Excursion to Ireland

, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

J and I took a little excursion to Ireland last week. We drove a car down to Cashel in County Tipperary and stayed at one of the best bed and breakfast, The Hill House, we've even been in. It was built in 1710 and has quite a colorful history. The photo above, of the Rock of Cashel, is taken right out the front of the B&B.

We then drove down to County Cork and stayed at Clonakilty. From there we took short sightseeing tours along the rocky colorful coast, often on one lane roads where somebody had to find a wide place in the road when there was oncoming traffic - the occasional car or tractor.


The funny thing about driving in Ireland is that the passenger does the driving. To adjust for this little idiosyncracy, they all drive on the other side of the road, too.

Ireland is rich in scenic beauty. In fact the scenic beauty is so plentiful that sometimes they squander it away with litter and such...but not often. I have stored some pictures on flickr but the pictures, many of them, are hazy because it was hazy. We were lucky to not get rain. However, we did get howling winds, which the photos don't really show.

Never too old to soak the sun

Never too old to soak the sun, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

The Swedes are an outdoorsy people but when the sun comes out, they tend to enjoy it. This photo is of two elder Swedes enjoying the brief break in the rainy weather to sit on a bench. I somehow think it ironic that these two elders choose a church graveyard to soak up the sun.....

Longskating -- Långfärdskridskoåkning

One of my colleagues, Eje, shown in the lead position in the photo, is an avid long skater. The photo was taken by Gregor L. and is available in the original size here. Long skating is known as långfärdskridskoåkning in Swedish. I asked Eje about his hobby and here's some info he provided:

The poles are "ice probes", which are used to check the thickness of the ice, but also used as support when stepping over wider cracks in the ice, and as normal ski poles on bad ice in a tough headwind.

Drafting, like bicycle racers or race cars do, is very common in head wind, but as you see on the flag I am carrying the picture is taken in downwind, hence people spread out and don't draft.

In all normal cases the safest spot is the same track. That is, every skater follows the leader, skating over the same ice. Ice that is so weak that it might break has a "critical radius" of half a meter, hence it doesn't really matter. However, a group of skaters in high speed on thin ice pulls a big wave, to avoid that you would normally skate with some meters distance, but the same track.

Weak "black ice" sometimes experiences a wear effect, hence it could be advantageous
to skate your own track some meters away.

We carry maps, GPS, compass, the lot. Navigation is very similiar to what you do in a boat doing 10-15 knots, but like in orienteering it all becomes more difficult while doing physical exercise.

The speed and distance varies a lot depending on the skill of the skater and the ice of the day. Stronger skaters do day tours well over 100 km every year, when conditions are really favorable.

Groups I lead ofte do distance between 40 and 80 km in a day, the shorter in December/January due to thinner ice and shorter daylight. Speeds in excess of 30 kmph are common among the strongest skaters, I normally try to offer
my groups a very constant pace in the region of 17 (headwind) thru 23 (tailwind) kmph, which is normally very appreciated, rather than short sprints.

A lot of valuable skating time can easily be wasted probing thin ice, passing difficult cracks or walking on land between lakes. Hence I rather skate around all problems, again often very appreciated in groups I lead.

Ice is a very special material (the only having material lower density in solid form than as a liquid?), and I could talk forever about it...

You can see a 7 minute video of Longskating by clicking here. I got this video by searching YouTube - it is not of Eje.