity, sometimes to love, life or in retrospect, the world as a whole. That may sound crazy, but one has to walk to find out,,,,,, I walk.
I have been walking just a little, to train for this hike, in the boots that I used in Japan. Those who followed that walk know well of the struggles I had with my ankles and knees after all that asphalt, well I can now feel my toes slightly touching the toe box at the end of the shoe, this tells me the boot body has stretched. This wont work as your foot grows at least a size on a long multi day hike, so one needs at least a size too big to start with, and thick socks at the beginning. I am not taking any boots to Ireland, and am praying I can buy a pair of BergHaus boots in Cork ,when I get there. I used that brand of boot for about 2000 miles and never had a blister, and I got them in Scotland on the West Way, after being shamed by Deep, Flop and Burger who I was walking with, for trying to hike in a second hand pair of $2 boots to start with........that blew apart.
Cant find the BergHaus brand in the USA.
 I enjoy writing the blogs for many reasons, mostly so I can go back and remember, but also because I have so many friend/followers now who cant resist the more than often rude remark, which makes me laugh. I am grateful for those friends. On this trip, as its going to be more relaxed, or so I believe. I dont think it will be as challenging as my other walks.
Checking with Caroline, she has made a packing list as its her first big hike, I noticed the hat she brought in Thailand on her last trip with me, is on it.

If she brings that F##%&^ hat on this hike, there will be a dead Hawaiian on the road from Cork to Trallee.