Author Archives: janeoconnor2000

To think that we spent a very cold week in Alaska seeking out the northern lights and now it’s become a regular occurrence in Ballycastle. The magnetic force is moving south. I took a quick trip through the Lammas fair. The oldest fair in Ireland. Got my fortune told. She said I’d be making aContinue reading “Last few days.”

We had a beautiful day for a boat trip around Ballycastle. This is the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, which was originally used only by local fishermen. In the summer, they would throw up a simple rope bridge to reach the Bothy on the island. Back then, it wasn’t reinforced like it is today—it had just aContinue reading “Back home in Ballycastle and Belfast.”

Dierdre joined us in Donegal and it was great to have another driver to take us through these tiny bendy but beautiful roads. Lovely swim in Fintan. We were up at the famine village which was a wonderful tour. More related to general life and times in Ireland. The Great Hunger was terrible but thereContinue reading “Swinford Yeats and Ballycastle”

We had a great train ride to Lille France. (90 minutes !) and I had booked a tour of Lille in a 2 CV. This was my first ever car and was delighted to see this one was even the same color. You could crank start it or even push start it yourself. 20 HorseContinue reading “Lille, Maghera and Adara”

We went straight up to the Flat when we arrived in London after Birmingham. Well, when I say straight up I decided to get our passports from Terence’s house so that we could book our train ticket to Lille. In order to save time I called a Taxi. When I told him the address heContinue reading “The Flat, Greenwich and Hampton Court.”

We had a smooth flight to London. Pat found a bar still open in Atlanta and we had a good chat with other travelers. As you can see from the shutters we stayed til the bitter end. A lot of the tube stations have these inspiring notes on the entrances. I know absence makes theContinue reading “London Lille and Birmingham”

We headed up to Fort Pierce via the ICW instead of up the Gulf Stream as the weather was looking worse. There is no point in risking unnecessary thunderstorms. Fort Pierce was where the Navy Seals first originated and there is a great museum of the Seals. All the artifacts are the real deal andContinue reading “Heading North”

Sept 21 Pat Rausch was there to take our lines as we came in. What a wonderful warm feeling that is. It had been a yucky night with variable winds, sometimes 0 and the sails would be Thwacking about and then going up to 25knots, lovely but it meant readjusting the sails. Oh and theContinue reading “Return to another Storm”

I was aware that the storm was coming but didn’t realize there would be as much rain. It was constant for 48hours with winds up to 50 knots. Three boats sank in our marina. I believe it because the bilge stopped working. ! Bilges ! And there was a lot of damage to roads. WhenContinue reading “Tropical storm in Southport.”