Fly fishing fotos

Here’s some pictures from my afternoon of fishing along the River Corrib. If I had caught that one fish, it would have been perfect.

The river was pretty great, but strange people kept showing up. Some bastard kids came down and started throwing rocks even though one of them said not to because I was fishing. And then an Italian couple came down to the water to have a lover’s quarrel about one of them cheating on the other. That was entertaining.

Enjoy the photos. Or not.

Friday the 13th

GALWAY — Happy Birthday John.

It’s the 13th, but our luck’s been okay so far. It’s raining, but not pouring which is good.

Today, Liz and I got lunch at a nice little diner called Eddie Rocket’s. Then we checked out the Galway City Museum and learned quite a bit about the city’s history as well as regional fishing culture. We also picked up some gifts while in town.

Yesterday I went fishing along the bank of the River Corrib. My fishing spot was right across the water from a fairly impressive castle. I had one really good strike, but the bastard broke my line and ran off with it.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around and finding pubs with decent music. There was a  solid band at the Roisin Dubh.

Tomorrow, I head to Belfast, in theory, for about three days before getting back to Dublin for departure. When I get to wi-fi in Belfast, I will post more pictures.

Take care all.  

Street band

More video. And something actually happens in this one.

Afternoon walk along the bay

Many of you may not be awake yet, but I’ve already walked several miles through Galway scouting around. So here’s a few pictures from that little excursion. The weather’s a little gray today after yesterday being absolutely beautiful and the day before being stormy. It makes no sense. Anyway, pictures:

 

Music for fishing

GALWAY — My goals for today are simple. Music. Fish.

I looked up fly shops in Galway, so I’m going to try to track one down and see what they can tell me about fishing in the area. There looks to be decent access, but I want a local to tell me what the deal is.

Then I’m going to see if I can find a copy of the new Against Me! cd that came out in the states yesterday. I waited for months for that album to come out and now I don’t know where to get it.

The road to Galway

Here’s some pictures from the bus ride up to Galway.

No water in Galway

GALWAY — Don’t drink the water.

So says the local health department, which has deemed all the tap water in Galway a hazard for about the past four months, I think. You can’t even brush your teeth with it. So there’s a lot of bottled water around.

But at least there’s still Guinness.

A lousy video, but a video

Here’s a video from Cork, just down the street from my hostel. It’s really shaky footage of the only thunderstorm I’ve seen in Ireland. Lots of rain, but thunder has been rare. This is mostly a test, but its success could lead to great things.

It’s Blarney time

Whatever that means. And here we go:

Pucker up for Blarney

CORK — I kissed the Blarney Stone.

So have probably millions of others, but now I have too. I just stepped off the bus from Blarney. The castle was fairly impressive with tiny, well-worn staircases leading up to the top. Lots of small stone rooms and chapels. The main hall has a huge open ceiling since the wooden floors are gone. And if memory serves there are 127 steps to the top.

A lot of old people complained, but a very pregnant woman made it up no problem.