Attempting to post by phone: some pictures from the Zitadelle

These pictures are from the summer.  We visited the Zitadelle by Spandau.

In Ireland for the Willie Clancy Summer School

My first stop after getting off the plane in Dublin was Galway. There were some concurrent festivals going on, but the biggest was to celebrate the end of the Volvo international boat race.

Fairground with some old boats hanging out.

Some of the Volvo boats close up.

The thin red line is the race route.

Some final racing off in the distance, low tide.

Some of the strange seaweed on the Galway beach, with floaters incorporated.

Symbol of Ennis, I believe. They really like cormorants apparently.

Then it was off to Miltown Malbay for the Willie Clancy Festival. The first night I camped next to the beach at Spanish Point, on top of a bluff.

Just moved my tent, was previously next to some rowdy punkers.

I saw lots of live music every day, the first festival night had a big concert sponsored by RTÉ, the Gaelic radio station in the area.

Some performers at the RTÉ concert.

I also spent plenty of time wandering the area, sometimes walking in the once or twice walking over 20km a day.

Some of the rocky part of the beach at Spanish Point.

Looking off at the bay.

My regular route to my paid campsite, with ocean in the distance.

With my mandolin I took part in the banjo classes every day, which seemed to work out all right. Below you can see all of the banjo teachers doing a group performance at the banjo recital. My teachers were Joanne O'Connor, Kieran Hanrahan, and Brian Scahill.

Willie Clancy 2012 banjo teachers.

I also tried to play at least two sessions a day, wandering around until I found groups I felt comfortable participating in. Occasional free beers were drunk. Some of the faster sessions, of course, I just enjoyed listening to.

A group that included who the teachers called the "whiz kids", who could easily memorize 8 tunes a day.

A session in the back room of a bar.

On Saturday it was back to Ennis to stay at the Rowan Tree Hostel (very pleasant), and some tourism.

The ruined Ennis Friary

The Hostel is the light pink building on the right.

One of the main shopping Streets in Ennis.

On my last full day I headed off to see the Cliffs of Moher. I'm very glad I did so. I spent about 3 hours walking to the end of the cliffs and back to the main area.

An overview of where I walked, the tower is a faint blip in the background.

The nice viewing tower.

Some visitors enjoy making stone piles, or adding to them.

A natural arch far below.

My only self portrait during the trip.

A slab stone fence with the path going through it.

Out of principle, some cows and stone walls (everywhere here).

An example of a moderately treacherous path (somewhat officially blocked, but everyone ignored it).

If you open this one to full size, you'll see people on the cliff for scale.

The ruined tower I walked to.

Peeping out of the ruined tower.

The next day, I took my Aer Lingus flight back to Berlin. Overall, it was a great experience. In the future, I might try to acquire a bicycle of some sort (I did a ton of walking).

A bunch of Aer Lingus planes. Everyone told me to avoid Ryan Air, so I did.

Ostsee Fahrradtour: Sunday the 8th of April 2012

From my trip journal:

(Writing at the end of the day). My total for today seems to have been about 86 kilometers assuming my bike computer is correct. It was a wonderful day, with lots of green fields and the Baltic see almost always visible to one side of me.

Lots of fields in the morning, on the edge of the sea.

An informational poster about the area.

Lots of beach turnoffs on the trail.

A short stroll down a beach.

Lots of this flint-type of rock, with a white patina on the older surfaces.

This particular beach was covered in large smooth stones.

After leaving the dirt path, a rather hilly paved path along the coast.

Interesting red seaweed.

Little bluffs, but I couldn't help taking a picture.

After a while it became very hilly, with some small bluffs. The bicycle path hugs the coast. I stopped for breakfast at a nice overlook. Later, I stopped for coffee at a nice little town called Boltenhagen (had hoped to make coffee earlier, but camp stove turned out to be broken, a nice testament to testing one's gear before leaving).

Stopping for breakfast: muesli, powdered milk, and water.

A typical tour sign, I have gone a little over 22 km so far.

Some nice bluffs by Boltenhagen, I believe.

My loaded bike by an eroding bluff.

It is a great day so far. Here is an example of beach protection, called a "groyne" I believe.

More bluffs in the distance.

Stopped in a touristy beach area for a self portrait, more coffee.

I got a little lost later in Wismar. I was repeatedly passed by a German touring couple as I checked my map. We chatted a bit, and I followed their suggested directions, which ended up completely bypassing the city center. I completely overlook one page of my map book with the more detailed directions, oh well.

New hay field, thatch barn, Baltic in the background.

A windmill by a town called Stove.

I skipped the Insel Poel, as I was tiring out and looking for a closer camp site.  I decided to camp at the beach by a town called Pepelow. On the way up, I was hoping to find a small place for lunch, but did not fully realize that everywhere would be closed on Easter Sunday. After a couple more hours I had some trail mix and the rest of my coffee. I continued to Pepelow to the camping area. It had a lot of RV's, but was overall pretty nice. It had a pleasant beach which I walked on for a while. Looking forward to using the shower facilities!

The beach at the Pepelow campground.

Looking away from the beach, wind turbines in background.

Lots of smoked fish for dinner, cheap and tasty!

The campground had a nice cheap Imbiss, which provided me with various smoked fish.

It was Easter Sunday, of course, and everyone wanted to have an Easter fire on the beach. There were a few signs against it, but people did it anyway. I enjoyed the sunset more than the fires.

Sunset on Easter Sunday from the Pepelow campground.

My intention for tomorrow is to bike to Warnemunde, take the ferry, the camp in Graal Muritz for a total of 57 km. After that, I could tentatively spend a couple days in Zingst (53 km) to keep my Friday goal. Then a couple short days, and return on the train from Stralsund. We'll see.

Total distance: 76.6 km (add some more for side trips maybe?)


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