Firths, Ways and Dales
Firths, Ways and Dales
It was Cynny’s turn to choose the destination for our summer escape from the Tucson heat and she chose the British Isles. We would escape both the blistering heat and the daily idiocy of our demented president and his band of vengeful morons for ten weeks. Because of previous commitments (hiking to Supai Village) we’d leave in late June and return in early September. I began planning more than a year in advance because it would be high season for tourism in Europe and many of the places, I wanted to visit would have limited lodging options. In addition, it would take 15 car ferry legs to complete our journey and most of those required advanced reservations. My goal was to have reservations everywhere, but to make sure that each could be cancelled up to a week or less in advance so that we could keep ahead of the weather, the tides and our changing moods.
International road trips for more than 30 days are a challenge. Most rental car companies won’t rent you a car for more than 30 days. The postal service will only hold your mail for 30 days. And, our insurance only permits a single vacation override per prescription. Alamo was the only rental car company in the entire Shannon, Ireland airport that would rent us a car for more than a month. We forwarded our mail to brother John and my doctor emptied every sample closet in the office to solve most of my medical issues. One of my medications required refrigeration so that entailed us packing a small car fridge that would run on the British power grid as well as in our rental car, which may or may not have a cigarette lighter plug. It did and we did.
I made a number of lists that included natural arches, waterfalls and other things that I wanted to photograph, added people I wanted to visit and cultural and theatrical events that I wanted to attend as well as other places that I wanted to visir for one random reason or another. I decided that I wanted to avoid large cities entirely and to follow a clockwise (mostly coastal) circle beginning and ending in Shannon, Ireland. Cynny added a few places (and would add more later).
Using sources available from the Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS), I made of list of about 60 natural arches that looked interesting and forwarded my list to Ray Millar, my colleague and friend, who lived in England and knows every arch in the Isles. In return, I received a long email with comments and edits. When I next saw Ray in California at the Fall 2024 NABS rally, he handed me a half dozen detailed maps that covered the more remote locations along my proposed itinerary with natural arch locations noted. We also agreed to meet at his home in England August 5-7, 2025 and entertain each other by comparing our arch photographs. Perhaps we agreed that Ray and I would do that while Cynny and Pam visited a local pub. Sadly, Ray returned from a trip to photograph Ding Qing Temple Arch in Tibet in June with renal failure and a chest infection and died on August 4. We were able to visit with Pam and her brother before leaving England.
Things went surprising well with only a few major disappointments. We made numerous changes to the itinerary especially toward the end of the trip. Everyone had warned us about driving but I adapted quickly to driving on the left (I am left handed). I never really felt comfortable driving on one lane roads that featured two-way traffic, two-lane roundabouts or driving between the hedges (many narrow two-lane roads have no shoulders and are bordered by eight-foot hedges). Our biggest challenge occurred thousands of miles away when I got notice of a motion detector alarm in our house in Tucson. The police reported a creature in the house but couldn’t find anything. Another alarm later that day and a third the next day prompted me to call our pest control company and have them investigate. They found that a squirrel had dislodged the cap on the rooftop dryer exhaust, fallen down the dryer exhaust tubing and broken through it into the house. It took them three days to trap the rodent. The damage was extensive and not covered by our home owners insurance that excludes vermin and rodents. We live in the desert and for years we never saw a squirrel. Now this?
The gallery includes a sampling of our adventures. We stayed in 31 different locations from one to four days each and only had a handful of days when the weather was too bad to go out at all.
Firths, Ways and Dales
It was Cynny’s turn to choose the destination for our summer escape from the Tucson heat and she chose the British Isles. We would escape both the blistering heat and the daily idiocy of our demented president and his band of vengeful morons for ten weeks. Because of previous commitments (hiking to Supai Village) we’d leave in late June and return in early September. I began planning more than a year in advance because it would be high season for tourism in Europe and many of the places, I wanted to visit would have limited lodging options. In addition, it would take 15 car ferry legs to complete our journey and most of those required advanced reservations. My goal was to have reservations everywhere, but to make sure that each could be cancelled up to a week or less in advance so that we could keep ahead of the weather, the tides and our changing moods.
International road trips for more than 30 days are a challenge. Most rental car companies won’t rent you a car for more than 30 days. The postal service will only hold your mail for 30 days. And, our insurance only permits a single vacation override per prescription. Alamo was the only rental car company in the entire Shannon, Ireland airport that would rent us a car for more than a month. We forwarded our mail to brother John and my doctor emptied every sample closet in the office to solve most of my medical issues. One of my medications required refrigeration so that entailed us packing a small car fridge that would run on the British power grid as well as in our rental car, which may or may not have a cigarette lighter plug. It did and we did.
I made a number of lists that included natural arches, waterfalls and other things that I wanted to photograph, added people I wanted to visit and cultural and theatrical events that I wanted to attend as well as other places that I wanted to visir for one random reason or another. I decided that I wanted to avoid large cities entirely and to follow a clockwise (mostly coastal) circle beginning and ending in Shannon, Ireland. Cynny added a few places (and would add more later).
Using sources available from the Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS), I made of list of about 60 natural arches that looked interesting and forwarded my list to Ray Millar, my colleague and friend, who lived in England and knows every arch in the Isles. In return, I received a long email with comments and edits. When I next saw Ray in California at the Fall 2024 NABS rally, he handed me a half dozen detailed maps that covered the more remote locations along my proposed itinerary with natural arch locations noted. We also agreed to meet at his home in England August 5-7, 2025 and entertain each other by comparing our arch photographs. Perhaps we agreed that Ray and I would do that while Cynny and Pam visited a local pub. Sadly, Ray returned from a trip to photograph Ding Qing Temple Arch in Tibet in June with renal failure and a chest infection and died on August 4. We were able to visit with Pam and her brother before leaving England.
Things went surprising well with only a few major disappointments. We made numerous changes to the itinerary especially toward the end of the trip. Everyone had warned us about driving but I adapted quickly to driving on the left (I am left handed). I never really felt comfortable driving on one lane roads that featured two-way traffic, two-lane roundabouts or driving between the hedges (many narrow two-lane roads have no shoulders and are bordered by eight-foot hedges). Our biggest challenge occurred thousands of miles away when I got notice of a motion detector alarm in our house in Tucson. The police reported a creature in the house but couldn’t find anything. Another alarm later that day and a third the next day prompted me to call our pest control company and have them investigate. They found that a squirrel had dislodged the cap on the rooftop dryer exhaust, fallen down the dryer exhaust tubing and broken through it into the house. It took them three days to trap the rodent. The damage was extensive and not covered by our home owners insurance that excludes vermin and rodents. We live in the desert and for years we never saw a squirrel. Now this?
The gallery includes a sampling of our adventures. We stayed in 31 different locations from one to four days each and only had a handful of days when the weather was too bad to go out at all.
