Photo February - Day Twenty Six

Ruin, Pearson's Bridge, Co Cork, Ireland, 2006

Visiting Blarney and Barney in 2006, we spent a day visiting what Blarney refers to as "old shit".

This was one of the bits of "old shit" we saw. I just prettied up the background because it was a grey day and it makes the ruin stand out a bit more.

We had a great day. The first stop was to the Jameson's factory where we had a tour of the site with a very corny tour guide. This was followed by an Irish whisky tasting, which is always fun. Then we went down to Bantry Bay for a look around, then back to Cork via this place - which was pretty magic.

I love Ireland an have been there on many occasions. It was the one place I could visit freely outside of the UK when I was living as an illegally in Britain, only because you didn't need a passport to get there. The people are lovely, the guinness flows freely and for somebody who was raised in an arid country, I can never get enough of the green of the countryside, the music in the pubs or SuperMac's garlic fries. And there are no snakes there either because St Patrick drove them all away ages ago.

Of the places I'd return to again - Galway and Glendalough stick out in my mind, though I'm very fond of Dublin - even if I did end up in the Mater hospital with suspected pneumonia on one trip.

Of this picture, the other thing it reminds me of is the poster I used to have on my wall at college. A large poster of "The Unforgetable Fire", the U2 album. This is not the castle used on the cover short, but it brings back memories from what now appears to be a simpler time.