HOWTH: CLIMBING THE CLIFF

Now I know Ireland usually isn't on the Top 10 travel list of anyone - you can't really imagine how many times I've heard "Ireland? Never really thought of travelling there..." after moving here. BUT believe me, there are some pretty sweet spots on this isle. That is, if you enjoy rambling through empty moors and climbing cliffs to stare at the endless horizon of the Irish Sea or Atlantic Ocean. And who wouldn't?

Howth is a town not more than 40-minute train ride from Dublin, and undeniably one of the places you absolutely need to visit if you ever get crazy enough to plan an actual holiday to an island where it never stops raining. The town is a perfect afternoon getaway from the crowded streets of Dublin. The town lives from fishing, so if that traditional fish and chips is what you're after, head to Howth and the fish will surely be fresh.

But I'm not here to talk about the village, nevermind how cute it is. The best part of Howth is a bit further past the docks: Howth Cliffs. That's where I took my Finnish friend Annemari, who came to visit me for the weekend. The climb doesn't take more than an hour. Follow us to the top!

Check out the rock on the left. See those wooden planks pointing towards the water? The residents of the house next to it use them to jump to the water straight from the rock. Oh god.

Now, the path can get muddy at this time of the year (January), so good shoes are a must along with appropriate clothing. The hardest part of travelling to Ireland is to realise how to dress: it took me a solid few months before I was able to feel comfortable outside. It gets pretty damn windy in here.

Facing the Irish Sea. There is nothing but the vast water between us and the Great Britain at this point. I once took a ferry from Holyhead, the closest peninsula of the UK to Dublin - worst seasickness of my life. You really cannot help but feel tiny in front of a horizon like this.

And this wouldn't be Ireland if there wasn't a farm on top, right? Looking at a landscape like this really doesn't make you wonder why it's called the Emerald Isle.

Finally on the top:

I admit struggling to find a common ground with Ireland a while after moving in here, and a part of me still does. But standing on a spot like this, admiring the never-ending emptiness of the horizon of the Irish Sea, surrounded by nothing but wild nature and fields with horses and sheep, you kind of have to fall in love with Ireland. I've been ridiculously busy from the moment I returned from Finland a bit before New Year, and a little getaway like this was exactly what my mental stability needed to survive all my upcoming assignments. Seriously, the life of a postgrad student. What is this?

Have you ever been to Howth? Do you think exploring the nature of your new home country somehow helps you to adapt? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Follow me!
  Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin'

OUR DAY IN BRAY ⎮ THE BEST PUB IN THE WORLD

Living in central Dublin in a small, mouldy flat on a street full of drunk tourists requires occasional reality escapes. Bray, a small rural town a bit to the South from Dublin turned out to be an excellent one. If you ever wanted to see a ton of photos of Irish moors, this is your post!

Bray is super easy to access from Dublin - a mere 45 minutes by train to the South. 30,000 inhabitants and a coastline to die for. This is where I'll move if I ever retire in Ireland! Well, here or Howth - there seems to be some kind of rivalry between these two regions, and to be honest, it's hard to pick just one.

My entourage for this exploration trip consisted of two of my friends from my uni program, a boyfriend of one and my own dear Alex, of course. Our Finnish-Canadian-British-German-Sri Lankan power team met by the railway station a bit after 2pm, and was greeted by this gorgeous first taste of what to expect from Bray (photo from the railway station):

Our plan of the day was to climb Bray Head, the hill you can see on the horizon in the above picture. In case you plan on doing the same, equip yourself with a bottle of water, good shoes and warm clothes - it gets steep and windy out there! There really isn't a need for a hiking map, since the hill is remotely small and the path pretty straightforward. Just follow all the people - there will be plenty.

We got to the top in half an hour, and the view is easily worth the effort. And since we're in Ireland, why not put a huge-ass religious symbol on top of the hill?

After reaching the top we made the decision to continue our exploration to a side path we found a bit down the hill. We had no idea where the road would take us, but why not find out?

We were a bit baffled by the amount of ash and burnt bushes all across the hills, but a more knowledgable person in our entourage enlightened the situation by telling us the hills actually catch fire. "In IRELAND? With all the humidity?" Apparently, yes. Bush fires happen in here too. The more you know... Check the burnt area for example in the photo below:

The drop down to the sea was scary for someone with a fear of heights like me. You can't see it from this photo, but there actually is a railroad to Greystones following the sea line down there!

Speaking of Greystones: we were able to see a glimpse of the town from the top of the hill. Not sure why there was so much smoke...

Then we ended up accidentally trespassing this farm. Google Maps showed us a way around the hills without having to go back the same way we came from, so we took the challenge and went exploring. A few gates and barbed wires later we realised we probably shouldn't be there... But it was too late. And in the end it was worth it, because look at this landscape! Look at how green the grass is! I swear to god that's not Photoshop!

And what would a day trip to Irish moors be if we didn't find any sheep?

Eventually we survived back to town, a little after sunset. Despite Bray being a remotely small town, it was almost impossible to find a place to eat without having a reservation. We tried multiple restaurants from vegan pizzeria to an Indian place, but everything was absolutely packed.

Then Willy remembered THE BEST PUB IN THE WORLD is in Bray. Yes, you heard me. It's official: Lonely Planet voted The Harbour Bar in Bray as the best pub in the world. There's no way we can't check it out while we're there.

From outside The Harbour Bar looks pretty much like any other rural Irish pub. When you enter, the first room on your right looks ridiculously small - don't let that fool you! Go through the door on the other side of the room and you'll find much more places to sit down. Much, much more... So much that my trip to the ladies' bathroom turned into a survival game (hint: it's upstairs).

We found seats from upstairs, and the place just became much more charming. Fireplaces, cozy sofas and no one else in sight - the Finnish side of me approves!

The fireplace turned out to be more useful than expected though: for the first half an hour we sat with our coats on, since there was no heating whatsoever. We were only saved by a bartender who noticed our misery and offered to put up a fire.

The place has quite a special decor. Check it out yourself:

Yes, those are pictures of popes on the opposite wall. They might have also had some satanic symbols hanging here and there. Why not, I guess?

The Harbour Bar also has three cats (who needs cat cafes when you can go to an Irish pub?). I was able to meet one of them, and they sure look like they don't mind the amount of people at all.

To our eye there was nothing that special in The Harbour Bar, but people, as always in Ireland, were nice. Alex got to taste the best whiskey he has ever had, thanks to a spot-on recommendation by a random Irish gentleman sitting by the bar. The venue really needs to get some recognition though: they have a large, heated terrace and a patio outside. And for anyone into Stranger Things tv-series, they also have this on the way to ladies' bathroom:

Have you been to Bray? Is there something else we should have visited in there? Or are there other spots like this in Dublin worth a visit? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Follow me!
  Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin'

A mini-hike in Cap Tourmente

The nature around Québec City offers many facilities to enjoy the beauty of Canada, VALLÉE DU BRAS DU NORD and SENTIER DES CAPS to mention a few. Many of the national parks within a reasonable driving distance from the city have multiple different hiking trails with several difficulty levels.

The problem with enjoying these opportunities as a resident working full-time is that usually this kind of trips require you to reserve a whole day for hiking: even a simple daytrip consisting of driving, hiking and snack breaks easily takes up to 8 hours of your day. This was the concern we had with Alex the other day. We really wanted to spend a day together for once (it's a little tricky to find time for that at times since I'm working weekdays and he mainly does weekends), but Alex was working in the morning. We could only leave a bit after 1pm.

So Cap Tourmente National Wildile Area was a perfect destination! According to the website it would take 2 to 4 hours to hike a trail - a little different to Bras du Nord's estimated 6 hours... Upon arrival, we decided to choose a trail called La Falaise, with a high-level difficulty and a rewarding viewpoint at the end. In Alex's words, this place is actually more about walking around than hiking, but as the map underneath might tell, our chosen trail is pretty much steep up-hill until the end.

Map from Environment Canada

Despite the difficulty level, this 4.2km trail is pretty much the easiest I've experienced so far. Cap Tourmente is actually not about hiking, but protecting greater snow geese, which I was unfortunately unable to record on camera. But I swear, there were seriously thousands of them.

So we walked for two hours, and I had a chance to take some pretty nice pictures of the hill we ended up conquering. We couldn't have chosen a better weekend for our little trip, since the ruska (still struggling to find another word for this, excuse my Finnish) was at its best. All these autumn colours!

The first wildife area with a railway track that I've seen....

We made it to the top after some panting and one very short break. My bright-coloured hiking shoes I bought in July have been serving me incredibly well - 119$ well spent. Alex wins me at this though: the shoe you see in the picture has been doing its honourable job for 12 years now.

And as expected, the view from the top is breathtaking as always:

My Finnish friend, who visited me here in Québec, described the local nature by saying that it's like Finland, except that everything is bigger. I'd go a little further than that and say that everything is not only bigger, but also more colourful due to the bigger amount of deciduous trees, which I guess is a result of warmer local climate. Finland is all about pines and spruces even in the South.

It's surprisingly hard to dress for hiking at this time of the year though, as the temperatures vary from +12ºC during daytime to -2ºC at night. I started the hike by freezing, but during down-hill I seriously had to fight against the urge to remove most of my clothing layers. Luckily my University of Leicester hoodie seems to be suitable for every occasion, from work to hiking and interrailing.

The forest had a funny magical feeling to it. The trail was a child's play to walk after my mudslide-fest in Bras du Nord.

The experience was pretty awesome overall, and I hope our 11$ (6 for adults, 5 for students) helps the folk to protect the geese. Go greater snow geese!

Website: Cap Tourmente

Hiking adventures: Vallée du Bras du Nord

I could go on and on about my crush on the Canadian nature, but I better not - I'll let pictures speak for themselves instead. Last Thursday we decided to take advantage of Alex's day-off and head to Vallée du Bras du Nord, about 45 minutes' drive from Québec City. Our hiking trail was c.a. 12 kilometres, but instead of the promised "3 to 5 hours" duration our little odyssey was closer to 6 hours as we sloshed onwards on our muddy path, mostly uphill. Despite all the rain, little streams of landslides which were supposed to act as roads and mud all over my butt (my hike back from the mountain could be described more as a mudslide), the trip was purely awesome. Pictures ahead.

Our hiking trail for the most part

But the view on the top is definitely worth it!

Another viewpoint, opening to the other direction of the valley

A confusing tree

My shoes needed some washing afterwards