I’m Baaaaaack...

Did you miss me?  Did you?  Did you?  *Someone* just hasn’t been going on holiday, so I’ve been stuck at home all this time...

Anywho, I’ve now arrived in sunny Provence, so I had to have a drink and a little aperitif to celebrate.  I had mine, I wonder what the rest of them were having:

Then Jock appeared with some Pastis, he was positively diving into it, how excessive!  I would never do anything like that...

So we had a discussion all about it afterwards and I told him all about how one ought to behave when one has finally got one’s paws on some booze at the end of a long and tiring day:

On Sunday, we wandered down into the village for father’s day lunch, LT had already consumed one of our amuse bouches by this point, you just can’t get the staff these days...

Then we had our starter – courgette rolls with goat’s cheese, pine nuts and more courgette inside, topped with a sliver of tiger skin tomatoes, and with some local air dried ham on the side:

Next was the main course, huge prawns with stir fried vegetables:

Then, horror of horrors, there was no dessert!  Didn’t LT know that I was on my holidays?!  I was really quite put out about that.

After we had taken the longest walk home ever because *someone* can’t follow directions (um, excuse me, I can follow them fine, it’s just that there wasn’t a road sign where it was meant to be! - LT)  Whatever, after we had finally got home, it was time to lounge around by the pool where I made a new friend, Vincent:

Everyone needs a vole named Vincent for a friend don’t you think?

He’d had a bit of a run in with a nasty beast before we met him, but it was a little hard to understand him, wot with him being French and all, but he seemed to recover and run away in the end, even after Ann nearly stepped on him, twice!

We came back round to our patio so that I could finally get my paws upon something sweet.  They were a bit sticky afterwards, but it was definitely worth it...

*Belch*

Connemara Day 2

Phew, we got to day 2 pretty unscathed.  We decided as it was a bit overcast that we'd go for a drive round and explore.  Chris, Colin and Kerry went and explored an abandoned cottage, but LT decided it wasn't the place for little bears to go, so we waited outside...


Next we stopped at Kylemore Abbery.  Do I look suitably non-commercial here?

Here's the Abbey.  It seems kind of fancy for a religious place where people are meant to be contemplating things, but what do we know?  And at €12.50 we weren't going in to find out more either!

Next we drove down to Clifden and had lunch at a Polish pancake house, as you do.  It was called the white dragon, but I don't know why, it had dragons of all colours, but we didn't see a white one...

Do you think I could get them to paint a pub sign like this for me?

We drove back up round the coast road and stopped at 'The Best Gift Shop In Ireland' so that Kerry could drool over all the goodies, while we went and investigate the shrine up the road and the jetty.  I think the Fighting Irish had been in one fight too many, it wasn't going anywhere any time soon!

A bit further round the coast we saw some waterfalls, so we had to stop and investigate.  It really made me need to pee...

Next to the waterfalls was the sign for the peninsula we were staying on, so we thought we better record it for posterity:

We went back to the cottage so that Colin could have a nap (he's getting old you know) so after a bit of sewing on my new friend Wee Jock, we went out with Martin and Stephen to play 'hunt the sunset' as the sun had come out properly by then.  This was up a very long windy road where we went just to see what was at the end.  This was from about half way up looking back inland away from where the sun would set:

When we got to the end we realised the sun was going to set behind a bank of clouds way out on the horizon, so we decided not to scramble down to the only beach to take photos from, and just come back for dinner.  We did have to stop and take a photo of the punk sheep on the way though:

Just checking back on the sunset...

After dinner we hit the pub.  There were serious decisions to be made when it came to choosing music before the band came on:

Our round I think... (Ours?  I didn't see a paw going into your wallet! - LT)  Details...

No look, really, no Guinness, we must get a round in!

Ah, that's better, just let me climb down from here:

*belch*

Kerry decided she had to rescue me and give me some TLC to recover from that pint:

Uh, hello, more drink needed here!

Thank you!

And now for a wee dance along with the band:

Perhaps it's time to hit the soft stuff for a while...

Skye - Day 2

Well I was MEANT to have posted a good chunk of this yesterday, but you can't get the staff these days and she went to bed instead!!! (it was 1:30 am, I was tired! - LT)

So onto the first full day here.  It was a rather grey day on Sunday, but we headed down to the Fairy Pools at Glen Brittle (I have tried, and failed, to find a decent standalone map of Skye to show you where we are, so should you wish to play along, go to Google maps and search for Isle Of Skye, we're staying in Barcadale, about 2/3 of the way up on the left hand side - LT).

The Fairy Pools are a series of waterfalls and pools formed by streams coming down the back of the Cuillin mountains about half way down Glen Brittle, which is on the west coast of the island, about 3/4 of the way down.  We had to take our life in our paws hopping from rock to rock to cross 3 streams just to get to them, and LT may have had a small water in wellie moment when Cole stood in front of her as she tried to land, so her wellie went back in the stream.  Still, it wasn't tooooo bad (Ahem, WE took our life in our paws?!  And how do you know it wasn't too bad with a wet foot? - LT)  Details...  Anyway, after a long trek we got there

Here I am, sitting next to one of the pools:

And here I am, risking life and limb, sitting by one of the falls:

Huh, I'm sure the song said 'Lay me down on a bed of roses' not 'Lay me down on a bed of jaggy heather'

If you wanted proof that the fairies are about, here's some toadstools:

I think something's been having a bit of a nibble at this one, perhaps Alice has been past here:

At this point, we decided enough was enough, and went back to the car, at which point the heavens opened and it POURED with rain.  Nice timing on my part demanding that we return don't you think? (Your idea, uh huh... - LT)

We had lunch at the hotel at Sligachan - it was meant to be honey glazed goat's cheese with poached 5 spice pears accompanied by salad, but the honey appears to have missed the cheese, and we're still searching for the pears...  There was a dod of chutney though, that may have been it, but it didn't seem to have any pears in it, although it did have a raisin that we could identify...  Anyway, with ominously solid grey skies, and ongoing rain, we decided to head back to the cottage for the rest of the day.  In a brief dry patch I got my photo taken outside the cottage:

Back at the cottage I supervised the cooking of a chicken massala and pilau rice for dinner:

I also supervised cutting out fabric for making birds for a mobile for LT's granny's Christmas pressie:

And finally I supervised the eating of dinner:

Provence - Sunday 26th June

We had a lazy morning at the gite, enjoying the sunshine before we headed into the village for Sunday lunch.  Here I am enjoying a pastis (the local aniseed aperitif – LT) and guarding the wine that was going to go with lunch.

That pastis has quite a kick!

LT and I started with a crab and langoustine soup, then we shared the sweet and sour grilled prawns (he made me take the heads and tails off – LT), which were very messy, and we had to ask for a wipe to clean our paws afterwards!

We think the waiter was trying to tell us something, because when he cleared the plates for the main course away, he left us two prawn tails and the wipe that had fallen off the plate, along with a bit of celery.  We wondered if we were going to be in the running for a messiest place setting competition at the end of lunchtime.

Still, we didn’t let it hold us back from the cheese course.  Cue cheesy photo (groan! – LT)

Lastly there was my very favourite course, dessert!  We had three locally made fresh sorbets, apricot, blackcurrant and lime flavoured, along with a crunchy biscuity thing.

After that we put our feet up all afternoon, as you always should following a good Sunday lunch.

Doolin - Day 2

Ooooh, the morning after the night before.  This is the only way to start the day, so the boys told me...

Anyway, after this fortifying start to the day, we walked down and along the shore at Doolin.  Here I am perched on the rocks with the Cliffs of Moher in the background. 

The Atlantic was crashing onto the rocks, and apparently that means it's not safe to swim, so Martin found me a nice pool to try paddling in:

LT said it would be a bit cold though, huh, what did she know!  Then I dipped my toe in an it was a little chilly, so I decided to try some rock climbing instead.

I found this sign at the harbour, and it said 'Notice' so I did.  Wonder what I was meant to notice?

We wandered back up to the cottage then, and grabbed lunch before we went to a real beach at Fanore (that was a real beach at Doolin - LT)  Oh no it wasn't, there was no sand, EVERYBODY knows a real beach has sand (they do? -LT)  Duhhhh. 

Look at all the junk people toss into the sea, it makes a real mess on the beach, and it's really bad for the fish and for little bears that can get tangled up in it:

It looks like an absolutely giant monster had been here already, I hoped it didn't come back...

There were people out surfing, and I thought I'd like to give it a go, but I think the surf board they left for me was a little big (ya think? - LT)

We drove round to Ballyvaughan next to meet up with 'The Bish', or Pat, as he's otherwise known.  There were a lot of jokes about fathers and bishops that went right over my furry little head (and that would be a good thing - LT). 

I think the Irish have a very funny idea about sea rescue though, look, they think this tiny wee ring is going to save a car that goes over the end of the pier:

I'm really not convinced that it will work.  It's also an awfully long way to the end of the pier, plus there's a boat in the way.  Hey, I thought boats were meant to float on water next to the pier, not sit ON the pier!

Next I got dragged round to see a Martello tower.  It wasn't very exciting, being just a big tower of grey bricks, and I didn't think much of their outdoor plumbing, I mean there's even an electric fence running over it!

We went home after that and then they left me behind while LT went to dinner and the pub with Stephen, Pat and Martin, as LT thought I'd had a long enough day already.  I'll just not tell her what I got up to with Chris, Mark and Pete who stayed behind...