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Trip Start Aug 23, 1996 Previous
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  Derry, United Kingdom
Saturday, July 21, 2007

It's not often I get called a virgin. Virgin on the ridiculous, maybe. Virgin on being a fuckwit, always, or even virgin on insert your own explicit swear word here !!! Then Lucia of Zento fame told me she had to go back to Argieland for a wedding, and being the good type of Uncle that I am, I offered to look after Ed for her. So flights were procured, destination Great Britain, via a country we had been before
 
The Golfy was fixed, Ed was in the back and the three of us did the mad early dash to the shithole that is Stansted. We dumped the car, checked in, and not long after we were landing at Dublin. This was not our destination, this was a point in the middle of the road that was needed, and we needed Dublin as Dublin was giving us a car, a Ford Fuckos, and what a car it was. Satvav set up, and away we went. Ed then gave us the line, "I never fall asleep in cars, and within five, he was dead. Photos taken, we now have evidence
 
During the years that I have been stuck in BT, I have worked with a guy called Keith, and he never shuts the fuck up about a rope bridge and some stones, so this was where we were headed, and as we got closer, the drive became more spectacular.
 
Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge
 
We have crossed loads of dodgy bridges in Nepal, so we were expecting something, but then again, this is the whimpy west !!! The walk was nice, and then we saw the bridge. It was small compared to our previous excursions, but this one you had to pay for, so it had to be good. Some say that there has been a bridge here since the 1600's, but as I am not that old, I cannot say if it is the truth. However, the views from the the little island on the otherside were quite nice. We hung out taking photos, but how many photos can you take? Shitloads actually, so the three of us did. The bridge wasn't to rocky and all it made me feel like doing was jumping on a plane and heading back to Nepal !!!
 
We jumped in the car and followed the road along again, and it only got better. Ed wanted to take photos, but we were on a mission to get to the next stop
 
The Giant's Causeway
 
There was a line for the carpark, and being the dodgy Aussie I am, and we were coming from a side street, we managed to push our way in to near the front. Once parked, we took the walk down to the water where the stones lay. There are loads of stories about why they are there but lets all be realistic, they are volcanic. Hexagonal in shape, and loads of different sizes. we took many photos, I know they are just hexagonal rocks, but they were out there. Who needs drugs when you have the Giant's Causeway !!! We then went over to the cliff face, and up on the hill was another set.of rocks. They looked like a huge pipe organ, so we walked over, climbed and took the photos. The rocks had been impressive, maybe I should come back during the middle of the week when there is nobody there as it really was to packed with people. So we went back to the car and left

We drove along the coast, admiring the views, then a castle appeared. Dunluce. There is so much to see, but you can only run so much, so we drove on until we arrived in a town which some people call SLASH

Slash

Why is it called Slash. Well, some people know this, the only remaining walled town on the island of Ireland as Derry/Londonderry.  I prefer Slash. It has a nicer ring to it, but it ain't no Paradise City !!! We found our digs, and hit the city, not the paradise one, obviously !!!. As it was after five, everything was pretty much closed up, except the walls, so we did a wall walk. They are only a couple of K's in length, but they were nice. The buildings inside were your normal M&S and shit like that. Not very photogenic. On the farside were a load of murals. This was Bogside, we would go there the next morning. After a quick lap, we ended at some pub called the Badger. We hit the Guinnesses, we even had some meat cured in Guinness, which went down a treat. Prices were cheap. We were not in Ireland remember, this was Great Britain. We decided to leave and hit our local pub where we were staying. The beers were even cheaper, so we pouired them down. Ed discovered his effiminate side and was having Bailey chasers to his Guinness. He asked us to proimise to him that we would not tell Lucia about his gayside, so we did with our fingers crossed !!!

After a huge Irish, I mean Great British cooked breakfast, we loaded the car up and went to Bogside. And then I discovered a history lesson, that I never knew. In the area, on the ends of walls of houses, are murals relating to a sunday, a bloody sunday from the 30th of January, 1972. Maybe I am stupid, maybe because I am not from Great Britain, but I always thought that this event, this song from U2 even, related to Belfast. How wrong I was. The murals were quite moving, showing the kids who had been killed, or a priest holding a bloody white flag, and finally a peace dove. I never expected this. Slash had history, much history, scary history for a small place.

I would like to go back, just to drink some cheap guinness, maybe, but it was a nice start for my first place on an island that is Ireland which some call Great Britain. I saw some nature, I saw some history, but I also broke my virginity for a place, I had never been before, and just like the others, it didn't hurt a bit !!!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

001 At the Airport	002 Ed, Asleep in the Car	003 Little Headland	004 Little Island
005 Headland	006 Headland	007 Cave	008 Water
009 David on the Bridge	010 Water	011 The Bridge	012 Lucy on the Bridge
013 Ed on the Bridge	014 Gap in the Cliff	015 Lucy on the Island	016 Little Island
017 Ed, Sitting	018 Lucy, Sitting	019 Ed & Lucy, Setting Up a Timer Shot	020 David on the Island
021 David on the Island	022 Ed, Sitting	023 Timer Shot	024 Ed
025 Ed, Self Portrait	026 Ed, Self Portrait	027 Lucy on the Island	028 Little House
029 Lucy	030 Lucy Climbing Some Stairs	031 Empty Bridge	032 Empty Bridge
033 Little Islands	034 Headland	035 Headland	036 Old Phone Box
037 Giant's Causeway	038 Giant's Causeway	039 Giant's Causeway	040 Giant's Causeway
041 Giant's Causeway	042 Lucy, Giant's Causeway	043 Ed, Giant's Causeway	044 Giant's Causeway
045 Giant's Causeway	046 Giant's Causeway	047 Lucy, Giant's Causeway	048 Giant's Causeway
049 Ed & Lucy, Giant's Causeway	050 Giant's Causeway	051 Giant's Causeway	052 Looking Down on Lucy, Giant's Causeway
053 Looking Up, Giant's Causeway	054 Lucy, Giant's Causeway	055 Giant's Causeway	056 Giant's Causeway
057 Ed, Giant's Causeway	058 David & Ed, Giant's Causeway	059 Giant's Causeway	060 Lucy Walking, Giant's Causeway
061 Headland	062 Giant's Causeway	063 Sheep Giant's Causeway	064 Giant's Causeway
065 Mural, Derry	066 Town Gate, Derry	067 Street Sign, Derry	068 Old Cannon, Derry
069 Statue, Derry	070 Lucy in Derry	071 Cannons, Derry	072 Cannon & Church, Derry
073 Lucy & a Church, Derry	074 Lucy on a Cannon, Derry	075 Mural From Afar, Derry	076 Turret, Derry
077 Ed in Bullshit Corner, Derry	078 Bullshit Corner Sign, Derry	079 David Drinking Guinness, Derry	080 Lucy, Derry
081 Ed and David, Derry	082 Three Guinnesses, Derry	083 Lucy and Three Guinnesses, Derry	084 Guinness, Derry
085 David and Ed, Derry	086 David's Pint, Derry	087 Lucy Drinking Guinness, Derry	088 David and a Guinness Derry
089 Guinness, Derry	090 Dinner, Derry	091 Town Gate, Derry	092 Breakfast, Derry
093 Breakfast, Derry	094 Bogside Mural, Derry	095 Street Signs, Derry	096 Bogside Mural, Derry
097 Bogside Mural, Derry	098 Bogside Mural, Derry	099 Bogside Mural, Derry	100 Bogside Mural, Derry
101 Bogside Mural, Derry	102 Bogside Mural, Derry	103 Bogside Mural, Derry	104 Bogside Mural, Derry
105 Bogside Mural, Derry	106 Bogside Memorial, Derry	107 Bogside Memorial, Derry	108 Bogside Mural, Derry
109 Bogside Mural, Derry	110 Bloody Sunday Memorial, Derry	111 Bogside Mural, Derry	112 Bogside Mural, Derry
113 Bogside Mural, Derry	114 Bogside Mural, Derry	115 Bogside Memorial, Derry

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