It's a long way to Tipperary

This was the name of a marching song sung by Canadian and Commonwealth soldiers in WW1. My father used to sing it. On Saturday I found myself in a car with Doug-Scotland, Faith-Toronto and Grace-Ohio driving through Tipperary county. We were off to hike Galtymore which is the highest peak in Tipperary county. Grace as an American had never heard this song so I sang her the first verse. Unfortunately I had the song in my head as an earworm for the rest of the day.

Richard one of the lecturers was leading the hike. Abagail, Reegan and her husband Sam came in another car. The hike up to Galtymore was a 10 km hike with 600 metres of elevation gain. I would have rated it as moderate. Round trip it was about 3.5 hours with a lunch break at the top. No trees but spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and some steep cliffs. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Sunday I got up and attended the milking shed. Holly the farm worker is very quiet but Seamus a 3rd year vet student was helping out and I enjoyed chatting to him about all the infectious diseases the animals were susceptible to. Many of the organisms I was familiar with as they also affect humans. I got to lead the dairy cows out to the pasture with Seamus and feed a few days old calf. It was very special for a non farmer like myself.

For lunch some of the older students and I went over to a nearby cafe. After lunch we walked over to a local pottery shop. Very nice pottery but it was priced in Euros. I find pretty well everything is more expensive in Ireland. What would cost a dollar in Canada would cost a Euro in Ireland. A Euro costs 1.56 CDN dollars.

In the afternoon, Doug and I drove to Ballycotton, a 10 minute drive away to go on the boat trip to the Ballycotton lighthouse. The guide Cecelia was very good sharing stories of the light house which had been built in 1855 and manned until the 1970s. It was unique as it had been painted black at some time. It was fun to be out on an island in the Irish sea looking back at Ballycotton and the peninsula. We even saw a Peregrine falcon.Read more