Trearddur Bay, Anglesey, Wales

We’ve begun a month-long trip in Ireland and the UK. Yesterday was long - arrived at Heathrow, got our car, drove 5.5 hours to Wales! Pretty tiring, but it worked. This morning we take the ferry to Ireland for a two-week journey that includes locating (we hope) the place where Larry’s great-grandfather was from. We’ve not been to Ireland before and are looking forward to it.

I did some related reading for our trip and the books are sort of interesting to share. One is a series called The County Cork mysteries by Sheila Connolly. This is not great literature, and with the exception of too much repetition and a bit of overwriting, these are good plots with good characters and she really knows the area well. There are three to date: Buried in a Bog, Scandal in Skibbereen, and An Early Wake. She uses real places and streets and buildings, which I really like. (That’s why I can never read one Seattle author - can’t remember her name right now - because her mysteries are set in Seattle and she uses the real locations with different names. Drives me nuts.) Anyway, The County Cork mysteries are fun, quick reads.

And since we are in Wales, I also read Finding Camlann by Sean Pidgeon. This is a really good novel about archaeology related to the legends of Arthur. Really well done and a great read. Lots of historical detail, and he clearly knows the subject.

I’m re-reading Peter Ackroyd’s London, an interesting approach to London’s history and present. And, for Ireland, I’m reading Simon Rutherford’s first book in the three-part Dublin Saga: The Princes of Ireland. I enjoyed Sarum, and this is starting out well.

So I do hope to keep the blog up on this trip. Stay tuned!