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At every curve they were scared that the bus would crash, and the bus driver had to signal with his horn at each turning as it was impossible to see if any traffic was coming from the other direction.

Training 2

There were only two ways to get to the ruins – on foot, or by boat. So, they started walking in that direction, along a dried-up riverbed. From the map it seemed that the distance they had to walk was about three kilometres, but it must have been longer, as it took them about three hours of difficult climbing and scrambling over rocks to get there.

Training 3

At one point on the way they reached the top of a hill, from which they had an amazing view of the ruins. There they met a boy from France, who they shared friendly gestures with, but couldn’t really speak with as they didn’t speak a foreign language. They climbed down from there together, into the grounds of the ruins. There was a fence blocking their path, but it was quite small and easy to climb over.

Training 4

In the grounds of the ruins were some very twisty, gnarled old olive trees, and at the entrance they found a beautiful mosaic from the Roman times, leading to many little paths.

The monastery was very small. Each of the monks’ cells were just tiny little box-like rooms, two by three metres in size. The whole place had a beautiful, ancient atmosphere.

Training 5

Fortunately, they met a fisherman on the beach, who was there fishing for octopuses. He was kind enough to take them back to the road by boat, which only took about ten or fifteen minutes, and the walk to the bus stop from where he dropped them off was very short.

They were well in time to catch the bus. They were very happy, if a little exhausted, after a nice, interesting trip.

Pub Music in Edinburgh

I first became involved in playing Irish music many years ago when I first visited Ireland and was greatly inspired after attending some great folk festivals there. The first one I went to was in County Sligo, in Ballisadare.

There were so many great groups playing there – DeDanaan, The Bothy Band, Clannad, all the best-known Irish musicians of that time. There were thousands of tents and thousands of people everywhere, and there was a really great atmosphere. The whole thing lasted for three days, and I had a really nice time.

What struck me most was the power of the sound of the fiddle, such a fantastic instrument.