Vegan Paella
Vegan Paella - Being Vegan in Spain I have always loved paella and here is my version of paella that is 100% vegan. Paella for two persons: Pan: 25cm diameter / 4cm deep For the vegetable base I have added: 1 sweet salad onion (chopped) 1 red pepper (diced) 10 green...
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Camping in Spain & Cork to Santander on Brittany Ferries
Camping in Spain & Cork to Santander on Brittany Ferries So week one in Spain, and it was definitely a long week of traveling. After looking at all our options to travel here, because we wanted to bring our dog with us, we finally settled on a newly inaugurated...
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Ensalada Mixta (Mixed Salad)
Ensalada Mixta (Mixed Salad) The ensalada mixta is a great start to a meal but it can also be be a great lunch idea that is not too heavy if you are planning something active, like walking around Málaga City. What makes this ensalada mixta (mixed salad)...
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Travels with Missy – Howth, Skerries & Mornington
Weekend Away - Howth, Skerries & Mornington Hi, my name is Missy Bonkers and I am a nine-year-old springer spaniel, even though everyone keeps saying that I look like a puppy. It’s really only because my human mom Tina takes me to the doggy...
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Waterford Walls
Waterford Walls Late last year on a weekend trip to Waterford, whilst driving into the city we were greeted with a stunning image of a man’s body being embraced from behind with further unknown hands firmly clasped around his out stretched arms. The image...
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Benbulben Forest Walk & Trip to Strandhill
Benbulben Forest Walk, Sligo I spend most of my working week with my head stuck in a computer. Which means at this time of the year, with the shorter days, I definitely don't get enough walking done in the evenings. So when the weekends come around I take...
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Khow Thai, Galway
Khow Thai, Galway Khow Thai, Galway Literally the nicest spring rolls I have had has been in the Khow Thai restaurant in Galway. Located in an industrial estate in Galway city, I only accidentally happened across it as I was walking down to meet the hubby...
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The Skinny Kitchen Belfast
The Skinny Kitchen, Belfast The Skinny Kitchen, Belfast Keeping with our recent visit to Belfast, one of our go to places to get a really nice vegan meal is the Skinny Kitchen. Located on the Boucher Road, unlikely enough amidst a retail park, that being...
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Hillsborough Forest Park and Lake Walk
Hillsborough Forest Park & Lake Walk Hillsborough forest park and lake walk We frequently visit the North of Ireland because my hubby is from Banbridge in Co Down and one of our favourite spots to stop off for a walk with our dog Missy has to be...
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First Sunset 2018 – Looking forward
First Sunset 2018 - Looking forward For always and ever, at this time of the year I struggle the most. It is smack in the middle of winter for us here in Ireland (now I don't really mind that bit, apart from the lack of light), but it is also smack in the...
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The Honest Vegan, Belfast
The Honest Vegan, Belfast On our last visit to Belfast, we had previously eaten in a place called Raw on the Lisburn Road, and after two days of traveling and visiting family, we decided a nice sit down vegan meal was in order. So we made our way back to...
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Burren National Park Sunday Walk
Burren National Park Sunday Walk It has been a while since we had a small adventure, and it has definitely been missed. Over the past few weeks we have been de-cluttering the stuff in our lives, just items we have hung onto, for really no reason. So the...
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Walking Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains
Walking Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains Slieve Donard, the highest peak in the Mourne Mountains made famous by the Percy French song and until recently my nemesis (obviously being a bit dramatic here). I finally reached the top of Slieve Donard on an...
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Camping Aillebrack Beach, Ballyconneely, Co Galway
Aillebrack Beach, Ballyconneely Peninsula Last weekend we travelled to Aillebrack Beach, when we lived in Clifden this was my favourite beach to visit and swim at. I personally find it a magical place, with ever changing skies that blend and contrast with...
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Random Constructs and Thoughts on Poo
Random Constructs and Thoughts on Poo This year I made two pretty big changes to my life, one was to start walking up mountains (generally being outdoors more) and the second was changing to a vegan lifestyle –both of these things managed to centre around...
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Malaga & Granada Vegan Restaurants
Malaga & Granada Vegan Restaurants Since going vegan at the beginning of this year, when we are travelling planning is key to making sure we know where we are going to eat. Initially, being vegetarian was pretty easy as most places have a veggie...
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Camping in Cong, Co Galway
Camping in Cong, Co Galway The village of Cong is just a short forty-five minute drive from our house in Galway and on a sunny weekend it is a great place to visit for a short break. This summer we have endeavoured to make the most of any sunny weekends by...
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Camping in Donard, Co Wicklow
Camping in Donard, Co Wicklow The following weekend we headed, this time to the East side of Ireland, Donard in Co Wicklow to be precise. I had originally called a different campsite but they were all booked up and they kindly gave us Nuala’s number and...
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Camping Loughkey Forest Park
Camping Loughkey Forest Park Just five days after our last camping trip, read about it here, my summer plans of camping with my dogs got drastically turned on its head. My older Spaniel, whom I thought was just slowing down because of her age, suddenly...
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Road Trip & Camping with our Dogs
Road Trip & Camping with our Dogs Road Trip I think impromptu trips are always the best. I love the idea of waking up on a given morning and by the afternoon deciding to go away camping for the weekend, just because! It’s a bit like being able to eat...
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Vegan Chilli Chocolate Brownies
Vegan Chilli Chocolate Brownies For the past few days I have been obsessing about chilli chocolate brownies, not everyone’s cup of tea I know, but I just love chilli chocolate. So this afternoon I thought enough thinking, more doing and voila 40 minutes...
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Tra Salin Beach, Co Galway
Tra Salin Beach, Co Galway Tra Salin Beach, Co Galway Apart from visiting forest parks, my all time favourite places to visit are quiet beaches. Having lived most of my life on the West Coast of Ireland I would now find it almost impossible not to live...
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Hanging Bridges of Los Cahorros Monachil
Hanging Bridges of Los Cahorros Monachil Hanging Bridges of Los Cahorros Monachil Over the last fortnight we spent eight days traveling around Granada, Malaga and the coast, lots of driving and walking along beaches, through towns, villages and some...
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Sky Road / Clifden Beach Walking Loop
Sky Road / Clifden Beach Walking Loop During a sunny week in Galway City and County what better way to experience the beautiful weather and scenery than to go on a selection of walking trips. I have to say here now, I absolutely love walking. Having been...
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Birr Castle & Gardens
Birr Castle & Gardens Birr Town is just 1½ hours drive from Galway City, making it the perfect place to visit for one of our Sunday day trips. Located right in the heart of Birr town is Birr Castle, Gardens, and Science Centre, the Castle itself is the...
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Tollymore Forest Park – Rainy Afternoon Walk
Tollymore Forest Park - Rainy Afternoon Walk On a recent trip to Newcastle in Co Down we spent a rainy afternoon exploring Tollymore Forest Park, as an alternative to our Slieve Donard climb which got rained out the previous day (see post about that here)....
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Sunny Sunday walk in Kylemore Abbey Gardens
Sunny Sunday walk in Kylemore Abbey Gardens Recently we had a family visit to Kylemore Abbey and Gardens, with the main focus of our visit being the gardens themselves. On a sunny day in there can be no better place to while away a few hours wandering...
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Climbing the Maumturks
Climbing the Maumturks Having never climbed any mountains before this year, I definitely made up for it during the month of March. Every weekend we climbed a mountain, as listed below and I have linked each mountain to the corresponding blog post here on...
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Climbing Slieve Donard
Climbing Slieve Donard Climbing Slieve Donard 22/01/17 Quite a while ago, whilst sitting in our Camper Van at Donard carpark in Newcastle Co Down, Alan suggested that we walk through Donard Forest and up into the Mourne Mountains. At the time, for various...
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Climbing Croagh Patrick
Climbing Croagh Patrick YouTube Video of our Croagh Patrick climb shot on iPhone SE with a Gimbal So the weather in Ireland can be very random, (understatement if ever there was one), we can literally have four seasons in one day and March can be a...
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Slieve Binnian – Silent Valley – Mourne Mountains
Slieve Binnian – Silent Valley – Mourne Mountains Slieve Binnian – Silent Valley – Mourne Mountains So earlier this year I climbed by very first mountain, and I managed to get to the Saddle in the Mournes, which is just shy of its tallest peak Slieve...
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New Year’s Day – 2017
New Year’s Day – 2017 First new video and post of 2017, but it is by no means the first I have drafted. Progressively over the past number of years, I have been unpeeling the onion layers of ideas and cultural norms I have taken for granted most of my...
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Malaga’s Urban Street Art
Malaga's Urban Street Art Whilst researching ‘things to see & do” in Malaga before our recent trip there, I stumbled across the MAUS (Malaga Arte Urbano SoHo) project and added it as a definite must visit when we got there. I am so glad I did, as it...
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Rosscahill wood, Co Galway
Rosscahill wood, Co Galway Rosscahill wood, Co Galway Nemophilist – one who is fond of forest or forest scenery; a haunter of the woods. Definitely a word I will have to add to my vocabulary, as most of my spare time over the past year has been spent...
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Visit to Thoor Ballylee & Mill
Visit to Thoor Ballylee & Mill Even though Thoor Ballylee is just a quick 30 min drive from my home in Galway, it is somewhere we rarely get to visit. The former home of WB Yeats had been closed since 2009 due to extensive flood damage. Lack of funding...
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Energy Balls
Energy Balls Finally after much experimenting I have come up with a quick and easy recipe for energy balls I like. My usual go to shop bought ones are the Naked Bars but I really wanted to make some of my own, customised to what I like. These ones have...
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Vegan Potato, Pea Curry
Vegan Potato, Pea Curry Vegan Potato & Pea Curry This year has seen a lot of changes for me, all for the good I might add. I have gone from being kind of healthy (I used to think so anyway) to a lot healthier in general. For many years I had actually...
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Mercado Central Atarazanas, Málaga, Spain
Mercado Central Atarazanas, Málaga, Spain A few weeks ago my hubby and I spent a week in Málaga, the sun was much needed after our pretty wet and gloomy Irish summer. But enough of that, I was pretty excited as I had just been given a pressie of a new...
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Estufa Fria, Lisbon
Estufa Fria, Lisbon Estufa Fria – Cold Greenhouse On our last trip to Lisbon we got to visit an amazing enclosed green space called Estufa Fria, which literally translates into English as Cold Greenhouse. Located in Parque Eduardo VII, Estufa Fria began...
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F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge
F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge Over the weekend we took the opportunity to visit the F.E. McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge as we were on a trip up north to visit the hubby’s family. The gallery is situated just off the first exit into Banbridge as you...
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Last days of Summer – In the Garden
Last days of Summer – In the Garden https://youtu.be/0Fk8LGky5Ws We are in the last few days of August, schools are starting back and summer is coming to an end. Living on the west coast of Ireland, we experienced a lot of rain this summer, but today the...
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Grasshopper
Grasshopper Common woodland grasshopper we recently met on one of our woodland trips. One of the best things about being a regular visitor to our local woodland in Derrydonnell is the sheer amount of wonderful insects you can encounter on a daily basis....
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Moate to Mullingar 60 km Cycle
Moate to Mullingar 60 km Cycle For our 3rd trip to the Old Rail Trail in the Irish midlands we decided to start at Moate and cycle through to Mullingar, a cycle officially listed as just under 60km, but because we cycled a tad further we ended up going...
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Woodland Puppy Walks
Woodland Puppy Walks This year we have made an absolute concerted effort to get out and about a lot more than usual, to be honest when you have two crazy energetic springer spaniels it really is a necessity. This short video was taken on one of our...
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Coole Park Woodland Cycle
https://youtu.be/Iyo4h_zu7r4 Coole park is a great place to visit for many reasons, fab woodland walks, local history, amazing Irish literature connections to name but a few. One of our favourite things to do, is to take out the bikes and go for a...
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Evening Walks
Evening Walks https://youtu.be/jtox_p-pxs4 My second favourite place in all of Galway to visit has to be Tra Salin beach, which is just past Spiddal. Sadly, we have had a very short summer this year but the hasn't stopped us visiting and enjoying the sun...
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Woodland Walks
Woodland Walks About Tina Facebook Instagram Youtube
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Harvesting Chamomile
Harvesting Chamomile Usually I have a mixture of dried chamomile and tea bags in the house, but this year I wanted to grow and harvest some of my own. I seeded in a small green house earlier in the year and then transplanted outside once the weather...
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Athlone Mullingar Greenway
Athlone Mullingar Greenway Athlone Mullingar Greenway AKA The Old Rail Trail The 40km Athlone Mullingar Greenway runs along what was originally the railway track between the two towns. The trains officially stopped running in 1987 and the line has been...
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Diamond Hill Connemara
Diamond Hill Connemara Diamond Hill Connemara Living in Galway City on the West Coast of Ireland means that Connemara and all its spectacular beauty is close enough for impromptu sunny day visits, and Sunday just past was just one of those sunny days....
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