The 40 foot,
Trip Start
May 24, 2005
1
2
25
Trip End
Ongoing
Dublin,
Ireland
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Leon (my brother) picked us up and, before we had even left the car park, jokingly said "pair of dare-devils hey, challenge you to the 40 foot!"
Let me set the scene: An overcast (but "lifting") Irish May - a summer-yet-to-arrive kind of day. The '40 foot' is a sink hole (or plunge pool) in the Irish Sea used by hardened swimmers, fans of James Joyce and mad people. The Irish Sea happens to be a) the most radioactive sea in the world and b) fed by the North Atlantic...
When we arrived a group of strapping young guys in (suspisciously dry) wetsuits were huddled under a rocky awning, chatting away and making occasional furtive glances at the rock-hewn steps covered with slimy moss that lead down into the choppy, mackerel waters
Holyhead.. not strictly Dublin
. Leon, Helen and I, having fumbled in our backpacks for a towel and only found one (6 a.m purging?) performed a take on Irish dancing, trying to get undressed. Clothing is optional, but we went for the greying underwear look (damn, damn the advice to take only your already-ageing clothes travelling).
Basically, the idea is that you jump into the sea (via this sink hole) and allow the blood rush from all your limbs as it tries to rescue essential organs. Good FUN. Hmmmm. I think I managed 15 seconds but had to do it twice as went in with Leon and then Helen (who had to borrow Leon's boxers). Agghhhhh. Helen, who has a somewhat extreme repulsion to cold,well, anything jumped straight in, flailed around a bit and then splashed to shore saying 'it wasn't that bad'!!
Shivering, we quickly made it back to the house for sausages, irish bread 'n tea, Mmmmmmmm. Well deserved.
The next day - May 26th - was a day of explornig Dublin. Off to Trinity College to view (along with several thousand American tourists) their Long Room Library, which was stunning. The famed Book of Kells should have stayed in the bog where they found it in Helen's opinion (Helen's comment: that's not what I said!!!). Personally I'm not so harsh on 300 years of monastic workmanship completed some 1200 years ago, but that's girls for ya.
And then for some appreciation of modern Irish culture: saw Liverpool play AC Milan, downed a few pints (cheers to Briscoe and Leon), found my way back to the house and enjoyed a huge midnight fry (don't tell Helen).
Set the alarm for 6am...
