THE CASH CAB $

There always seemed to be time to write the blog every day, no matter what was on the agenda I could always fit it in…….send out my daily dose of travel news, restaurant reviews, lies, half truths, and bullshit. For some reason it is becoming harder to do that now, I mean here we are, 7 days into a perfect return to Ireland/Rosapenna, and I haven’t published a word……….a day off golf today so that is about to change!

First a little background………. Unlike previous adventures featuring just Jutta and I, and more recently Sista Siby, we have a bit more company this time out. As it happened, Jutta’s chatting with the gang around the club after our return from Ireland last year, led to a plan where a group of us would attend the “Spring Links” event here at Rosapenna, County Donegal ……..organized in foursomes, we would take on their three courses…….Old Tom Morris, Sandy Hills, and St.Patrick’s Links, in some kind of tournament, staying here at the hotel, and hopefully playing a few other courses along the way. Turns out there are twenty of us…….5 foursomes……all from OslerBrook except for a couple of folks who have close connections, so it is just like home away from home.

Justin Farrell at “Links of Ireland” took care of all the bookings (highly recommended), and extended our base trip to include a round at Cruit Island and two rounds up at Ballyliffin before the group would splinter and head off on their various merry ways………..we have booked multiple other rounds with Justin before we head back……..others are doing the same, or combining that with visiting landmarks, distilleries, breweries, and pubs, attractions, distilleries, breweries, and pubs, and one group even has a little fly fishing and skeet shooting thrown in for good measure (nice touch).

Turning the clock back a week though, it was a very nice flight over on a relatively new Air Canada jet, arriving early Friday morning in Dublin. Our foursome……..Jutta, Sibylle, Sheila, and myself were traveling together, and yours truly booked our vehicle for the next two weeks. After hearing stories from others about undersized transportation, and sitting with suitcases on your lap, I opted for the larger van option……….what was supposed to be a Ford Mondeo 9 seater, turned out to be a Ford Transit Custom….Mondeo featured plush interior with leather seats and looked very cool………Transit is none of that. This is a people mover, period………the largest vehicle in the parking lot…..a big grey box on wheels……perfect for getting the landscaping crew from job to job……..so far no issues, although I am hearing it from the riff raff……….I have discussed charging for rides, as I seem to be the popular choice when heading out to dinner or the pub……..”Let’s go with Hugh, he can get everyone in”…….so we have named the grey blob “Cash Cab”

Before leaving Collingwood, I dropped a line to my trusty neighbour DB, asking that if when he was out walking the dog, could he go around the back of our house to see if the robins’ were still trying to build nests under our upper deck. For days now I have been knocking down whatever they had built in the hope they would find a new nesting location………we are replacing the deck shortly after we get home, and don’t want the challenge of moving a nest with eggs or young chicks in it………better to have them build somewhere else, but they are persistent little peckers! DB reports activity might have slowed, but he is still knocking down a few projects a day……….what a great neighbour.

Our drive across the island from Dublin was a breeze, with Sheila and Jutta having rows to themselves in the back, and Sibylle doing a great job navigating up front with me. It did get interesting as we got deeper into Donegal, and the country roads narrowed just enough to make Sibylle think that on a few occasions she was about to see her first head on collision. Our rooms were ready upon arrival at Rosapenna Hotel, and now came the task of staying awake for Zombie Day, and not allowing ourselves to take a nap, or else we would be up all night. Having our first Guinness and a bowl of fries seemed like a great way to start.

We have booked a pre-practice round tomorrow at St. Patrick’s Links, the jewel in the Rosapenna collection, ranked 49 in the world, so after a quick dinner we are off to bed and can’t wait for our tee off in the morning.