Ireland--the first 5 days

Celtic Prayer for a Journey
Let me not undertake this journey begrudgingly,
but instead with love and thankfulness, saying,
as Columba said:
I thank you for this, my God:
I am a traveller
and stranger in the world,
like so many of your people before me.

We've been having a wonderful time here in Ireland since arriving in Belfast on Tuesday morning. After a couple of hours of driving up the coast to the Giant's Causeway, I figured out that the right way to drive is on the LEFT side of the road. I just thought these Irish folk were horrible drivers. Liz and I are here with our dear friends John and Nancy Lamb, their son John and Don and Muriel Wilcox for a class on Celtic Christianity that begins tomorrow but we came in a few days early to have a look around before the one week class begins. We've driven nearly a thousand mile in the past four days from Port Rush in the North to Cobh in the South--mostly on narrow country roads with poor signage. We've bunked together in small Bed and Breakfasts places in tight quarters. To commemorate our time thus far we came up with a little rhyme inspired by the town of Limerick.

There once were three couples from Boulder

Who traveled to Ireland when they got older,

They argued 'bout directions all the way...all night and all day

But the time...Oh it couldn't have been golder!

It HAS been a great time! And the sights we've seen! Our motto has been, "We pass this way but once...unless we get lost...and then we find ourselves passing the same places over and over again. And the food has been magically delicious. I'll attach a couple of pics so you can see the beauty of this country.

In the five days we were on the road, we traveled over a thousand miles and saw some beautiful country and historic sites.