Heading to the west coast

We've made it around the northern tip of Ireland and have spent the last two nights in Derry (or Londonderry depending on whom you ask - but we were told it would be best to just call it Derry). This is where Bloody Sunday took place in 1972. This is a very old place with an amazing town centre. The old town in known as the 'walled city' and is completely surrounded by a rock wall that is up to 35 plus feet thick in places! We walked around the top of the entire wall and were able to see some amazing things. We also checked out Free Derry, an area in the neighborhood of Bogside where Bloody Sunday occured. There are many murals on the buildings painted by local artists representing the history of 'The Troubles' as they are called here. It was a very crazy feeling walking on the streets we've all seen in the news with barricades and tear gas in the background. A somewhat somber feeling but pretty powerful indeed.

Anyway - we're heading down to Galway on the west coast today. The weather has been a bit wet lately but looks to be be clearing for Easter weekend. The west coast is supposed to be quite dramatic and beautiful - we'll let you know. And hopefully we will someday find a computer somewhere that lets us plug in and upload some of our hundreds of photos... (sorry)...

Running out of time on the this computer... must post. Later everyone!

IT'S BEAUTIFUL HERE!

Hi all, we hope you are doing wonderful! Unfortunately we don't get to use a computer very often so we aren't updating our blog too much yet. When we do find a computer it doesn't allow us to put our pictures up because they have all the towers locked. Anyway, we have almost made it to the tip of Northern Ireland! We're having a fabulous time and have been very fortunate with the weather. We started in Dublin and then up to Belfast by train which was a nice, scenic ride. From Belfast we started walking/backpacking quite frequently. We've spent each night in a different town more Northern than the last. We've been staying in hostels, B & B's and we camped one night. We climbed a couple of giant mountains and camped at the top with lots of sheeps. So far we are averaging 8-10 miles a day with our 30-40 pound

backpacks...which I admit is quite a challenge. We are definitely sore but seem to be improving our distance each day. We hope to get somewhere up near 15-20 miles per day. It's hard to walk far here though because there are so many sites to stop and see and people keep offering us "lifts." So far, we've gotten several rides from families, hostel owners and people who want to chat with Americans. We are having a blast and really getting to relax and enjoy the "slow" life. The people here are incredibly nice, it's quite amazing! Last night and tonight we are staying in Ballycastle.

Today we got an early start out to Rathlin Island and hiked about 9 miles. Absolutely breathtaking views! Next week we will probably be on the West Coast and have better access to the internet as there are some major cities there. It's interesting and quite funny walking through the cities like Dublin and Belfast with our giant backpacks on. We hope everyone is well and feel free to comment, we love hearing from you all back home!

Hello from Belfast

After spending some time in Dublin we have traveled north by train to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It is a very mello town with some very friendly people. We are heading out this afternoon to begin backpacking up the eastern coast and around the northern edge of the country. We'll probably be out on the trails for the next 10 days or so. We are having an incredible time and have seen some beautiful country so far - and expect to see much more in the days to come. We'll make sure and post some pictures as soon as we can.

Guinness is good.

Ready to roll...

"...All (our) bags are packed, (we're) ready to go, (we're) standing here outside your door, (we'd) hate to wake you up to say goodbye..."

At least I hope we're all ready to go. Less than 48 hours before departure and the excitement is palpable.

Off we go...

For those heretofore unaware: Leah and Ryan have quit their jobs are will be leaving to backpack around Europe on March 29th. Our journey will begin in Ireland and where it will end is completely unknown at this point. We hope to make this adventure last as long as possible and to that end humbly request that any who have recommendations or suggestions on how/what/when/where to stay/eat/drink/go please let us know. We can be reached though comment here or directly via email: leahandryantravel@gmail.com. Please check back often as we will be adding pictures and posts...