NATO Enlargement, Ireland's Division, Geology and the Stone Age

Dublin | Dunluce | Fifty | Garden | Giant's Causeway | Ninety | Portrush | Twenty-Five

18 May 2022 - Dublin

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Today Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO after long stretches of neutrality. Sweden's neutrality was by choice, but Finland's was a result of the treaty they signed with the USSR after the Winter War. "North" Macedonia was the last country to join NATO in 2020. Joining the alliance is a clear reflection of the threat that Putin represents as demostrated in Ukraine. I woke up this morning in NATO, where I have lived nearly my entire life, but spent the morning driving back into Ireland, another country that never joined. Crossing the border to and from Northern Ireland is like no border at all. I didn't notice today or Monday when I crossed, except that suddenly everything was in miles and yards instead of meters and kilometers. On Monday this actually didn't dawn on me until a speed camera clocked me at a speed with a number much smaller than I expected. But it's been a whirlwind trip so far.

I arrived midday Saturday on a cheap Aer Lingus flight to a country much more expensive than I was expected. Much more! I took a bus down to the River Liffey from the airport and walked along that estuary from the port to Heuston Station. Along the way I stopped at many a pub and then took a bus out to my hotel in the evening. Sunday morning I had a race in Phoenix Park, which was 7 km from my hotel. I decided to run to the race since it was only a 5K. Along the way I took a nasty spill and cut up my hands and knees. Nevertheless I still managed a respectable 23:59 in the race through the cool morning air in the park. Then I walked through the park to the Guinness brewery, stopping to admire the Wellington monument. Guiness is a must see in Dublin, but it's a musuem not a working brewery tour. Still fun, though I had hoped for more.

Monday morning saw me rent a car and been my lefthand stickshift driving adventure! It required a fair amount of concentration to stay on the left side of the road and change gears, but I managed fairly well. The neolithic burial mounds at Brú na Bóinne was my first stop of the day. They're a bit complicated to visit, as one must go to the visitor's center on the wrong side of the Boyne River to catch a bus tour to the burial mounds at Knowth and New Grange. The Dowth mound and other sites in the valley are not on the tour. Then I drove crosscountry north to Portrush on the North Ireland coast. It's a resort town, but still suffering from the effects of Covid and the uncertainty Brexit has created there. On the way I only got really lost in Armagh, where I repeatedly made wrong turns out of town.

Tuesday's goal was the Giant's Causeway, a columnar basalt deposit on the coast similar to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. I started the morning with a nice long run on the beaches of Portrush. Then I headed out on the coastal road. This coast really feels like northern California's coast, except it's a whole lot greener! I stopped at the Dunluce castle ruins on the way, which was perfectly perched on a coastal cliff above the water. It was destoryed in a revolt of the peasants in 1642 and never rebuilt. Cool castle, but I've got to root from the peasants against their overlords. What terrible punishments must have been meted out by the inhabitants of the castle to justify its destruction. The Giant's Causeway is a great hike and an incredible example of igneous geology. I decided to travel the Causeway Coastal Route down to Belfast and was quite glad with my choice. It's a beautiful drive even in the rain. I ended up the day in Newcastle, where I dined and enjoyed a rainbow over the water from the lovely Slieve Donard hotel. I thought about climbing that peak, but unfortunately there just wasn't time. And this morning I drove back down to Dublin, where I'm meeting Iwona this afternoon.