Woodroffe United Church
- Joe Holmes
From Sep 7-21, 2015, my brother Russell and I had an excellent trip to the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland in the UK. We went on a Globus bus tour with 25 fellow travellers, many from Canada, the US, Australia, and NZ. The weather was good for most of the trip. The people were friendly, and the food and drink were great. We were interested in an Irish holiday, partly because our family has ancestors from Coleraine and Tyrone County in N. Ireland. My wife May also has ancestors from N. Ireland, from Enniskillen and Limavady.
The high Cliffs of Moher along the west coast, County Clare, Ireland.
The tour started in Limerick, a city along the River Shannon. We continued to Galway Bay and visited a dog and sheep shearing show on a local farm. We then stopped at green marble jewellery factory, saw the high Cliffs of Moher, toured Kylemore Castle and the Roman Catholic Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Knock.
After crossing into N. Ireland from Donegal, we saw the Belleek pottery factory, Derry, the Giant’s Causeway, and the Titanic Exhibit in Belfast. Russell and I also attended an exciting professional hockey game between the Belfast Giants and the Manchester Storm. Yes, they do have ice hockey, although hurling is the national sport.
Joe amongst the hexagonal basalt columns at The Giant’s Causeway, County Moyle, Northern Ireland.
Back in the Republic, we saw 5,000 year old mounds at Knowth by the Boyne River, the capital city of Dublin, the Guinness Exhibit with beer samples, the Waterford Crystal factory, where glassware is handmade and very expensive, kissed the Blarney Stone at the top of Blarney Castle, and rode in a horse drawn carriage through the Killarney National Park. We travelled along the spectacular Dingle Peninsula (where the 1970 movie “Ryan’s Daughter” was filmed), and returned via Adare to Limerick.
For the last night of the organized tour, we were entertained at Bunratty Castle near Limerick with a fancy meal and by a singing group in traditional medieval costumes. On our very last day in Limerick, it poured rain, so I attended a Sunday mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, chatted with the priest, and then visited the Hunt Museum with its ancient to modern Art and Antiquities. We flew home via Shannon and Heathrow airports the next day.
For me, the trip was also a kind of scientific expedition. As a volunteer with the Canadian Museum of Nature, working with freshwater diatoms, I was able to get 21 samples from around the Island. Diatoms are one celled algae that have a silica shell and can be found in the water and mud of all lakes, rivers, and ponds. They are at the bottom of the food chain, and convert sunlight into energy for use by higher forms of life. My samples have since been processed and added to the Museum’s vast collection of over 120,000 samples from Canada and around the world. See Google [Joe Holmes nature diatoms].
Diatom stauroneis phoenicenteron from Blarney River, County Cork, Ireland, magnified 500x.
Here are some interesting facts we learned on the trip:
In the Republic only, road signs are bilingual, as well as some jobs in the public service.
