Come to Ireland with me!

Erin Hart & Celtic Journeys Present
IRELAND WITH ERIN HART
April 8-18, 2016 
10 days/9 nights in Ireland focusing on history, mystery, archaeology & folklore

I'm excited this year to be working with Jean Wynne of Celtic Journeys. I will be leading a small band of a dozen or so on a wonderful trip called "Ireland with Erin Hart" focusing on history, mystery, archaeology & folklore—full of fascinating historic sites, informal chats with archaeologists, folklorists, storytellers and musicians. 

Dates are April 8 (departing the US) to April 18. Have a look at our full itinerary, and find out how to make your reservation—just click on the links below. 

The booking deadline is February 8, 2016, so please get in touch with Jean Wynne right away if you're interested!

Join me for this unique trip through Ireland, visiting many of the places that have inspired my writing, from the archaeology of ancient sites, the peat bog and its hidden treasures, and all along the way exploring the folklore and folkways of Ireland, past and present. 

We'll spend three nights in Dublin, exploring the city and taking in the the bog men and the Faddan More Psalter at the National Museum, along with the Book of Kells at Trinity College, traditional music sessions, and a day trip to Lough Crew megalithic cemetery. 

From Dublin we'll head to the ancient monastery at Glendalough, and take in Ireland's oldest city of Waterford where we'll go into the Mayor's Wine Vault, under the city from medieval times. 

Then westward to Dingle Peninsula, taking in its rugged beauty (not to mention its music and fresh seafood) before traveling up the coast and into West Galway, Connemara and the Aran Islands. Along the way, we'll visit with renowned storytellers, musicians, archaeologists, and folklorists. Finally, we'll head east across the bogs toward Dublin again and have a last night in a Barberstown Castle, a magical way to end your journey through Ireland! 

Questions? Please call Jean Wynne at 651-291-8003 or email her at jean@celtic-journeys.com. 

Full details, itinerary and reservation form are also on my website, and at Celtic Journeys website. 

Come to Ireland with me!

One of the great perks of my job is that I get to travel to Ireland for research. And I love to bring people along with me and share some of the amazing places I've discovered in many visits there. 

I'm taking a small group of 8 intrepid travelers this September, on a tour called "IRELAND: The Creative I," which will focus on Ireland as the inspiration for painting, photography, music, poetry and prose.

We'll spend 10 days and 9 nights in Connemara (a region of West Galway, and one of my most favorite places in Ireland), the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry, and West Clare, the home of some of the best traditional music in the world.

In addition to day trips to amazing places—historic sites, ancient ruins, and landscapes that will take your breath away—we'll also be talking with and learning from artists, photographers, musicians, and writers (myself included), as we follow our creative impulses. 

My partner in crime is Linda Rosen of Ireland On My Mind, a tour company that specializes in small groups and off-the-beaten-path adventures.

I'm putting together a reading list for the group, some of my favorite poets and novelists whose voices seem to rise up from the land:  Seamus Heaney, Edna O'Brien, Liam O'Flaherty, Patrick Kavanagh, and of course W.B. Yeats, among others. And I'm talking with musician friends to see if I can fix up some music sessions for us along the way as well.

This is going to be an excellent adventure. Hope you'll think about coming along with us.

FULL ITINERARY AND TOUR DETAILS:

MY WEBSITE
http://erinhart.com/tour-ireland.php

IRELAND ON MY MIND WEBSITE
http://www.irelandonmymind.com/creative-i.htm

Dunquin Pier, one of the fine sights along the Dingle coastline.
The ramp where the curraghs used to bring the sheep and cattle in from the Blasket islands...

Turf cutting still kicking up dust and controversy in Ireland

When I speak to library patrons and book clubs, I often spend as much time talking about bogs as about the writing process. And I included Ireland's turf-cutting controversy in the opening chapter of my first book, Haunted Ground, way back in the mid 1990s:

Chilblains were the farthest thing from Brendan’s mind this unusually sun-drenched late-April morning. A steady westerly breeze swept over the bog, chasing high clouds across the watery blue of the sky, and teasing the moisture from the turf. Good drying today, his father would have said. Brendan worked in his shirtsleeves; his wool jacket, elbows permanently jointed from constant wearing, lay on the bank above his head. He paused, balancing his left arm on the handle of the upright sleán, and, with one rolled-up sleeve, mopped the sweat from his forehead, pushing away the damp, dark hair that stuck there. The skin on his face and forearms was beginning to feel the first pleasant tightness of a sunburn. Hunger was strong upon him at the moment, but just beyond it was an equally hollow feeling of anxiety. This might be the last year he could cut turf on his own land without interference. The thought of it burned in the pit of his stomach. As he clambered up the bank to fetch the handkerchief from his coat pocket, he searched the horizon for a bicycle.

That plot thread was prompted by some signs I'd seen posted on the roadside in east Galway while driving around on a research trip. 

Protesting the imposition of bog licenses, East Galway, around 1999.

I also included Special Areas of Conservation in The Book of Killowen, where one of the characters is cutting peat from the bottom of a protected bog, and selling it for use as a beauty product. There are a few spas in Ireland where you can sign up to soak in a peat-infused bath, which I actually had to try in the name of research, of course. More on that later (with pictures!)...

Just this week, there's more controversy, as turf-cutters near Killimor in County Galway are cutting with machines in defiance of a ban on cutting turf from their own plots. The European Union has designated the bog in question as a Special Area of Conservation, which means turf is not to be cut there. But the families have been cutting in the same bogs for generations, and resent what they consider government intrusion. Turf-cutting rights, called 'turbary rights' often accompany the sale or transfer of property and farmland.

The controversy is made all the more complicated by the fact that Bord na Móna, the semi-state body that's been in charge of Irish boglands, has been strip-mining peat in the endangered high bogs of the Midlands for a hundred years, and continues to do so. They cut loose peat by the ton, and burn it in power plants to generate electricity.

BnM has been slowing down, but only because all the bogs have been cut away, and there's nothing left. The power stations are closing, and so are the jobs that the peat extraction has generated for the past century. My husband Paddy worked on Bord na Móna bogs, as did his father. It was the best job going in many parts of the Midlands.

Christy O'Brien, my father-in-law, working out on the bog with his mate Tommy Wright.

You can read a VERY recent article about the scofflaws who cut peat from a protected bog in today's Connaght Tribune:

Turf wars re-ignite as cutters defy law
Thursday, 08 May 2014 07:00      Written by Ciaran Tierney
http://www.connachttribune.ie/galway-news/item/2830-turf-wars-re-ignite-as-cutters-defy-law

Thanks very much to Bridget Nicholson for sharing this article!

Sods of machine-cut turf from a County Offaly high bog, back around 2003.

Northern Lights - Music for Winter!

Just found this very interesting album featuring a blend of Irish and Scandinavian music from Lorcán Mac Mathúna and friends. Here's a bit from their website:

Like their landscapes, the music of Ireland and Scandinavia are spectacular, inspiring, and very different to each other. Northern Lights brings “Songs of the Fjord and Glen,” an exploration of Irish and Scandinavian traditional songs and dance music that connects a vast musical landscape. This performance evokes everything between the ice of the North sea and the warmth of Irish summer pastures, in search of a deeper understanding of the things that unite us all.

Northern Lights is a blending of Norse and Irish: sagas, stories, soundscapes, cultural flavours and perspectives, through a meeting of their music and songs. It is a project of Lorcán Mac Mathúna (voice, whistle), Raphael De Cock (voice, pipes, siberian harp, shrutti, hardanger fiddle, jews harp), and James Mahon (uillean pipes, whistle flutes). 

To find out a little more on the background and theme of the project visit the Northern Lights website.

Ireland Travel Tips

For anyone traveling with me on a Hart of Ireland tour, I thought it might be useful to share some of the travel tips I've been collecting over the years, things you might not think of when planning a trip to Ireland. If anybody else has suggestions, please share them!

• Cash card:  It's cheaper to get Euros from a cashpoint than to bring currency for exchange. I just use my VISA debit card to withdraw cash from my checking account. Works like a charm.
  
  
• Lithium batteries:  Longer-lasting for electronics (like your digital camera, if it runs on regular-sized batteries), and difficult to find most places in Ireland.
  
  
• Artificial sweetener: If you're off sugar, but still need a little sweetness in your tea or coffee, you might want to tuck in some packets of Equal or Splenda or Sweet 'n' Low—many places in Ireland only have real sugar.
  
• Good/waterproof walking shoes:  We'll visit some places where the ground is rather uneven, and might have to walk through a pasture or two, so it's good to have sturdy shoes with ankle and arch support. I often bring my wellingtons, because it's good to have waterproof footwear.
  
• Outerwear/umbrella:  A lightweight waterproof coat is a great thing to have in Ireland; showers are usually light but frequent. And a travel umbrella will never go amiss.
  
  
• Scarf/hat/shawl/pashmina/headband:  We'll be traveling through some windy places, and it's good to have something to cover your ears. Ireland is considerably cooler this time of year than Minnesota/US in general. (Avg temp is about 60-65 right now.)
  
  
• A 'clootie': We'll be passing by Saint Kieran's Bush, a place where people tie ribbons and rags and mementoes of all kinds as offerings. I'll have some bits of ribbon with me, but if you'd like yours to be more personal, please bring it along.
  
• Film:  If you've not gone digital, don't forget extra film for your camera. Film is almost impossible to find in Ireland these days (as everywhere, I suppose.) For those who have gone digital, it's also an excellent idea to have an extra memory card for your camera, just in case you can't stop taking pictures of sheep and run out of memory before a download opportunity...  ;-)
  
• Washcloth:  Most of the hotels where we'll be staying cater to American tourists and provide washcloths, but I always carry my own, just in case.
  
• A power adapter/converter:  If you're planning to plug anything in... Many items are already dual voltage (and have their own converters—check that blocky thing in the middle of your laptop plug for its voltage specs), but you'll need an adapter to plug them in to the wall in Ireland. Plugs in Ireland look like this:
  
  
  
  Here's some basic info from a discussion of "adapter vs. converter" from amazon.com:
  
  Laptops and cell phone chargers almost all come with a built-in voltage transformer. You can check on the cord or appliance to verify this (it will say range 110v-240) (laptops it says on the charger unit on the cord). America is 110, many other countries (e.g. all of europe, and I believe India etc) are 240. As for all other appliances, some have transformers but many do not, so check in the manual of the individual appliance.
  
  Adapter: Anything with this range (110-240) transformer built in, you will need only an adapter for so it fits into the wall. Any good electronic store can tell you which adapter to get for the country you are going to...and the adapter should list the countries it works for as well. You can buy adapters with either 3 prongs or 2 prongs on the 'American side.' I would buy one of each. The 3 prong adapter I need for my laptop plug (this works for 2 & 3 prongs) and I always keep it on. The 2 prong I use for my cell phone charger and always keep it on.
  
  Often, digital camera re-chargers, radios, mp3 chargers, and the like (electronic, motorized) are around 50 watt devices, and require a 50 watt transformer. Any electronic store should have a 50 watt transformer, and it will list the types of electronics it should be used for (they DO list digital camera re-chargers). 'Enercell' is a common brand you'll find in different watt capabilities.
  
  The voltage converters (/transformers) are also adapters.
  
  Devices that heat up, such as curlers, straighteners, blow dryers, irons, and lamps, usually require more watts, 1600-2000 watts. For these get a 1600 or 2000 watt voltage converter, either one works for all those kind of appliances. Those transformers are also easy to find at any electronic store, and the item will list what appliances to use them for.

Hope this helps anyone traveling to Ireland. Please join the discussion if you have experiences or ideas to share!

Conjuring images

Hardcover copies of FALSE MERMAID are supposed to be arriving next week, and the giddiness is setting in. I'm trying to revisit all the images that helped shape the story, to begin putting together the multimedia presentation that will resemble the slide show that plays in my head: a leaf-littered riverbank, scullers on still water, the polychromed ceiling of a library reading room, an abandoned village, craggy cliffs and seabirds and curious seals. These are all the pictures in my head as I think about FALSE MERMAID, and that I hope to conjure in the reader's imagination. I'll start posting some pictures here to give you an idea...