Back Home - Castles

The one compensation for returning home after such a great holiday is that there are some letterboxes round and about so we can go letterboxing again. When I used to have Boxing Buddies to stay with me in England they used to like to have their photo taken on top of a British Classic Red Letterbox. Fireball is no different and whilst we were in Northern Ireland he had this photo taken:-

Now we are home we decided to go and find The Irish Letterbox. There had previously been a letterbox nearby which was called An Bosca Litreacha Eireannach, which means The Irish Letterbox. It had vanished and been replaced with one call An Tuairisceain Bosca Litir Eireannach which means The Irish Letterbox Returns. We definitely had to go and find a letterbox (hobby meaning) which was about Irish Letterboxes (postbox meaning). On the way Fireball stopped to have his photo taken on top of a Classic Irish Green Letterbox:-

Fireball wasn't very happy about all the seagull dirt and rust on it, but that is what happens when a letterbox is beside the sea :-( 

The letterbox (hobby meaning) was in the area of a nearby castle and required the use of a compass. The clue took us all around the castle which was interesting and then we finally had to look under a moss covered tile. Fireball got a bit carried away looking in the hole:-

But he found it ! We opened the box and great excitement, there was an American Hitchhiker inside it :-) It took us quite a while to stamp up everywhere correctly. The HH had to have an image of the letterboxes stamp as well as our signature stamps. There was another letterbox nearby which we also found but it was too small to leave the HH in so we took the HH with us to plant in a larger box elsewhere. Hopefully some American letterboxers will find it and take it back to America with them.

Holidays - Castles

Another bright day dawned and once again we decided to just meander around the local roads and see what we could find. Having said that, I do love maps - ordnance survey pathfinder maps in particular. I love the way you can see which side of the wall or fence you are on and even which type of trees are growing, the detail is marvellous. Here in Ireland the ordnance survey maps are not quite as detailed as the UK ones, walls and fences do not feature for example, but they are quite good. All ancient sites are listed. I love to find mottes, raths, sutteraines, carns etc etc which would otherwise go unnoticed. People with me usually say things like 'but it is just a mound of earth in a field', but I find it very interesting imagining how prehistoric people built and used these things.

Today we mostly came across castles. Fireball insisted on having his photo taken near the name board of this one so that we would remember where is was when we got home.

Dundrum Castle

He also found the date of the castle carved into a stone pillar and wanted to sit on the very old stone. I said I  thought it had probably been carved more recently, but it was a good way to remember how old the castle was.

Next we walked up to the keep. It was remarkable that it was in such good condition. Inside were some stone stairs leading up to the very top, but I was too afraid of heights to try it. Can you imagine trying to negotiate these spiral stairs in the long draping dresses they used to wear !

The Keep

We did go inside though, it was empty with a well in the centre which was covered to prevent people falling in. Alł the floors above had gone, but you could see the marks on the surrounding walls where they were formally supported. All that was left were holes where the windows and fireplace had been. I thought this photo of the walls looked like a face - two eyes (one winking) and a nose lol.

The Inside of the Keep

We got back into the car and drove further. Once again we came across another castle, this time it was in a forested park so we stopped to see that.

Castlewellan

This castle was in better condition because it wasn't so old. In fact it is a mock castle built in the Victorian era. Sadly we couldn't go and look round inside as it had been turned into a conference centre, and wasn't open to the public. It was in beautiful grounds which we wandered around. Near the car park we found an old tree with a hole in the bark of the trunk and it had rotted causing an unusual formation of wood. I felt rather sorry for it really, it looked like a huge wound.

Poor Tree

Fireball heading up the stairs

Holidays - Lighthouses

Today, weather wise, was looking good. The sun was shining which was much better than those black clouds over the mountains yesterday, although I have to admit they were dramatic.

It was to be a day of sightseeing. Although we live beside the sea we can't stay away from it. Our first decision was to tour the coastline here. The sands looked really golden and were practically deserted. The sand is lined with dunes around here. The sand stretches on forever and always there is the backdrop of The Mourne Mountains. 

We had heard about a lighthouse somewhere around that we would like to see, but other than that had no plan and just wandered along the coastline. In the middle of nowhere we came across these ruins of an ancient church - St. John's Church.

St John's Church

Even before this was built they think there was an older, wooden church because they found some graves half under the walls of this church where they had just built across them. I can't remember how old the church was, but apparently this is what it would have looked like when new:-

Fireball really enjoyed getting out of the car. He is not too happy when Saint's are around, but nevertheless he found a Holy Well under the wall surrounding the church. Again they had just built the wall right over it. It is a natural spring and they would be glad of the water so I suppose they thought it was Holy, but when I looked into it the water just looked stagnant to me!

Fireball sat above the Holy Well

We carried on, the road getting narrower and more rutted, when at last we came across the lighthouse at St. John's Point. This was much more Fireball's style.

The Entrance to the Lighthouse

The lighthouse was painted black and yellow. We couldn't remember seeing a lighthouse painted yellow and black before, which caused us to wonder if there was a reason behind which colours are chosen. Apparently it depends on their background, they are painted to make them stand out to Mariners. A lighthouse against fields is painted white, a lighthouse against white cliffs is painted with horizontal red and white stripes. I still didn't establish exactly why this one is yellow and black, but it certainly stood out. It looked freshly painted and had a lovely group of white coastguard cottages around it.

The lighthouse itself

We wandered around the edge, towards the sea and saw the separate fog horn and shed. I always think the foghorn noise comes from the lighthouse and am surprised when I find it has nothing to do with the actual lighthouse..

Fog Horn and Shed

There were lovely little flowers amongst the boulders and rocks beside the sea. They were like little alpine flowers, but so close to the sea.

Little Flowers in the crevices of the rock

More Tiny Flowers

Coastguard Cottages

Holidays

Well that was a surprise! We were just feeling in need of a holiday when we discovered we had been treated to four days away at a luxury spa hotel. Totally out of the blue and so we set off :-) The only slight down side was that there would be no letterboxes anywhere near, just when I have been bitten by the Boxing Buddy bug again. Nevertheless Fireball jumped into the car with us - he wasn't going to miss out, letterboxes or no letterboxes!

The hotel is only an hour and a half away, but in a totally different country. As you know we now live in The Republic of Ireland. Our hotel is in the United Kingdom - Northern Ireland. As I said only an hour and a half away but a whole different world lol. There are no physical borders, just as there are no physical borders on the mainland of the UK. I am used to crossing from England to Wales, or England to Scotland, and that doesn't feel different, it is all the United Kingdom. Here in Ireland it is the same physically, but as soon as you cross the invisible border you are in a seperate country and you can see the changes. The obvious one being the letterboxes go from the classic Irish green to the classic British Red - and I am talking about Post Boxes here, not our beloved hobby ;-) Currency changes too, Euros for the Republic of Ireland, Stirling for Northern Ireland. It must be crazy for the people who live on the border. Imagine going to your local grocer and paying in one currency, then going to get petrol and paying in the other currency! 

Slieve Donard Hotel

The hotel looked fabulous. It was built in the Victorian era and had been one of those grand railway hotels. It was built overlooking the bay and had stunning views of both the sea and the mountains. When the railways started to decline the grand hotels were sadly sold off, there were just six in Northern Ireland and at the time all six were sold for only one million pounds! 

Slieve Donard 'Where the Mountains of Mourne Meet the Sea'. There are panoramic views from all the windows. In one direction there is the sea, and in the other direction there are views of the mountains, Slieve Donard Mountain in particular. It looked especially dramatic because there were big black clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains. Photos of mountain views never come out like the real thing, but here goes:-

Slieve Donard Mountain

At the bottom of the drive is the old railway station. It looks lovely from the hotel. It has a clock tower and a green spire.

The Old Railway Station

There is a brief history of the station and this is what it looked like originally :-

I thought it would be lovely to take a photo of it as it is now so walked down to the front of it. Alas, the horror, it has been turned into a supermarket - and one of the cheaper ones too!! The poor building, what ignominy :-(

The Travesty

Slieve Donard Mountain

Sculpture by Paddy Campbell

10th International Plant a Letterbox Day

Today is the 10th International Plant a Letterbox Day. The 10th one! I can't believe it !!!!

I discovered and joined Atlas Quest ten years ago at the beginning of May 2006, just in time for the first ever Plant a Letterbox Day. Atlas Quest itself was only a couple of years old, still small, quite shiny and new. The Boards were where we all got together and chatted, everyone was so friendly and we had a hoot. It is amazing what you can do 'virtually'. I remember Dixie coming in singing and dancing, passing drinks around, I remember Celtic Quin and Shiloh throwing disorderly people down into the Dungeons and I remember a lot of Cola being spluttered over the keyboards as we Laughed out Loud at the antics. We didn't have many separate boards in those days, but there was so much laughter going on that Ryan had to create the 'Yakking It Up' board. No-one seemed to mind a lone English letterboxer from across the pond joining in on all the American fun. England might be the birth place of Letteboxing, but we had nothing remotely like Atlas Quest. One thing I can say that has not changed in all these ten years is the friendliness and fun on the Atlas Quest boards.

What has all this got to do with Plant a Letterbox Day I hear you ask? Well, I will let you into a secret - the aim of the first plant a letterbox day wasn't so much about planting boxes, as trying to plant and list so many boxes on one day that it would bring Ryan's website grinding to a halt. Sounds a bit mean, but it was all done tongue in cheek and with many virtual laughs - and we never did manage to break it!

Of course after that we just carried on, May 24th each year, trying to plant letterboxes. From then on it was for the right reasons - to encourage people to have a go at planting, not just hunting letterboxes.

Would you believe I nearly forgot this year! Fortunately our American visitor from last weekend returned to Skerries today to do some more letterboxing here. We went to meet her again and give her a lift to the start of a clue which is harder to get to from the railway station. Luckily she started talking about PAL day which made me realise I had the days muddled up, Doh...! After we had a good time chatting and she had found the letterbox. I left her to carry on with the rest of her planned letterboxing day and dashed home to collect Fireball.

At least we had the letterboxes all made up ready for PAL Day. Fireball was planting a small one, and I was planting a good old Lock n' Lock one. We were hoping to plant them in the next village, down by the harbour.

The weather was perfect, and it was quiet down by the sea, hardly anyone around. Perfect for planting letterboxes without attracting attention. That is more than can be said about one of the local houses down by the harbour. A lot of houses in Ireland are painted on the outside and they don't always complement their neighbours chosen colour. I have a saying - "Ireland, the country where they are fearless with the paintbrush" - but this is excessive LOL:-

The housing round the harbour is quite diverse, everything from modern:-

To small traditional thatched cottages:-

We were lucky, both Fireball and I managed to find somewhere to hide our letterboxes. Here is Fireball trying to hide his behind this pole.

Once it was hidden he was very anxious to check that it couldn't be seen, and made sure all the grass he had been sat on was standing up again and not flattened which would be a dead give away.

Well that was a relief - all done. Now to go and list it on Atlas Quest. We need to get Ireland mentioned on that PAL widget :-)

1st Irish/American Mini-Meet

What a surprise, just after I have started blogging again I was contacted by an American Atlas Quest letterboxer to say that she wanted to come and find some Irish letterboxes, and would it be possible to meet. As Ireland is sadly devoid of home grown Letterboxers I jumped at the chance and immediately decided it warrented a listing on Atlas Quest as a Mini-Meet. In fact it was the first one in Ireland, so there was no question as to what it would be called -  The 1st Irish Mini-Meet - it was obvious :-) If you want to read Fireball's version of events you can find it here. 

The excitement this week has remained high as I wanted to be sure the local boxes were in reasonable condition, and also plant at least one more letterbox as further inducement for our AQ friend. 

I needed to check that I had all my Personal Travellers collected together as I have more than one. I have my original PT which I have had since the mid 1980's, but it is now on it's second visitor's book. After reading about American Letterboxers who often require puzzles to be solved in order to gain access to their PT's I decided it would be fun to follow suite and so I made one like that too. I also read about very tiny letterboxes and so I had made one of those too. Atlas Quest has a lot to answer for !

 

Personal Travellers - and I have never smoked!

A tiny PT and it's contents, called Wee YT.

The day of the Mini_Meet dawned. Hurrah - it was sun-shining :-) I so wanted Skerries to look it's best for our American visitors, it had been a cold, gray, and rainy day yesterday so I was very relieved. Fireball packed his bag too and hoped they would enjoy meeting a Boxing Buddy.

 The Meet was to be held at the local windmill which had a cafe if it was wet, or picnic tables outside if it was mild. In the event we went indoors as there was still a nip in the air and our visitors were from warmer climates.

Fireball at the Mills

Can you see Fireball in the photograph? It is a bit like an easy Find Wally.

We all had a great time chatting away as we stamped. It is so interesting comparing notes on the differences between American and English/Irish letterboxing. The biggest difference is the name of the little letterboxes that travel from normal box to normal box. Here they are called Cuckoo's but in America they are called Hitch Hikers. We wondered how the name had become changed as it travelled across the pond. Maybe the 1st American that came across them couldn't quite remember their name and made one up that made sense to him.

Fireball was amazed at how many letterboxes there were on the table considering there were only four people present. He also got to meet Margery - the AQ Chick, but Margery fell backwards with the shock of meeting a dragon lol.

Fireball meets Margery, the AQ Chick.

When all the PT and Event stamping up was done we decided to  round off the event with a visit to a local letterbox together. It always seems there is a bigger/better range of inks and carving materials in America. Fireball was very interested in the beautiful collection of ink stamps and felt-tip pens the American visitor had brought with her, so neat in their own container, and watched closely as she stamped up in her logbook.

After this we gave them a quick tour of the local countryside and the seafront, as can be seen in the previous blog, then sadly it was time to go our separate ways. Such nice people -  new friends made, and I do so hope we meet again one day.

Letterboxing with a Seaview

At last there is a break in the rain and Fireball and I were able to get out and go hunting for letterboxes. The clue for the first one involved walking all along the bay, a super way to show Fireball the seaside. The bay is quite a large one with wonderful golden sands when the tide is out. 

There are marvellous views of the islands as you walk along, we have three islands just off the coast, one you can even walk across to at low tide, but you have to keep a careful lookout because there is a rapid fill when the tide comes pouring back in behind you and you can get stuck out there . Some of the local fishermen cycle over to the island with their buckets hanging from the handlebars when they collect shellfish. This gives them a slight advantage time-wise as it is possible to set out whilst there is still a little seawater left. It is quite an incongruous sight to see bicycles on the seashore with their wheels splashing up the remnants of seawater. 
 .

 This island has a Martello Tower on it, these were built in the Napoleonic wars to repel invaders if they should ever come. The towers were built all around the coast, all within site of each other, but the feared invasion never happened. 

One of the other islands has a ruined church on it. According to legend, St. Patrick landed on a small offshore island here where he settled to continue his work. The island is now known as Inish Patrick or St. Patrick’s Island. 

On the island with St. Patrick was a goat. One day he ventured to the mainland in an effort to convert the locals to Christianity, but whilst his back was turned the local men stole, killed and devoured St. Patrick’s goat. When he returned to the island and realized his goat was missing, the irate Saint used two of the islands to make two leaping strides towards the mainland. The locals tried to deny they had any knowledge of the goat’s fate but could only bleat like a goat. Their voices returned when they were prepared to share the truth about the goat’s death. The men of skerries are nicknamed goats to this day.

Anyway enough about the local legends and on to letterboxing. When we finally got to the end of this lovely walk we did indeed find the letterbox and Fireball had a great time stamping into the visitors book with his brand new signature stamp.

 He had to be careful as there was a small cliff nearby so he made sure he was in an area where he could stamp up in safety.

Next was the walk back to the car park, it is so lovely with all the views that we didn't mind walking back the same way, especially as there was a small letterbox near to the car that we needed to find when we got back. We had to poke our heads right into a bush to find this one, the bush has grown a bit since the letterbox was first planted in 2008 - 7 years old - good going for a little letterbox. It had a little visitors book which had to be renewed but otherwise it had survived intact. The letterbox is only a small one but any sized letterbox is a bonus as far as we are concerned :-) At this point it started to rain again so we hurriedly took the box to the car so that we could stamp up in dry conditions. 

Fireball extracting the little visitors book

Of course a soon as we got to the car the sun came out again, but we continued to stamp up in the car so that the box and its contents didn't get damp and messy if it started again. Fireball has a special small signature stamp especially for when we find a tiny logbook.

Stamping in with Fireballs small signature stamp

After all that we returned the box to its position in the bush and went home for tea. At least that is two letterboxes that are in still there and in good condition :-)

An Irish Boxing Buddy

IIt is 2015 and eight years since I posted on this blog. Boxing Buddies no longer seem to be as popular, perhaps due to postal costs, so I have decided to make an Irish Boxing Buddy to travel alongside me as I letterbox around Ireland.

Fireball in his camouflage.

Fireball out of camouflage.

Fireball Lig-na-Paiste is an Irish Dragon. There are several translations of Lig-na-Paiste but the one I like is 'Last Great Reptile'. Saint Patrick chased all the serpents out of Ireland, which is why there are no snakes here, but the dragon called Lig-na-Paiste remained overlooked. This dragon outlived Saint Patrick, terrorising the neighbourhood until St. Murrough defeated it.

As I mentioned Boxing Buddies seem to have gone out of fashion and the Atlas Quest Boxing Buddy board is very quiet, so Fireball might be the Last Great Boxing Buddy. In addition to this he lives with me in Ireland, which was not the original purpose of Boxing Buddies, but he will be helping me to maintain or plant Irish Letterboxes, blogging as we go.

Letterboxing in Ireland seems very different from letterboxing in England. To begin with there are no ancient footpaths or bridleways with rights of way as in England, so it is difficult to get away from the roads and traffic when walking. There are some long distance hiking and cycling tracks that have been created recently in places like the Wicklow Mountains which are wonderful, but that is different to being able to ramble around the local countryside.

Looking back over the years I have done a lot of walking on moorland, as can be seen in the photos in the old blog posts here. Now I have swapped moorland for the seashore and coastal areas here in Ireland.

Fireball and I have been itching to get out and start letterboxing. We have lots to plant and all the old boxes to check and maintain as we go. There are one or two to find as well, but a lot of the existing letterboxes in Ireland tend to be on the western side of the country left behind by letterboxers visiting the country for holidays. The majority of letterboxers seem to fly into Shannon airport (possibly because they come from America) and travel on from there. Dublin airport and the east coast does get a few visitors however, and we have been pleased to see a steady trickle of visits to our boxes over the years.

The letterboxing bug has never left me since I started in the early 1980's, but it waxes and wains over the years mostly due to real life commitments. Now I am settled here in Ireland and the letterboxing bug has hit me in full force once again.

As usual, whenever you are dying to get out and letterbox it starts to rain :-( We had a glorious sunny (if cold) April but now it is pouring down. This would not have deterred me once upon a time, but old bones tend to prefer dry comfortable conditions. Besides I want sunny weather to take some good photographs for this blog!

Letterboxes Ready To Go

 In the meantime I have been busy indoors. Housework I hear you ask? Good gracious me no, more like carving, making visitor books, sewing little stamp covers and searching the map for possible interesting spots. I can never decide whether to cover my boxes with dark paint or not. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I reckon if a letterbox is hidden properly it shouldn't need to be covered with camouflage, but then again it does make it so much easier to hide and also less easily seen if someone else doesn't re-hide it properly.

Tomorrow rain, hail or thunderstorms we are going to get out there, so watch this spot!
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