June 28 : First Day in Carlise

We’ve finished our Irish tour and have travelled to Carlise. We are staying at the home of our friends Keith and Janet. I won’t go into details about our flight from Dublin, except to say that it was a living hell.

Janet and Keith’s home can be best described as five-star hotel. It is set in a rural setting of Thursby, with part of the house dating back to the early 18th century. When we arrived the local church, which is located across the meadow, started a carillon concert. 

The main part of the house was built 100 years ago, and they have made major renovations to modernize the structure. The furnishing would make any hotel look stale and drab. They are the best host that could be imagined and we know it will be a wonderful couple of days.

These pictures don't do their home justice.

A few words about our tour. The people we travelled with were mostly laid back and out to enjoy themselves and immerse themselves in the local culture. There was no “it is not like home” attitude, that we have seen too often on our trips.

Our guide Peter Murphy was excellent. He had wonderful sense of humour and kept us entertained and at the same time informed. He had many phrases that he would use during the day. My favorite was “a special kind of stupid.”  There were many others that just don’t translate to the printed media as you need to hear the accent and the way certain words are emphasized. He was also excellent in his ability to improvise, so that we made the best use of our time instead of blindly following the original itinerary.

One of my favorite stories from Peter was when he told a previous tour group that the Irish had successfully bred a giraffe and a sheep. He called it a “girafeeep. It was used to produce wool for polo collars. As proof, he pointed out a flock of lamas that had recently been introduced into Ireland. He said that the people on the tour fell for it. Of course, that may have also been part of the story he was trying to weave.

One of the main social activities in Ireland is drinking. Pubs are numerous and generally full, It is not unusual to have an Irish coffee, early in the day.

I would highly recommend trying to get a tour with Collette with Peter as the tour director. Of course, bus tours are not for everyone. You have to be ready to move to a new location every couple of days and resign yourself to their schedule.