Yay photos!

Here are a few photos of our time so far in Ireland.
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin:Ryan's house just outside Belfast (which is the city where the Titanic was built!)

Giant's Causeway on the north shore of N. Ireland

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge

The Crown

N. Ireland

Hello!
We are soon on our way to Dublin but we have had a fantastic time in Northern Ireland! Wednesday afternoon we flew in to Belfast city and Ryan met us at the airport and brought us to his awesome 300 year old house that used to be the blacksmiths, just outside the city. We did a bit of a tour of Belfast, and had some Guiness at the Crown which is a very old (oldest?) pub. Yesterday we did a tour up to Giant's Causeway, we also visited a really awesome rope bridge and the Bushmills distillery. Today we are on our way to Dublin!

-Heather and Dan

So I'm confused, you're Canadian with a very Irish name and you sound Irish, but your Canadian

So over the last couple of days a lot has happened. On Tuesday Heather and I got up early and set out on a nice long car ride(2hrs) to Oban, to catch a ferry to the Isle of Mull. From there we drove to a second ferry to Iona. A little island off the south west tip of Mull. In Oban we were fortunate enough to be in the harbour at a time when there was still Fresh off the Boat fish and seafood to be had. We got some delicious prawns as well as some crab claws, all for 5 pound90. 45p per crab claw. and 2pound 50 for each cup of prawns.

Iona is the resting place of the Kings of Scotland and has a very famous abbey on it. We stayed at the Iona Hostel, which is a working sheep and duck farm. All the sheep there are black sheep. We spent the rest of Tuesday exploring the 2.5km of the north of the island. White sandy beaches lots of shoreline and also lots of animals. It is Lambing season here and there were lots of lambs around in all different ages, from just born a couple hours before to a few weeks, all very cute.

On Wednesday morning we helped out one of the staff to tend to the sheep and ducks. Putting out food and collecting eggs. As a reward we were given 2 eggs each. We then set out to explore some of Mull. We found an organic farm and weaving mill, where they raise highland cows and Hebridian sheep and use them for wool and meat. We are going to be eating some of the highland beef tonight as well as some mutton.


Over the last few weeks I have been trying to organize a trip to Austria, to teach some skiing. I have just finalized the plans and will be able to get there for a week. The guy who I have been dealing with has said that the temperature is about 10 degrees and bright sunshine.

I will be leaving on the 10th April to get to Birmingham (120 gbp round trip) and then getting the company bus from there to Austria and back (FOR FREE). Staying there for 6 days and coming home. I will be working about 4 hrs a day which leaves lots of free ski time.
It should be a good trip.

From there we are finalizing our trip around Europe and then home again.

Lots of fun and busy busy busy.

We would love to hear from you.

Travel Update

Here is a quick update on our plans!

In a few weeks Dan will be going to Austria for a week to teach skiing! Yay!
April 22nd we leave Scotland and fly to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We will see Giant's Causeway and stay with a friend. Then its too Dublin, and south to Cork. On the 29th we fly to London.
We will stay in the South of England (London area and Devon most likely) until may 7 when we take the train to Paris.
We will stay 4 or 5 days in Paris and around (up to Vimy Ridge for a day, also to Versailles). On the 21st of may we have to be in either Geneva or Montreux to catch our train ride across Switzerland (click here for info about that trip! We are going 1st class!) but the time between is not planned. From Zurich we will go North to the black forest in Germany and stop in Munich before heading back south to Venice. From Venice we are going back to Lyon, France.

JUNE 5 2009 we arrive back in Toronto!

I'm not human, eh, I'm a turtle!

It has been for EVER since we have had internet access for longer than like, 20 minutes, so I am going to finally update the blog again!!

First news is that Dan and I are officially leaving Scotland on April 22nd to Ireland! We will spend a week there and then head to London. We will spend some time in the South of England before heading to France and that's all we know for now!

Arwen and I went on a trip to the Canary Islands for a week in January. They are Spanish islands off the North-West coast of Africa. We were on the largest island, Gran Canaria. We had a really great time! I will post pictures soon as they are all on Arwen's computer at the moment but she will be here on the weekend. I went windsurfing a few times, we spent a lot of time swimming in the Ocean and visiting the beach. We also went to a market, went out in a boat to see dolphins, and visiting some traditional cave dwellings. It is a place we would like to explore more one day as it was hard to get away from the tourist areas in the one week we were there.

A few weeks ago Dan and I visited Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. We went on a really great walking tour and learned all about the city. We even got a picture of a ghost!! We were supposed to go to a concert but it got canceled so we spent our evenings at the hostel.

Today was sunny! And we were both off! What an amazing combination. We headed up to Anoach Mor (the mountain where Dan works - Gaelic for big mountain) and did a climb and got a few runs in on our snowboards. The snow was SO deep which was incredible considering there wasn't ANY snow two days ago.

We also are playing in the local band and we had a practice tonight. We are playing Jupiter from the Planets, its great fun!

The mountain festival kicks off friday, when Arwen arrives, and Mom and Kyra are here a week from today - so much to look forard to!

We miss everybody but are still having a really great time here :)

Heather & Dan
x

"And then I let you win bingo!"

So I thought I would write a big story to tell everyone what has been happening here since I have 2o minutes left on lunch break.

We were kind of busy and then tired after Christmas/New years so I had better tell you about that right?

Chapter 1: Christmas
Dan and I were at Chase the Wild Goose hostel (click for web page) that Susie and Eddie run. Also their friend Brandon was there (he is also from Australia). We celebrated Christmas day (food etc), Dan and I were both working eve and boxing day. Susie and Eddie were allowed to close the hostel for a few days to take a holiday.
We learned that the oven in the hostel is not very hot, but one side is hotter than the other. So we had a dinner instead of 2pm lunch. Oh well!
It was fun to talk on the web cam with the Holmes' and Dan's family sent us a video from their holiday!

Chapter 2: New Years
At the hostel once again, which was booked FULL! Most people went outside except one Dutch group that stayed in. Around 11 they came out of their room dressed up as ABBA!!! They had also brought with them a digital projector and Mama Mia sing-along! So that is how we spent new years. At midnight we did a Dutch tradition that is to stand on the furniture and jump into the new year, and then since we are in Scotland we sand Auld Lang Syne. We were across the Loch from town so we could see many different fireworks shows.

Chapter 3: Heather climbs Ben Nevis (4,400+ feet above Sea Level)
Dan drove me to town to meet Gary (my assistant manager at work) and then dropped us of at the parking lot for the North Face carpark (British for parking lot lol). We were walking up the path by 7am, it was still dark out! We walked until about 9:30 or 10 when we arrived at the CIC hut (belonging to the Scottish Mountaineering something or other) and took shelter from the wind there to eat lunch. It was a cloudy morning and by now we could take off our head torches. We changed into our climbing clothes and got all our gear ready to go.

We thought we would be starting our real approach now, but there wasn't enough snow! This section of trail should have been covered in deep snow with steps carved out from all the walkers, making an easy ascent. Instead we were walking on loose bits of rock. Eventually we found some snow and put on our crampons and harnesses.

The climb was very easy technically but it was very long. We did three pitches. This is where Gary climbs up first, placing anchors along the way. When we run out of rope, he stops to take in the rope for me. I follow and remove the anchors he has placed. After that the climb was not difficult so we just climbed roped together. We were not really 'climbing' because it wasn't vertical. More like crawling up the hill using our axes to dig into the snow for grip.

It got dark very shortly after we reached the top of the climb, so we left the hill using map and compass. It had also turned very cloudy so unfortunately I didn't get any good views.

The climb down took AGES! The trail should have been easy, but it had so many icy patches, but they were too small to really warrant putting our crampons back on. I learned many many different ways of crossing ice from walking to jumping to belly-flopping to holding onto Gary's axe with mine and him dragging me across! Very entertaining. My favourite technique is the "beached whale."

We spent 14 hours out that day. 10 of them we were in the clouds. I did not get all the way to the summit of Ben Nevis but there will be many more opportunities for that!

Out of time to upload pictures directly, but this link also has them all. It's a facebook page but you do not need to be a member if you use this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2211394&l=31bb6&id=121506517

There are more chapters to come, will have to continue after work!

Heather
x

Where's the ski hill??

That, believe it or not is what I was asked yesterday by a client who was standing under a chairlift.

Anyways.
It has obviously been a long time since we posted on here, Fort William now has a view of some snow. Up on the mountain there is lots of the white stuff. Which makes me a very happy boy. I have been teaching both skiing and snowboarding as well as running lifts, working on the books doing routers (scheduals) and learning how to set ski bindings. All of which means I am getting paid.

Heather is enjoying work as well and has been able to get up onto Ben Nevis ice climbing. I should be able to get up climbing soon as well.

That's about all the news I have right now, if you have any questions for us or things you would like to know, just post a reply on here and we will answer it for you. (you do not need to log in to do this)
We like getting messages back.

TTFN

Dan