Not Exactly a Traditional Irish Music Sesson.

We thought we could get a few more rocks laid before Brandon and I had to hit the road but it was raining all morning long. I got a load of wash done so I could travel with some clean clothes. Something I haven’t known for a while. I think Ian was very sad that we were leaving. After all of our time with him on the well and little field trips, he wasn’t going to have anyone to play with no more. I was sad too. Donegal now has a special place in my heart. From trad sessions to birthday parties with Polish Anna, I will never forget the great times we had. Helen was so helpful as well. She made sure Lindsey and Ramsey were getting all set up for the start of the hitching adventure in Dunfanaghy. She even took some group photos of us in front of the caravan jumping into the air. Before I knew it, we were on our way to Strabane to catch the 247 bus to Dublin. Brandon and I gave everyone hugs and then boarded our bus. After a quick wave out of the window they were out of sight and we were on our way to see the greatest band on earth!

It took about 3 and one half hours to get to Dublin. Once we arrived, we only had to walk a couple of blocks to our hostel which was a good deal. I was in no mood to haul that pack around. The best part about getting there was the shower. OH MY GOD the shower! Finally! We had hot water! Something we had not been accustomed to for quite some time now. I couldn’t believe how great it felt. Brandon was speechless as well.

I slept pretty well for how excited I was to see Avenged Sevenfold. We got out of the hostel around 9:30 in the a.m. and had 3 hours to kill before we could catch the first bus to Marlay Park at 12:30. We went on a mission to find a cheap iPod cable since I had left mine at Feddyglass. My iPod was dead and needed to be charged very badly. It took a while but I eventually settled at €10.00 for one. We then went to a liquor store so I could get a couple small bottles of Jameson to sneak into the concert. Perfect boot size pint bottles. We then shot over to Georges Quay to get our bus passes and were on our way to Marlay Park in no time. They were playing Metallica the entire ride over although I was playing Alice in Chains and Avenged. The bus dropped us off near the entrance and near a Lidl store which was a good thing because we needed to chow down before going through the gates. There was no way I was going to blow a ton of money on concert food. We got some sammies and brewskies and hit up a lawn with a ton of others to have some lunch and get a buzz on before going into the grounds.

We got caught with a 2 liter bottle of water and had it confiscated from us but they never found the boozeJ. Suck on that Guarda! We found a spot in the grass to chill out on for a while until the Glider came out and then we got up as far as we could. They had a separate section for the mosh pit area that only the first 250 people in the grounds got wristbands for. I was not happy. We were still close but I wanted to be right up front for Avenged!

Glider was actually really good but I was not impressed with Mastodon. Not my kind of band. I was really looking forward to Alice in Chains. I couldn’t wait to hear the new lead singer who ended up blowing my mind. He was amazing. He sounded almost identical to the original but more soulful. I was so glad I got to see them. It turned out Thin Lizzy couldn’t make it for some reason so Avenged was next in line. Of course, they came out with Critical Acclaim which I was able to get on camera! One of the best intro songs ever! They were UNBELIEVABLE! I still can’t believe that I got to see them in Dublin. They even played Eternal Rest. I had never heard this song live before. The coolest part was when they had a fan come on stage to sing Pantera’s “Walk” with the band. He was actually really good. Even Avenged was blown away. I tried to record it, and I thought that I did, but my camera ran out of memory. The rest of the performance was simply spectacular. I was surprised that there were no ballads performed though. Metallica rocked the house of course with some new stuff and plenty of old stuff. The fireworks were a great touch too. I have never really been impressed with Metallica until I saw them live. Well done boys.

After two pints of Jameson and one sweet ass concert, I was stumbling with Brandon back to the bus. We boarded and headed back to the center of Dublin. We made a visit to the BK lounge before calling it a night and then went to our hostels. Brandon had booked a different hostel for this night because the one we stayed at the night before was all booked up when Brandon was making reservations. I got to stay at the same place as he went down the street to his new hostel and went to sleep. I was exhausted. I looked at all of the pictures and watched the videos I took before going to bed and wished I could go back for seconds. I was asleep in moments and ready for my venture to Sligo to begin the hitchhiking extravaganza.

Donegal Dreams

The bus ride took us about 4 and one half hours to get to Strabane. Luckily a man with his family realized we looked a little anxious and assured that he would alert us when we had reached our final destination.

Walking off the bus we noticed a man about 5’8” getting out of his little Nissan pick-up. He was dressed in wellies, jeans, and a flannel. I was expecting an Irish accent to come out of his mouth but much to my surprise he was British. “I’m Ian” he said. “Welcome to Donegal.” It took about 15 minutes to get from Strabane to Feddyglass (Ian and Helen’s Place). The house was in disarray but it was beautiful. It was built in the 1600’s they believe and they were in the process of putting a new roof on and tearing out all of the old stone and interior. They wanted to rebuild it to look exactly how it did when it was first constructed.

He had set up a tent for us as for two of us to sleep in and the other two would get the second camper van that their friends had left at their house for the summer. It wasn’t the best conditions we had encountered so far on our trip but it had a homey and comfortable feeling to it. I was real excited to get to work on such an old house but it turned out that Ian had other plans in mind for us Engineers.

They had a TV for us to watch DVDs and play PS2 if we desired. Helen had quite the selection of films as well. This was the first time I finally got to see “Cool Hand Luke”. What an amazing movie. I had been missing out. We also watched “Best in Show”, “Stay”, “Chocolat”, “The Big Lebowski”, “P.S. I love you”, “The Knowing”, “As Good as it Gets”, and “Dawn of the Dead”. This was the first time we got to sit around and be lazy. Ian never wanted to start work until after noon or 1 O’clock anyhow.

To sum up the work portion of the Donegal experience Ian had planned for us to build a new well for him. The well on top of the hill was their only water supply but he wanted to have more water pressure so we decided to double the volume of the well to achieve the new pressure. We spent the first day looking around to plan out our strategy and then we began to dig. The well was only a hole in the round that was covered by some aluminium sheets. It was surrounded by dirt and trees. Dirt and trees in which we needed to move out of there. We thought we could do the entire thing by hand but we couldn’t. There was one gigantic tree stump that we needed to call a digger for to come and remove it. Once the trees were out along with the dirt we began to build. Ian had a collection of stones for us to use but we had to dig up most of them by hand. It was quite the challenge trying to build a well out of non-uniformed rocks we pulled out of the ground. Ian taught us a lot about stone mason work. We spent almost every day mixing cement and lime with sand for our mortar. It was always two bathtubs worth which would get us about 2/3 of a layer down. It took us up until the day before we left to get that well finished although there were some finishing touches that Ian had to do once we were gone. I just happy that we don’t have to spend a couple hours a day siphoning water out of a well anymore or getting a pump to get the water pressure back at the house.

The countryside around Ian and Helen’s place was amazing. We went for walks along the long checker patterned farm roads on several occasions. It was rare to have sunny days but when they came it illuminated the countryside and made it quite the site to see. We went with Ian on a couple of roads trips to see the sights that were nearby their place. The first was the stone circles just outside of Raphoe. It was like another Stonehenge but not as tall and uniform. The second place he brought us to was an old fort. It was built completely out of stone and looked like a mini coliseum. There had been some work done to it but for the most part it was in really awesome shape. It was like a mini arena inside. There were several levels of wall you could take stares up. The third place Ian brought us to was the beach at a bay near the fort. It was a beautiful spot with surrounding hillsides and very shallow shores. We spent the entire time collecting mussels so we could have a mussel cookout later that night. We gathered up all of the butter, oil and garlic we could find and cooked outside on the grill. It was so delicious!

Ian and Helen also brought us to Londonderry where we got a chance to see the city wall and learn about the history of Bloody Sunday. It was more fun than I imagined it to be. We got to ride some giant cannons and get a good look of the old city of Derry. There was also a WWII monument outside the mall that had left an open spot available for WWIII. Kind of Strange... We also got to meet Helen’s mother. She made a lot of tea for us and crammed many pieces of toast down our throats which we didn’t mind. Free food is good food!

MY most favourite part about Donegal was the trips we took into the city of Raphoe, the smallest city in all of Europe. They know this because it was a question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The first time Ian brought us was right after we had visited the stone circles and he brought us to Horse and Hound for a couple of pints. The man who was working the bar told us about the traditional Irish music session that went on every Thursday next door at the Diamond Lounge. He said he played the flute and the mandolin and told us that we were more than welcome to come and be a part of the festivities. The first time we went was with Ian. It was a little awkward at first since we were clearly from out of town but the people at the bar were very open friendly with us. The ring leader, at least that is what he seemed like to me, was this small, smiley face lad who looked a lot like my uncle Tom. He could play almost every instrument there. He was a pro at the flute though. They were amazing! There were about 15 people playing throughout the night passing around guitars, mandolins, flutes, drums, and accordions.

The second trad session we went to was on the last Thursday we were going to have in Donegal. This was the last night that Linds and Ramsey would see Brandon in Ireland. It was a perfect way to spend their last evening with him too. The music was perfect and the Guinness was delicious. We got to talking with a few of the local guys before we left. Brandon and I mentioned that we were heading to Dublin for a show and one guy was very jealous. He hadn’t heard much about Avenged Sevenfold but he was a diehard Metallica fan. He said Marlay Park was a very nice place and assured us that we wouldn’t be disappointed. This just made me even more excited for the show. I couldn’t believe that we were going to see Avenged live in Dublin!

It was sad to say goodbye to Ian and Helen the next day. There hospitality was more than what we had planned on and our new friendship will last a lifetime. I hope to return one day to check in on Ian and Helen to see how the house has developed. I imagine it will be the home of their dreams. Ian brought Brandon and me to the bus station later that afternoon and with a solid farewell we were on our way to Dublin.

The Dublin Diddley Doo Da

We landed in Dublin around ten in the morning, maybe eleven, dreary eyed and almost entirely out of it. We filed off the plane like a bunch o brain-dead zombies and hit the line for customs. We had to wait here for about a half hour to get our passports stamped. We grabbed up our bags from the turnstile and found a cosy corner to hunker down in while we used the internet and got some food. I scratched Ian and Helen’s number down on a piece of paper and then spent several minutes trying to figure out Lindsey’s calling card so I could ring our hosts to let them know we had arrived in Ireland. After several feeble attempts a very grumpy operator managed to connect me through to the right number. It rang a couple of times and then the connection was made with a greeting of “What do you want?!” Confused I asked “Is this Ian?” Embarrassed, Ian responded with an apology and an explanation saying he thought I was one of his friends. I told him we were in Dublin and that we wanted to stay the night there to soak up the city a little bit. He had no problem with that plan. I confirmed the bus number we were supposed to take towards Donegal and which stop we were supposed to get off at and told him I would call tomorrow.

After this I was back in a haze and feeling almost ill due to the lack of sleep I had endured over the last 48 hours. There was a juice stand selling fresh juices for 1 euro a pop so Ramsey and I both picked one up. The carrot juice was delicious. It made me feel a little better considering the only thing in my stomach was a mixture of stale energy drinks, coffee, and emptiness. We got organized and ventured out into the world so we could catch a bus into the city to find a hostel to stay in.

The hostel was called the four courts. It was supposed to one of the best in Dublin. According to the reviews it was in the top 10. It was 14 euro a night which was a pretty good deal. It felt good to finally set the packs down and get a shower to clean ourselves up after such a long couple of days. After eating we went on a small tour of Dublin on our own. We didn’t walk all that far but we did find a store that sold hiking and camping gear. They were closing up but we told them we would be back tomorrow. We were entertaining the idea of getting a tent and Lindsey was in desperate need of a new sleeping bag. Brandon also needed a new sleeping bag so we decided to hold out on any purchases until Brandon was with us so he could get a good look as well. 

We went back to the hostel afterwards to get some sleep but much to our surprise we had a new roommate upon our return. She was an Australian student doing some travelling during her break from Uni. She had been in Ireland for a little while already so she had some stories to share with us and some suggestions for things to do before we left Ireland, one of them being “Kiss the Blarney Stone.” The legend has it that if you kiss this stone you will be granted with the gift of gab. I was intrigued. After talking for a little while sharing with her our stories I began to get a second wind and wasn’t feeling as tired anymore. I remember singing Lindsey some Josh Grobin “You Raise Me Up” and then I headed to the dining room area to use the internet for a while.

I poured myself my first snakebite using a spoon and mug I had found in the kitchen and sat down to use my laptop. It was here where I met Gabriel, a man who had returned to Dublin from Poland to find some work and was staying in the four courts until he found a job. He also saw what I had poured and asked how I managed to get the two liquids to separate. I explained to him how to make it which ignited a long conversation. There also a few exchange students staying there who were attending classes at the university in Dublin. Gabriel invited me to come out with them to the Temple bar district for a few drinks. He introduced me to Catha from Poland, Stephen from Italy, and Oscar from Spain.

The place we stopped at was a bar called the Mezz. Apparently it was Catha’s favourite in Dublin and I could see why. They had a reggae/ska style band playing that night and they were very good. I ordered my first Irish style pint of Guinness and I must say that it was a taste of heaven. We were sharing stories of our homelands, dancing to some great music and sharing pints of sweet Guinness. What had been an awful morning had turned into such a terrific night.

The time between the bar and my bed was a blur. I awoke the next morning feeling a little hung-over but rested for the most part. I said farewell to my new friends and exchanged contact information with them so I could try and keep in touch.  I called and talked with Helen this time. She assured me that there was no rush to get to Donegal and that we should stay in Dublin as long as we wanted. We were too anxious to get to the next workaway, though. It had been over a month since we had a chance to settle down in one spot for more than three days. I told her which bus we would be on and she assured me that Ian would be waiting for us. We then checked ourselves out of the Four Courts and walked towards the main bus station. We purchased four tickets to Strabane and then were on our way, coach style.