Posts on Travel
.....for whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it's always our self we find in the sea......
e.e. cummings
The scent of roses in the Loire Valley
We never know exactly where each day will end; camping on a free range duck farm, parked on the bank of a leafy river, lapping up a rose scented village. The Loire Valley has won out over the west coast and it has turned out to be a magical meandering off […]
In the company of trees
It’s late, the sun is filtering through the forest, pouring deep honey gold onto the path ahead. The quality and colour of light transforms everything. In the clearing a group of wise old trees stand in our path, disturbing the earth as their roots burrow to the surface. Camping forces you out into nature, back […]
The old stones of Southern Brittany
The main driving route to Europe from Ireland is a 20 hour ferry crossing from Rosslare to Roscoff in Brittany. Brittany is very like parts of Ireland with a strong celtic tradition and so we Irish often feel at home here. Our family spent many summer holidays in Carnac when our lads were young. […]
A brass band reception!
News travels fast and when the boat arrived in France there was a brass band out to greet us. Well not us specifically but as we lapped up the news from Ireland that the Marriage Equality Referendum had passed it felt like the whole town of Roscoff had some how gotten wind of […]
Angela Jupe
Angela Jupe’s Georgian home Bellefield House In March the garden is full of daffodils and hellebores. Wild woodland planting around the house The stable yard stone out buildings have been transformed into rental properties Even the potting shed is beautiful! The gardens have some strong architectural features built around reclaimed […]
Comeragh Mountains
The Comeragh Mountains lie towards the west of County Waterford. All year long we can track the sun as it sets further north or south along the high ridges, from one solstice extreme to the other. Like our elders, we tell the season and the hour by it. The weather comes to us […]
Embracing shade
During the summer of 1975 when I was on the road with an architect, a singer, an uileann piper and a gypsy guitarist, we diverted from lucrative street performing in Germany to visit Scandinavia. We travelled in a green VW van which had been gifted to us one night during a dinner […]
She is honey coloured like Swedish architecture
My sister is honey coloured so she tones in beautifully with traditional Swedish architecture. From the old town of Gamla Stan to the hilly cobbled streets of Sodermalm, the Swedes seem to favour warm Italian tones. That’s the first surprise I wanted to share with you. Maybe this is why Stockholm […]
The Italian paintbox
When I was in Rome earlier this year as part of this Pilgrimage year, I remembered those tiny paint boxes that we used to get for Christmas when I was a kid. Each little square or tube of colour had an unfathomable name; Yellow Ochre, Warm Sienna, Burnt Umber, Terracotta, Vermillion. I had […]
