Ireland and Back

Even though we'd been talking about going to Italy all winter long, we ended up in Ireland. Fact is we were scared it would be too hot in Italy in the summer. And we had decided to try out pet sitting because we still needed some time to sit down and paint the pictures for the Kamishibai. There were no pet sits available in Italy, but there were some in Ireland, and we had discovered the Bilbao to Rosslare ferry. 

 

So here we are, at the end of May, in the land of Leprechauns, Guinness, and stick makers.

 

 

 

And we were freezing our toes off. We stayed in the east and didn't follow the advice of the Irish lads we met in Saint Jean Pied de Port to stay on the coast. So all we found was fields and hedges and fields and gates that said private property, CCTV in operation, stay out or we'll shoot you. Most days we struggled to find as much as a bench by a church where we could have lunch and ended up sitting in the hedges or, if we were lucky, in abandoned graveyards.

 

  

 

We did go to Navan, a shithole according to the Irish lads we met in Saint Jean Pied de Port.... We didn't mind that, though; we had a fun Doberwoman to walk on a beautiful river, a cat to feed, and plenty of time and space to get those pictures done.

Ireland hadn't inspired us much, though, and as we were still experiencing winter temperatures well into June, we decided to accept an invitation to play our show in Cardiff and headed from Navan straight to Dublin to take the ferry to Wales. We managed to find a crossing with Irish Ferries that takes bicycles. We were just a bit surprised that once at the ferry port we got treated as foot passengers and had to unload the whole 160 kg of combined luggage onto a conveyor belt so that our bicycles could be loaded onto a trailer to be driven onto the ferry.

 

We were excited to be in Wales, to be heading for home turf and ready for whatever the Sustrans National Cycle Network might offer us.

On the Llangollen Canal, seeing these super slim locks, we realised how narrow narrowboats really are! As we crossed the mere 3.7 meters wide Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, we had to stop several times to take in the breathtaking views and to squeeze past all the people who came to see this marvellous construction and were crossing it from the other end. It was a very tight squeeze, and it took us a while to cross the 307 meters, but we made it without us, the bikes, or anyone else falling into the canal, phew! 

The Aqueduct was not the only adventure. There was the Whitehouse tunnel to cross. Again, a very tight squeeze for our oversized bikes, and we were both glad that we didn't meet any joggers halfway through it and that we saw the light of day after the 175m in the pitch dark. The only real danger we encountered, though, was when we came across a big family of swans that were nesting slap bang in the middle of the overgrown path of the Montgomery Canal. There was no way we could turn around, and we had to gather all our courage and make our way past them waving a stick in front of us.

 

Rather than taking National Route 8, which goes diagonally from Holyhead to Cardiff and might look like the more direct way, we took the 5 along the north coast to Rhyl and then went south from there. Looking at the map above, it was a wise decision. Still hilly but certainly an easier ride than Route 8. Have a look at our travel map for a closer look at how we managed to avoid some of the killer hills: https://spokenchain.travelmap.net/2024-taking-jonny-jeegante-to-ireland

We got to see Britain's smallest house and Wales's biggest acorn!

Cycling up and over the Brecon Beacons, now called by their original Welsh name Bannau Brycheiniog, was a doddle, a steady climb on the forestry road. And then from there it was pretty much down hill all the way to Splott!

What a joy to see Steve, a friend from the good old days of Carnival with SWICA!

What an even bigger joy to perform Jonny Jeegante & The Bici Benshi at Splott Fest! Catch a glimpse of this delicious day in Splott here at Splott Fest 2024 (but don't get lost scrolling on Facebook! Be back to read on!)

Not really having the show totally ready, we've been quite disorganized and random, planning things so far. The summer holidays were approaching fast, and we couldn't find anyone willing or able to last minute host our show so we applied for some more pet sits and got to go to London, where we saw some more old friends and family and enjoyed the quirks and perks of the big city.

 

Here's a little collection of some of the dogs we made friends with this summer. It is somehow quite a weird thing looking after other peoples pets in their own homes, sometimes without even really meeting the people whose homes you are now staying in. For us, house sitting has been a fabulous opportunity to have time for us, visit friends and family, work on the show and not worry about travel planning for a while. If you are thinking of a holiday with a pet to show you all the best local hang outs, sign up with Trusted House Sitters through this link and get 25% off!

 

 

Aren't they so cute!!! 

Obviously, we went through Bristol. And when in Bristol, there is no way we can leave without a visit to our favorite place in the world. So here is a picture for all of you who have never been to the legendary Bristol Childrens Scrapstore and just don't understand what on earth we are talking about when we go on and on and on about the best shop in the world where, for next to no cost, you can buy industrial waste for play and all the creative projects one might ever dream up.

 

We stocked up on pieces of string, rip stop and sticky back plastic and made our way south to catch the ferry to France. Getting out of England was easy, but stepping onto French soil, however, proved a little more complicated. At the border we were greeted by a puzzled border control who didn't know whether or not to stamp Kevin's passport. It took about seven of them half an hour to figure out that they needed to stamp it. That would have all been fine and well hadn't they then started to totally confuse us by telling us that Kevin needs to get a carte de sejours at the end of three months and that he just needed to go and see the ambassador and that if he didn't, he wouldn't have the same rights to stay in Schengen. We frowned and fretted all day and, the next, came up with all sorts of solutions, like cycling to China if needs be, until Kevin finally stumbled across The Border Guards Handbook that explains all the new and nonsensical border regulations. If you are at all struggling with an issue regarding the U.K. and Schengen border or are confused about EU Directive 2004/38/EC this Practical handbook for border guards might be just the thing you need.

We did eventually make it and as soon as we saw this herd of elephants, we knew it couldn't be far now.

We still had a little further to go though! We stumbled across this poem about freedom, left behind by the outdoor arts show Macadam Vacher

On my shattered shelters
On my fallen lighthouses
On the walls of my weariness
I write your name

We were curious, you can find the whole poem here, in English and French
 Liberté by Paul Éluard

Everybody was talking about this eccentric man walking from village to village with his cow. We got very excited to be near a kindred soul until we found out that it all was a highly organized spectacle and even the cow commuted to her pasture in the back of a van. We were, however, intrigued by how well the show had captured everyone's imagination. We later learned that the whole thing leans on the French cult film La Vache et le Prisonnier, in which a French prisoner of war escapes his prison and crosses all of Germany with a cow as his decoy.

We played our one and only show in French at La Ferme a Cultures, a market garden with a big top run by a retired juggler. It was a challenge and inspired us to work on this new old show some more.

 

Autumn was also well underway. A wise elk or two told us to head south faster rather than slower.

We listened to the wise elks and the wooden bicycle - Lets Go!

And here we are, in the south of France looking after one more funny couple of cats before the new year rings in its bells.

We met some wonderful people and came upon some exceptional hospitality this year. Thank you all who made this 2024 special and fun! It has, however, been a bit of a sluggish one for us, so we are hoping to step up a gear or two in 2025. We can't wait to start our cultural season in early March by joining the Rencontre Aromdo, a meeting of French artists who take the art of touring slowly whilst treading gently on this our planet earth very seriously, touring on foot, by bicycle, on donkeys' backs, boats, trains...

http://armodo.org/

Let's Go!