Collecting Moments

Hitchhiked in the Ring of Kerry with a German girl that I met yesterday on the bus, - 150 km, 9 lifts, 10 hours. One of our drivers was a tree surgeon...

Today I visited a tiny island in Bantry bay. There are only twenty people living on it at the moment. A peaceful, green little spot surrounded by the sea. They speak some kind of dialect here which I'd call "whiddish" and everybody is just "alright" (apart from this word, which is added to the end of every sentence, I couldn't understand anything :) A local lady told me that there used to be seven hundred people on Whiddy island at some point. I managed to get into an old teacher’s house with a beautiful view of the lake, and an abandoned school which was built in the end of the XIX century.

The shadows of the past... Walked all the way from Clonakilty to Timoleague to see the XIIIth century abbey.

The magic of sounds and words, music and poetry, tunes and feelings... Couchsurfing with Anja, a harp player, a solo walker, a crazy powerful woman.

Mount Talbot House Went for an innocent walk to see just another ruined castle in the middle of the fields. Ended up crawling under electric fences, jumping over the stone walls and crossing old blocked bridges. Got into a farm where an abandoned church building was turned into a cattle shed.

I'm couchsurfing with Simon, anarchist and hippy, who made an overland trip to India in 1975, and his lovely dog Paddy in a 200 y.o. cottage. Walking down the river in the morning and around the bog in the afternoon... “In this part of the country we have turf and rain. That's all we have!”

From Clara to Black Head (Burren) and back - 300 kilometers, eleven lifts.. Hitchhiked for the first time with my couchsurfing host who used to live in squats and hitch all around the world. Irish farmer: I don't like to look after sick people but I love my cows. I talk to them and I like to look after them. You know what is the smell of summer? It's when you open hey in January... French tourist couple: So, you travel without vehicle? Why you don't hire a car? Simon: Because I live here. Romanian taxi driver: Where are you going? To Dublin? - No, we are going to Clara, it's near Athlone. - But on your sign it's written Dublin. - Yes, because it's the same direction. - But people should know where you go. I'll take you to Dublin for free. - Listen, I know exactly where I live. I've been here for seven years. - Are you sure? But your sign is Dublin. We were very happy that he let us out of his car in Athlone :) We: We've just h