Leinster winning the Heineken Cup

Pity it wasn't Munster, but a great game nonetheless and great to be at game live!

From glasgow-and-heineken-cup-26-5-2009

From glasgow-and-heineken-cup-26-5-2009

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is the best preserved medieval castle in England ... I'm told. It looked pretty, but was incredibly touristy to the point of nausea.

From warwick-castle-1-6-2009

Glasgow Cathedral

Worth visiting Glasgow Cathedral if you're ever in Glasgow. Quite nice ...

From glasgow-and-heineken-cup-26-5-2009

Mount Brandon

Myself and Rob hiked up the Pilgrim Trail to the peak of Mount Brandon (not to be confused with Brandon Peak, which is a mountain beside it!)

There's a small grotto near the beginning of the trail ... I guess part of the reason of how the trail got it's name.

From brandon-5-6-2009

The route we took:



View Brandon Route in a larger map

Like Carauntoohil, there was a massive iron cross at the top of Brandon also.

From brandon-5-6-2009

From brandon-5-6-2009

From brandon-5-6-2009

Roman Ruins

On the way back from Scafell Pike we stopped in a small town called Ravenglass to check out ruins of an old Roman Bath house. Amazing to think they got this far - it was quite remote around here ... although it was a port town way back, so I guess that was the way.

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

Scafell Pike

This time it's England's highest mountain. By far the shortest of the hikes we've done so far. Very enjoyable and beautiful nonetheless.


View Scafell Pike Route in a larger map

Lake Wastwater, where we parked ...

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

We took "The Lord's Rake" route up which was a little like a shorter version of the Devil's Ladder when heading up Carrauntoohil - Lots of scrambling, scree and loose rock - Lots of fun!!! ...

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

I swear Nici didn't pose for this! ...

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

At the top ...

From scafell-pike-22-4-2009

Then on the way down we had a massive thunderstorm - really, really massive. I've never been that close to lightening before!

The Boat Race

I went to see The Boat Race mid-course, at Hammersmith Bridge. Oxford were a good length behind when they passed. Listen out for the guy in video shouting, "Oxford you're f***ed, you're f***ed Oxford!" ... Maybe that's what inspired them on to pull through to over a 2 length win over Cambridge by the end!

"The Clink"

Ha ha, I didn't actually know that this was a real place. It where the reference, "sent to the clink" (Prison) comes from.

Clink street prison was a notorious medieval prison I'm told.

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

Sir Francis Drakes ship! and the worlds first maratime museum ...

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

Sculpture on the South Bank

A pretty neat sculpture on the South Bank in London ...

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

The Matrix, London Style

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

Tate Modern

From another-day-out-in-london-20-3-2009

Players in a Tunnel

Deliberately chosen I would think - a group belting out the four seasons in a tunnel on the south bank ...

St. Paul's Cathedral

Yet another beautiful building in London. Built by Christopher Wren, the man who seems to have built everything in this city back then ...

From st-pauls-and-the-monument-7-3-2009

Monument

Ever since I got to London the Monument was under scaffolding for renovations. This 61 meter tall structure was the tallest thing in the city for quite some time after it was erected 7 years after the great fire of London in in 1666. The height of the Monument is the exact distance that it is from the bakery on Pudding Lane where the fire started. Over three hundred years of city grime deposited on it has now been removed, while still preserving most of the original stonework. To look at, it's not that special, but when you know the history behind it it's pretty amazing. Worth waiting a year and a half to see.

From st-pauls-and-the-monument-7-3-2009

From st-pauls-and-the-monument-7-3-2009

Road Trip to Cornwall

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Cornwall Beaches

Sennen Cove was this beautiful beach near lands end. There was a few other cracker as we headed up the coast too. Surfing heaven I'd say ...

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

Lands End

The most westerly point in Britain. Over 800 miles to John 'O' Groats on the northern tip of Scotland. We here in March and was very obviously the low season despite the weather being lovely. They had this tasteless Victorian theme village built there, but it was all closed and abandoned looking. We were the only two people walking around and the car park was empty. Just after we took our obligatory photo at the Lands End sign a guy walked up and started dismantling it ... It was like the world fair had come and gone ... errie place - Quite different in the summer I'd say.

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

St. Ive's

This was a nice little spot. The town became a big artists haven early last century and still is today. Lovely beach (as is the case all over Cornwall) and a really cool little church up on top of a hill looking out onto the Atlantic.

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

Buckfast Abbey

We just had to stop here - Buckfast Abbey - the stuff of college legend when monk brew their legendary tonic wine. Sure enough , tucked away in the corner of the monks shop was the Buckfast Wine. I think that they're a little embarassed about the popularity of the wine.

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

Salisbury Cathedral

Passing through Salisbury we stopped at the very impressive Salisbury Cathedral. It's massive and I'd to stand well back to take a photo. Inside they have one of the original copies of the Magna Carta in the chapter house. I'd to be satisfied to see peer through the window at it as they closed by the time I got there. Great anyways though!

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

Stone Henge

Not far outside Salisbury we visited Stone Henge - the ancient stone circle of monoliths. I've probably got the historical terminology wrong there but you get the idea and it's very famous. You do get to go fairly close but you can't touch it. Pretty impressive nonetheless.

From devon-and-cornwall-1-3-2009

Vancouver, Whistler and British Colombia

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We went on a holiday to visit our two friends from college who had moved to Vancouver. Quite a nice city. It near every kind of outdoors activity you could imagine. I loved it. Myself an Nici did a whole load of hiking that week. We also visited Whistler where the next Winter Olympics will be held. Normally when you think of Whistler you think of Skiing, but we were there at the wrong end of the calendar, just before the winter. Lehman Brothers went bankrupt that week, which was a bit weird and I thought I was jobless! Although being on holidays was probably the best at the time :-)

From Holiday in Vancouver 12-21.10.2008

From Holiday in Vancouver 12-21.10.2008

From Holiday in Vancouver 12-21.10.2008

I took a picture of these (Mapel??) Trees - Look how red they got in Autumn - I assume this is something you get in a country with real seasons :-)

From Holiday in Vancouver 12-21.10.2008

From Holiday in Vancouver 12-21.10.2008

From Holiday in Vancouver 12-21.10.2008

Shortly before Lehman Brothers Changed to Barclays

You won't see this again ...

From New-York-August-2008

USA National Debt

I took this only a few weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brother's, AIG, the American auto industry, etc. They never anticipated having to put another "1" on the end of this. When I came back again in November they had had to paste that one at the end ...

From New-York-August-2008

Back in New York

I never grow tired of this city. I was sent over with work about three weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and made the most of it. They've upgraded all the screens in Times Square to HD now as well.

From New-York-August-2008

From New-York-August-2008

Here's the roof of Grand Central station. It's of the constellations, but in reverse because it's "how god would see them".

From New-York-August-2008

And a pretty spectacular view from the "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center) ...

From New-York-August-2008

And on the weekend, curtosy of my generous cousins, we took a trip up state to Westpoint military academy. Here's a nice view of the Hudson Valley:

From New-York-August-2008

Like that Famous Painting

There was a chair in a room in that house we stayed in the south of France and it looked just like that famous Van Gogh painting:

From france-and-spain-august-2008

Yeah, I know it's the mirror image, but you get the idea.

South of France

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Jim, using his abyss of valuable contacts, sourced a gem of a house in the center of a postcard village in the south of France - St. Pierre des Champs. It was heaven - no mobile reception, no buses, no television, no internet. A mile up the hill we had a amazing views of the countryside, a mile in the other direction we were by a natural river pool and a mile in a different direction we were in the neighboring village. I even drank coffee there it was so nice. Other groups of a similar age were also on holiday in the village and they brought us to a fête in the neighbouring town. Pretty cool. We had rented a car also and took day trips to Toulouse and Barcelona. Pretty much the ideal holiday really - can't wait to do something similar again.

From france-and-spain-august-2008

From france-and-spain-august-2008

From france-and-spain-august-2008

From france-and-spain-august-2008

From france-and-spain-august-2008

From france-and-spain-august-2008

From france-and-spain-august-2008

Ben Nevis

We couldn't have picked a worse day to climb Ben Nevis. Wet, windy and generally miserable. The top was fogged over, but, as I was told, this is nothing unusual even for a good day in Scotland. The mountain was 1300ish meters high. Quite a lot of people were training for the mountain race the next week ... lunatics ... I couldn't imagine running up the thing ... at least not in this state of fitness :-)


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From ben-nevis-9-8-2008

From ben-nevis-9-8-2008

From ben-nevis-9-8-2008

Tower Bridge

A nice bridge ... one of those images you think of when you think of London. It's actually ensured as a boat!

From tower-bridge-and-the-tower-of-london-july-2008