Ireland, Chapter II

Day 3, August 10th

The Rock of Cashel (Irish: Carraig Phádraig), also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, is a historic site located at Cashel, South Tipperary, Ireland.
Along the day we learned more about the Butler family, it was like the red line of the first days of our staying in Ireland.

According to local mythology, the Rock of Cashel originated in the Devil's Bit, a mountain 20 miles (30 km) north of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the Rock's landing in Cashel. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century.

Rock of Cashel, roundtower and church ruins

The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. In 1101, the King of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain, donated his fortress on the Rock to the Church. The picturesque complex has a character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe. Few remnants of the early structures survive; the majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Infos: http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-east/rockofcashel/

The village itself it's pretty nice and worth a stop. We had lunch in this cozy place just under the rock itself,

near the car park, "Granny's kitchen":

Then we headed on to Cahir and visited the castle (http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-east/cahircastle/) one of the largest castles in Ireland, is sited on an island in the river Suir. It was built in 1142 by Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond.

Panorama from the chemin de ronde of Cahir castle

Cahir castle

At the end of the day we arrived in Cork, second largest city of Ireland, grabbed a burger at Burger King and the a good old creamy Guinness in a truly magical spot near our B&b, not the classical Irish pub, it was more like a place where time was still in the '800, Paris-retrò style.













Day 4, August 11st

Classy Irish Full breakfast (gives you strenght) and off to visit the city: Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, worth a visit, with all the story of the first construction and then in 1863, another cathedral was the first major work of the Victorian architect William Burges.The style of the building is Early French, in fact seemed to me I had been kicked all the way to France for half an hour!
After that, the English market, where we got our lunch for later on and a delicious juice at the Fruit Boost.
I didn't have such a good impression from Cork, it's a big city for Irish standards, but I think it has little "human dimension", less than Dublin.

Then we drove to the Blarney castle and gardens, started showering so we put our k-ways on to stand in the queue, the longest one we met in this travel of ours...and all this, to kiss a stone(it's supposed to give you the git of eloquence tought) ! -.-
Anyway we did kiss the stone, visited a few gardens. Quick lunch in the parking lot. In the late afternoon we got in Killarney, well not in the city. We stayed in the "Killarney Inn", which was very very comfortable.

Blarney castle

People kissing the stone

IRN-BRU!!From Scotland with love =)

Just the time to leave the luggages and then whe went to Killorglin, risking our lives along the way (surprisingly not our driver's fault due to unexpierence but a local just didn't see we were on the road :o ) . The city is located on the river Laune, which has a rowing club and a new boathouse. Lucky enough those were the days of the famous Puck Fair and we had a taste of that, also meeting one of the guys selling bracelets and things who lived in Italy for about 6 or 7 years and was a teacher here too!
Then little beer at the Inn before bed time..

This is not taken by me, but just to give you the idea of what the Puck fair looks like. In the tower  the King of Pucks will be placed later on...

Day 5, August 12nd
Ring of Kerry day!
First stop: Rossbeigh Beach, beautiful beach, in a bay...I wanted so badly to dive in but we didn't remember to bring swimsuits with us! Risked the already operated- knee sliding on the seaweeds which I didn't recognize because I'm used to the Mediterranean ones :(













Second stop: Cahergal Stone Fort. It is a large Staigue-type fort (one of the many Iron Age forts) with the lintelled entrance in the south- east. It is found close to Ballycarbery Castle, near Cahersiveen County Kerry. The interior walls of this ancient Stone Fort have stone stairs and there is a rectangular house within the fort. The walls of the fort have been reconstructed and now stand about 2m high for the most part. The walls are about 5m thick at the base. I think these stone forts are pretty amazing and fascinating!

Eating castles

Third stop: lunch, can't remember the name of the village, anyway only the time to order something in a pub and then we were off to the

Fourth stop: somewhere over the fog and Fifth: Ladies View, a scenic point along the N71 portion of the Ring of Kerry, in Killarney National Park, Ireland. The name apparently stems from the admiration of the view given by Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting during their 1861 visit.
Then we went in Killarney to buy something to eat for dinner at the Inn, after dinner we watche the Olympics closure ceremony =) Olympics had, until then, been like the frame of our journey with Katie Taylor winning the gold, and other box matches, us trying to get news of Italian athletes and so on.

Ladies view

And this, is just an amazing truck/jeep/mean of transport we saw in Cahir and wish I had it ;)

End of chapter II

Ireland tour: colours!

Maybe someone, speaking of Ireland, would think at grey clouds, foggy days, rain..and such things...BUT!
Ireland is not this, or better, is not only this. When the light leaks trought the clouds and a piece of sky becomes visible, maybe you will be lucky enough to have some sun's rays. Well, then it's a whole different story. Colours rise and shine in everything. The reason why I speak in these Rosamunde Pilcher/romantic/sugary way of light and colors because I was quite impressed by the strenght of them. I mean I have a reflex camera, and, even more when travelling, I like to take pictures with it, as you can notice ;) While in Ireland, I was pleasingly surprised by the light and the blue of the sky, green of the meadows and all. i have to say, we were pretty lucky with weather (8-22 August) about 2 or three day of rain, a few showers but a lot of sun too!

Let me start from the beginning.
We decided to take this trip during this winter, my dad retired in april, my mum's a teacher, no big problems for days of/holidays and so on. Ireland was chosen as the destination beacuse everyone of us for one cause or the other always wanted to go visit.
I'm going to write sort of a diary from now on,in a few "episodes", trying to comunicate what I saw that left me with eyes, mind and hearth full.

Day 1, August 8th

Our welcome, or better fàilte!

Plane Treviso-Dublin, arrived in Ir. in the afternoon, got the car from Budget car rental and then off to the Wicklows, garden of Ireland. Lovely landscapes and nice places where to hill walk or bycicle! First night and obviously...first pub! At Glenmalure Lodge, after visiting the Glendalough site and cheking in at our B&b in Laragh.

In Gowran

http://www.glendalough.ie/
"The Valley is home to one of Ireland’s most impressive monastic sites founded by St. Kevin in the 6th Century."



Day 2, August 9th
Drove thru Gowran, visited the spot. Second place and second good impression from Irish folks, guides are truly willing to show you things and tell you stories. Heritage rocks ;)

Glendalough valley

Gowran (Irish: Gabhrán) is a village and former town in County Kilkenny, Ireland.

This was a place of importance prior to the Norman invasion and a royal residence of the Kings of Ossory, sometimes recorded as the Kings of Gowran. King Robert the Bruce with his army of Scots and Ulstermen took the town in 1316. James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde built Gowran Castle in 1385 close to the site of the present castle and town walls were erected circa 1415. King James I made Gowran a parliamentary borough in 1608.
The town, under the command of Colonel Robert Hammond, surrendered to Oliver Cromwell on 21 March 1650 following a siege. 

In the centre of the village is the historic St Marys Collegiate Church which contains monuments from the 14th to 17th centuries. This collegiate church was built in the late 13th century on the site of an earlier monastery. It was served by a "college"—clerics who lived in a community but who did not submit to the rule of a monastery. The church was a large and elaborate structure, with an aisled nave—the main part of the church where the congregation—and a long chancel—the section of the church where the altar was placed—and has high quality architectural sculpture used throughout. In the late middle ages a massive tower was inserted between the nave and chancel, and in the 19th century this tower was incorporated into the parish church which was built in place of the chancel and which now takes up about half of the building. There were also several other changes made to the church at various periods. St Mary's is now a National Monument.

just a great piece of art, on a 12th century tomb

Jerpoint Abbey ruins

After that we moved on to Jerpoint Abbey which is a ruined Cistercian abbey, founded in the second half of the 12th century, near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland.

Then on to Kilkenny, where we had our luggages put down in the new b&b. Visit of the city, St Canice's Cathedral (my sister, brother and I climbed also the round tower outside the cathedral) and the Castle with the gigantic garden outside. We dined very fairly at The Kyteler's Inn, one of the oldest pub in Ireland, where, to give us a nice change, a group was doing the rehearsal of a musical about the story of the witch and I'm not going to tell you more about this, check it ou ;) (http://www.kytelersinn.com/). After dinner with bro and sis we went to a pub where there was this group playing and singing and irish dancers too.

Going up!

On the top of the tower, scared faces ;)

Kilkenny's castle

End of chapter I.

Giro dei cinque laghi, Madonna di Campiglio (Adamello - Presanella)

Dislivello: 330 m circa (in funivia)
               875 m circa salendo al rifugio 5 laghi lungo  il sentiero o la pista da sci

Tempo di percorrenza: 6h e mezza

Difficoltà: intermedia

Distanza totale: 13.6 km

Da Campiglio si prende la funivia "5 Laghi" che porta al rifugio a m. 2.123. In alternativa si può giungere allo stesso punto risalendo la pista da sci. Ad ogni modo poi dietro al rifugio si prende il sentiero n. 232, comodo e in piano per poi incontrare il primo lago: Ritort m. 2.063 da dove si gode una splendida vista sul maestoso gruppo del Brenta. Nelle giornate di sole può anche essere un toccasana un rapido tuffo nelle sue acque, mucche permettendo =)
Da qui sempre accompagnati ad est dal Brenta procedendo sul tratto in salita si arriva prima alla forcella e poi al lago Lambin m. 2.326. Procedendo in quota si arriva al lago Serodoli m. 2.370 e superando delle lastre granitiche si sale al vicino lago Gelato m. 2.393 h 2.00'. Da qui è notevole, come in molti altri posti di queste zone, notare la differenza del materiale geologico rispetto alle montagne dolomitiche che si possono ammirare di fronte.

Il tratto successivo io quest'anno non l'ho potuto fare, per ragioni di ginocchio (operazione a Febbraio di legamento crociato), quindi per chi dovesse avere problemi di ginocchia o simili, sappiate che poi la discesa ha un pezzo abbastanza "martellante". Essendo a più o meno metà percorso si può fare una pausa pranzo/merenda e affrontare indietro la strada fatta fin qua e rientrare con la funivia. Ovviamente il giro merita di essere completato, così:
seguendo il sentiero n. 217, si scende al lago Nero m. 2.241 e quindi attraversando pascoli intervallati dagli ormai familiari lastroni. Si scende al lago Nambin m. 1.766 h 1.45' (3.45'). Proseguendo per comoda stradina si arriva alla Malga Nambino e da qui a Madonna di Campiglio m. 1514 h 1.15' (che  si deve attraversare per poter giungere al parcheggio della funivia "5 Laghi").

Questa formazione rocciosa ha catturato la mia attenzione, scusate la "romanticata" ma sembra che una stia dando un bacetto all'altra/o

Piccola nota personale: la montagna non è spiaggia in alta quota, per cui si sale pronti per qualsiasi condizione, dalla canottiera primo strato alla giacca pesante waterproof, possibilmente pedule (soprattutto per la discesa sulle rocce, è un attimo mettere male il piede e se la caviglia non è stabile e avvolta...olè!), protezioni solari, una mappa adeguata, cibo, ACQUA, TELEFONINO e materiale di PRIMO SOCCORSO. Per eccesso di zelo si dovrebbe portare anche un qualche tipo di fonte di illuminazione artificiale.

Quindi poi...godetevi tutto questo spettacolo e la gita! Io ogni volta che guardo le montagne, non posso che chiedermi Chi me le ha messe davanti e come questo può cambiare me.

European Championships - Under 23 & Juniors - Solkan, SLO/ Gorizia ITA

               

                         Ciao a tutti!

Dal 30 agosto a Domenica 9 settembre tra Salcano (in Slovenia, appena oltre al confine) e Gorizia si è tenuto il campionato europeo di canoa U23 e Junior. La prima cosa interessante è stato il concetto di evento "no border", sviluppato sia durante le gare, che nei momenti di festa, tra due stati, a cavallo di due realtà.

L'altra cosa interessante è stata, personalmente, la possibilità di avvicinarsi ad uno sport nuovo, forse un pò di nicchia, ma che sembra essere divertente ed educativo (come qualsiasi sport vissuto in una certa maniera). Ora è sicuramente sulla mia lista di cose da provare!
Tra le altre cose che mi han colpito c'è stato il fatto che andando a vedere qualche gara ho scoperto un posto di cui sapevo l'esistenza, ma dove non ero mai stata, pur essendo vicinissima, che comprende, cosa di cui invece ero totalmente all'oscuro, un fun park!

SCIANIMANICO Tom

Per concludere, risultati delle finali U23 della giornata conclusiva, domenica scorsa (rank, start n., athlete, Ctry., time, penalty sec., total time, behind):


Canoe Single (C1) Women Junior
1 218 WOODS Kimberley GBR 133.32   0   133.32    0.00
2 215 FRANKLIN Mallory GBR 135.38 0 135.38 +2.06
3 219 WOLFFHARDT Viktoria AUT 132.09 4 136.09 +2.77
4 214 TIXIER Cecile FRA 141.67 2 143.67 +10.35
5 206 OHMAYER Birgit GER 142.25 2 144.25 +10.93
6 213 KOBLENCOVA Anna CZE 150.98 2 152.98 +19.66
7 211 GIBSON Eilidh GBR 151.23 6 157.23 +23.91
8 217 WAGNER Karolin GER 155.49 2 157.49 +24.17

Canoe Double (C2) Men Junior
1 321 AZANOV Dmitriy/GOVER Egor RUS 131.66 4 135.66 0.00
2 328 JUETTNER Aaron/WAGNER Piet Lennart GER 132.28 4 136.28 +0.62
3 320 POPOV Alexey/VOYNALOVICH Vadim RUS 134.41 6 140.41 +4.75
4 322 ZWOLINSKI Pawel/OLSZOWSKI Jakub POL 135.20 8 143.20 +7.54
5 323 ABBOTT Thomas/BOOTH Richard GBR 149.86 6 155.86 +20.20
6 329 ROHAN Lukas/SVOBODA Adam CZE 130.92 52 182.92 +47.26
7 317 SIMICAK Martin/SKUBIK Jakub SVK 139.37 56 195.37 +59.71
8 318 KRUEGER Hans/SOMMER Paul GER 151.62 66 217.62 +81.96
9 319 SKAKALA Juraj/GEWISSLER Matus SVK 143.97 104 247.97 +112.31
324 KOVALKOV Pavel/BOGDANOV Artem RUS 300 DNF

Kayak (K1) Women Junior
1 272 GALUSKOVA Karolina CZE 116.67 0 116.67 0.00
2 267 WOODS Kimberley GBR 121.55 0 121.55 +4.88
3 270 WOLFFHARDT Viktoria AUT 122.00 0 122.00 +5.33
4 262 LEITNER Lisa AUT 121.97 4 125.97 +9.30
5 264 VALIKOVA Barbora CZE 124.42 2 126.42 +9.75
6 263 KANCLER Anja SLO 127.26 0 127.26 +10.59
7 273 TROMPETER Caroline GER 126.15 2 128.15 +11.48
8 265 LEENDERS Claudia NED 123.43 6 129.43 +12.76
9 253 LIPTAK Monika POL 129.56 4 133.56 +16.89
10 259 FABER Anna GER 133.91 52 185.91 +69.24

Canoe Single (C1) Men Junior
1 148 STRAUSS Franz-Xaver GER 115.32 0 115.32 0.00
2 149 SOETER Dennis GER 116.08 2 118.08 +2.76
3 153 OVCHINNIKOV Aleksandr RUS 119.07 2 121.07 +5.75
4 147 BROTHIER Jason FRA 121.71 0 121.71 +6.39
5 150 JOLY Cedric FRA 119.75 2 121.75 +6.43
6 119 SANCHEZ Jokin ESP 122.10 2 124.10 +8.78
7 131 MRACNA Martin SVK 125.43 0 125.43 +10.11
8 146 LEGOSZ Bartosz POL 124.51 52 176.51 +61.19
9 145 BREUER Florian GER 124.66 54 178.66 +63.34
10 140 ROHAN Lukas CZE 126.22 152 278.22 +162.90

Kayak (K1) Men Junior
1 58 HENGST Stefan GER 105.33 0 105.33 0.00
3 35 MALEK Andrej SVK 104.65 2 106.65 +1.32
4 55 SCIANIMANICO Tom FRA 107.35 0 107.35 +2.02
5 59 URBAN Miroslav SVK 106.12 2 108.12 +2.79
6 54 WILSON Michael GBR 109.44 0 109.44 +4.11
7 61 SRABOTNIK Martin SLO 108.24 2 110.24 +4.91
8 52 FORBES-CRYANS Bradley GBR 108.56 2 110.56 +5.23
9 47 DEBOWSKI Bartosz POL 110.77 0 110.77 +5.44
10 45 GUBENKO Nikita RUS 111.45 56 167.45 +62.12

Team race, 02/09