Travel Theme: Grey (Not all vacations are blue sky & sunshine!)
When I saw Ailsa’s travel theme of ‘Grey’, I knew I’d have endless sources of contribution from our recent vacation. Twelve days in Ireland (and 4 in London), and only two were completely rain free. The Irish, known for talking about the weather, were berating the “worst summer in a decade“. As one woman put it, “two and a half weeks ’til the bairns go back to school, and they’ve not had summer yet.” Most of our days we managed to dodge showers. We did have two, thoroughly miserable, soggy wet ones, but a horse race on a beach, and a wander through what appeared to be tropical rainforest with a waterfall did alleviate those. For this theme, I’ve easily focused on the grey – and shown that you can still enjoy a holiday without tropical, picture perfect, weather!
Grey headstones in the Newcastle Methodist Church (Newcastle, Co.Down, N.Ireland)
Blue Heron with a Crab (Newcastle, N. Ireland)
The medieval equivalent of barb wire fence toppers! (Dundrum Castle – N. Ireland).
Grave marker from 1786. (Maghera, N. Ireland)
Scene from Titanic Museum (Belfast, N.Ireland)
The modern, and very grey, Titanic Museum (Belfast, N.Ireland)
A grey stone bench. (Roundstone, Co. Galway, Ireland)
A grey battling it out on a very grey day at Omey Beach Races. (Co. Galway, Ireland).
Grey skies set off the pretty Murphy’s Farmhouse in Kerry (Boulteens, Kerry)
Another very grey stormy morning – although it did clear out a bit later. (Inch Beach, Co. Kerry, Ireland.)
The Stonehouse Cafe & Restaurant (Dunbeg Fort, Co. Kerry, Ireland)
Ross Castle (Killarney, Ireland)
A grey morning for the ducks. (Ross Castle, Killarney)
This was the ‘overcast but dry’ forecast. (Dublin Zoo, Ireland)
This little guy was completely appreciative of the mud. (Dublin Zoo, Ireland)
The spectacular greys and blues of the Natural History Museum (London, England)
A grey day showing off the London Eye and Big Ben (London, England)
Tourist Links for those interested:
Newcastle, Co. Down – Discover Northern Ireland (Can also refer an incredible B&B)
Dundrum Castle
Maghera – Old Church
Titanic Belfast – well worth a visit!
Roundstone – Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland
Murphy’s Farmhouse – near Castlemaine, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Inch Beach/Strand – (Sammy’s restaurant was excellent too!)
Ross Castle – Killarney National Park
Dublin Zoo
These are wonderful greys, Suzan. I love the picture of the poor ape and baby in the rain. It says so much 😉
Thanks Dianne. By that stage I was beginning to feel much like them. Didn’t have brolly or rain coat (forecast was ‘overcast but dry’). It rained like that for a solid 90 minutes, and I even managed to blow up the screen on the camera despite wiping it down and tucking it into my sweatshirt! At least it was relatively mild – and I have short hair so it did dry quickly once it stopped.
That’s quite an eclectic set of pictures you’ve shown here. Grey has its place in the world.
Thanks Steve! I know as a photographer 18% grey is a key number too LOL.
It’s a good job it’s beautiful or nobody would ever go there, Suzan 🙂 We do a good shade of grey here in the north east too. That’s why having our Algarve home is so appreciated.
It certainly makes me appreciate Calgary’s 333 days of sunshine per year, on average. Even when it’s bollock freezing, it’s still bright! And yes, it is stunningly gorgeous and so lush and green over there!