I learned something about Ireland

I started the day in Glasgow, Scotland and ended the day having dinner at the oldest pub in Dublin, Ireland – The Brazen Head, which was established in 1198 — some 813 years ago.  What a road and a time traveler I have become.

It was a full day of seeing the Scottish and Irish countryside, today.

Yesterday, which I think was Tuesday, we visited Edinburgh and Edinburgh Castle, along with the now-retired

 

 royal yatch Britannia that is moored at the docks in Scotland where it was built in the 1950s.

I can’t begin to recall all the sights of the past two days. I am sure it is stored in my head somewhere but I know there is not time, space, or your interest for me to report it all here.

Yesterday to wrap up our trip to Scotland we visited the Ledard Farm near Aberfoyle, in Trossachs National Park.  It is a working third generation sheep farm, raising Shetland sheep for wool as well as meat. But the family, headed by Fergus Ledard has diversified into agro tourism as well.

In the MacGregor Barn built in 1604 they play host to visitors offering not only a traditional Scottish meal of roast lamb, but family members are also professional entertainers and have performed in many parts of the world including North America. Fergus is part of the Kinlochard Ceilidh Band. (Fergus Ledard was a winner at the International Plowing Match held in Stirling Ontario last year.)

After a great meal, Fergus and his son Gregor and Fergus’s wife (I didn’t catch her name) gave us a great musical performance, of traditional Scottish songs with lots of audience participation.

Along with this barn being a storage building for wheat, oats and barley (at one time over the years) Fergus also described how for hundreds of years it was also used for parties and dances. It was even a meeting place and drinking hall for Scottish warriors dating back to the time of Rob Roy (18^th century) who himself has been in the barn retelling battle stories. It was hard to get my head around the fact we were having dinner in a barn on a farm that has been used for some type of social events for nearly 500 years. (Rob Roy is considered a folk hero and an outlaw, who later in life became a well-respected cattleman, known for his rustling abilities…it was accepted in those days) 

This morning (Wednesday) we crossed the Irish Sea by ferry into Northern Ireland, and had a quick tour and brief stop around Belfast before heading to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. To be honest, I didn’t realize the Republic of Ireland (southern Ireland) was a different country than Belfast or the County of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Ulster is still part of the United Kingdom, and although it has it’s own council, still comes under the British government in England. (That's me pictured above in front of the Grand Opera House in Belfast).

The Republic of Ireland has it’s own separate administration and is actually tied to the EU. Where Northern Ireland trades in pound sterling and still uses all Imperial measures (miles, feet and weight in pounds and ounces); southern Ireland trades in Euros and operates in metric like the rest of the European Union. Northern Ireland is predominantly protestant and the Republic of Ireland is predominately Catholic. I knew the protestants and Catholics didn’t always get along, but I didn’t realize they were essentially two separate countries. The two sides have only had a peace agreement for 14 years.

Anyway, dinner at the Brazen Head in Dublin was great. I had a blood pudding salad, traditional Irish beef stew, and apple pie for my dinner. I highly recommend it as a place to visit on your next trip to Ireland.

Tomorrow we are off on a tour of Dublin and a visit to a nearby loch (lake) and at some point we are suppose to visit Trinity College and look at some old book (Book of Kells – 1500 years old New Testament ) but I may pass that up for a bit of shopping. I can only handle so much culture and information and my gauge has been running on red for a couple days.

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