St Patricks Day in Galway

A Limestone strewn hillside in Ireland

The Connemara pony featured in this photo is barely visible as his grey coat blends in perfectly with the limestone background. There are many such ponies on the hills and in the fields of the West of the country.
The tourist season will get its first taste of American visitors as we head into March. St Patricks day draws many of our relatives from the USA to our shores and they are a welcome sight. If you are one of the lucky ones coming our way, and if you need a car and driver/ chauffeur, then give me a call or send me an e-mail. St Patricks day in Galway is a big day and Galway at night is a wonderful town to party in. There is also so much to see in the surrounding countryside including Connemara to the North and North West, the Aran Islands at the mouth of Galway bay, and the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher to the south. These are all places that are not to be missed so if you need me then i will see what i can do for you.
Our elections are over and now we have to wait to see what kind of government will emerge as a result of these elections. I will be writing on this in the near future.
Stay tuned.

Dave

Looking for a car an driver in Ireland

The fjord at Leenane

This fjord is the most westerly fjord in Europe. It is situated between Kylemore Abbey and the village of Maam in the heart of Connemara and the surrounding countryside is just breath-taking. Leenane was the centre for the filming of a great Irish movie called "The Field" which starred Richard Harris and Tom Berenger. Well worth a viewing if you can get it.
The weather has turned wet and windy today after what was a glorious day yeaterday. That is the way it can happen in Ireland....Summer one day and Winter the next. I am not complaining. There are so many problems we do not have to deal with here in Ireland when you look at Libya and their situation, or the situation with the earthquake in New Zealand. God help them all.
St Patrick's Day will see an influx of visitors to Ireland from all over the world as people arrive for the celebrations here. We do party for that big day but i think that our Irish American brothers and sisters party even more than we do. It is a day when everybody wants to be Irish and maybe in many ways we here at home do not really appreciate it as much as our people abroad. We still do enjoy it though and i know that we are more than happy to be Irish.
Now i had better get back to dealing with enquiries and keep the show on the road. Let me know if you want me.

Dave

Irish vacations with chauffeur/car and driver

Springtime is here....and so are the lambs
This is a bird sanctuary near my home

I took these photos today not far from where i live. It is always lovely to see the new-born lambs in the fields. It is a true sign that Spring has arrived. The photo underneath is one of what is known as a Turlough. This is a lake which disappears at certain times of the year and is linked underground to a river or a stream. This one is the breeding ground for many different species of bird. The birds are protected here and, for bird lovers, it is a great place to come to visit and study them. In the coming months of early Summer the water will disappear and the grass will be green and the emerging fields will be populated by cattle instead of birds. There are many of these Turloughs in Ireland and their infrastructure is limestone, which of course is porous. The Turloughs are often linked to underground streams and rivers which then flow to the sea and these lakes can be tidal. The water can rise and fall with the tides. In some cases salt water from the sea can reach the lakes themselves at times. Many of our Irish lakes are also quiet shallow which leads to lush growth on the bottom of these lakes. Because of their shallowness they are also rich in oxygen, and, along with this great supply of feed, we get a great variety of fish in our lakes. Ireland is a fishermans paradise.
I live in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland in a rural setting and i am surrounded by so many beautiful and interesting places. I have Connemara to the North of me and the Burren of county Clare to the south west. My location is ideal for what i do as i am never more than a couple of hours from most places i need to get to. The motor-ways have made everywhere so much more accessible and my clients will always be arriving to either Dublin airport or Shannon. Living in the west of Ireland is something i treasure. I love the wonderful mountain ranges all along the west coast, the fantastic views of the mighty Atlantic, and the variety of beautiful and colourful towns all along our coast. Where could you find places to equal Connemara, the Aran Islands, the Burren of county Clare, Killarney , Dingle and the Ring of Kerry, the southern coastline through Bantry and Skibbereen and Kinsale, the magic of Blarney with its famous Blarney stone and the town of Cork with its harbour at Cobh from where many of our ancestors sailed on their way to the USA. I could go on and on as there is so much more to see and to enjoy here. Come and see it for yourself. If you need me then just write and let me know.

Chauffeurdrive/ Private car and Driver/ Ireland West

A sheer drop into the ocean at Slea Head Dingle

I took this photo at Slea Head myself but it really does not give the true impression of just how sheer this drop is into the sea at this point. The Blasket Islands are just offshore here and it is just one of many wonderful views on this rugged peninsula. The ancient beehive huts are also very near Slea Head and are a "must visit" when you come to Dingle. The Blasket Island Centre is another place that should try to see and for anybody with an interest in pottery the Louis Mulcahy pottery a couple of miles from Slea Head is also a must. You can watch the potters at work and the selection of pottery on offer is exciting. Louis bases his colours on all the wonderful blues and greens and browns in this area and you can view his work on his web-site.
At the moment it is all planning with me as i deal with enquiries. It looks like it will be a busy year once again for me so remember to contact me sooner rather than later if you think you might like to investigate the possibility of a tour with me.
We are now on the run in to a general election in Ireland and i really find it all such a bore. So many people have been turned off by the failure of our politicians in recent times and really do not think that a different selection of individuals will make any difference. It is hard to blame them but someone has to take over and the present government are definitely not going to get back in. I will not bore you further.
I did not get a chance to watch the Super Bowl but i gather the Packers won. Well i must confess that my wife and i have Packer caps as we were gifted them by some lovely friends from Wisconsin who toured with me. I do not wear my cap all of the time but i must say that i feel important at the moment being one of the few Irishmen having such a cap. At heart i am a hurling fan and i consider that game to be the best game on this planet. It is played with a stick (called a hurley) and a hard leather ball and it is incredibly fast with non stop action from start to finish. There are fifteen players on each side and the game is played for 35 mins each half. It is a real mans game and you can get hurt, but then that applies the many games played by that rough species of animal called man. We do love it though and contact sports are our safety valve.
The All-Ireland series for that is completed in September when we crown our champions. Take it from me....it is a fantastic game.
Now i had better get back to work on my prospective clients. Talk again soon

Dave

Irish Chauffeurdrive Vacations

The centre of Killarney at night


Irish Chauffeurdrive Vacations are my speciality, and they really do have a lot to offer. Driving yourself in Ireland is not easy and it does take time to adjust to driving on the "Wrong Side" of the road. I did it myself in the USA and i hated every minute of it. You really cannot afford to take your eyes off the road. You will also have to be involved in conversations with your fellow passengers and this is a major distraction, especially if you have a nervous co-pilot who keeps giving you instructions. You really cannot enjoy the scenery and many of our secondary roads are very narrow and winding and are dangerous if you are not used to them. The stone walls do not allow you to see around the corners ahead and you will have many scary moments. The perfect answer to this is to have your own driver, me hopefully, and this has many more benefits than just the relief of not having to drive. You have an experienced guide, if you get the right driver, and you will cover so much more ground as i will not be getting lost along the way. Knowing the best places to visit is most important, and knowing what to leave out also, as many guide books recommend places that i personally would not rate very highly. Have a look at my web-site which will give you some more information on these points.
Our weather right now is really wild and windy and February has come in with a bang. We are going to have to put up with gale force winds for the next few days, and plenty of rain also. Thank God i am not on tour right now.
I had an enjoyable break in Killarney last week and i took the above photo for my Blog. The weather was a little better then. I do not think that Killarney would look as attractive tonight.
I continue to be busy writing itineraries for prospective clients. It is always a pleasure to plan an attractive program for people, especially when you include the places that they themselves specifically want to visit. One of the great pleasures is when somebody who has toured with me before contacts me and wants to come over to me again.There is much to see and you never need be finished touring Ireland. I myself have been around a while now and there are many roads in rural areas that still have to reveal their secret delights to me. I look forward to more of that this year. Maybe it will be with you.

Talk soon

Dave