The Wales-Ireland Tolkien Expedition – latest news

06.11.08, 08:23, dodany przez Galadhorn

Polish version of this text added on 14 October, 2008
by Ryszard “Galadhorn” Derdzinski
Translated by Noatar

We’ve finally got precise information on the next year’s Tolkien Trail Expedition to Wales and Ireland. It is going to take place at the end of July and the beginning of August (most probably between July 30^th to August 10^th, 2008, but an exact date will be given just before accommodation is secured). The total price for this 12-day tour, including 11 nights’ accommodation plus the English Channel and St George’s Channel crossings, is 1900 zlotys (PLN) per head. We will soon inform you how you can put yourself on the list of people who wish to take part in our third Expedition so far (the first being the Ostrawa Expedition when we watched The Fellowship of the Ring movie, and the second one, namely the Tolkien Trail Expedition to England, which was organized last year).

[21 October, 2008] If you wish to be included on our registration list, please contact us by email. Our address: tgubala@elendili.pl. The number of participants is limited. Your registrations will be accepted by January 31^st, 2009 or until we are fully booked.

[27 October, 2008] Half the seats are already booked.

Here follows a more detailed program for the tour:

Day 1

Departure from Katowice at 7 am; we meet at Młodzież Powstańcza Square at the rear of the railway station. Ride to Germany and across the country, accommodation close to the Dutch border. Film screenings and prize competitions will be held on the bus.

Day 2

Breakfast. Ride to the English Channel crossing near Calais. The Calais-Folkstone crossing. Ride across Southern England. Evening exploration of the city of Bath: Roman thermae and the shrine of the goddess Sul (Sulis). The place might have inspired the Anglo-Saxon poem Ruin that had an influence over Tolkien’s poetry. Accommodation at a nearby youth hostel.

Day 3

Breakfast. Ride across South Wales. Exploration of the capital city of Cardiff and of St David’s, a beautiful town where Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, founded a shrine of the Welsh people (the 6^th century). Accommodation at a youth hostel.

Day 4

Breakfast. The Fishguard-Rosslare crossing (crossing time: 3.5 hr). Arrival in Ireland. Exploration of the picturesque town of Cashel. Ride to accommodation site near Killarney.

Day 5

Breakfast. Exploration of Kerry Head with some of the most beautiful views in Ireland, the mountain of Carrantuohill and the Lake District: Castle Cove where Tolkien’s family used to stay on holiday in the hotel run by Misses O’Flaherty; the village of Derrynane where Tolkien used to attend Sunday mass. Seeking out places where Tolkien made his nine drawings that showed the Kerry nature. Accommodation in Clare, a region well known to Professor Tolkien.

Day 6

Breakfast. Exploration of the Cliffs of Moher. Ride to Galway. An Atlantic (Belegaer) cruise towards Valinor… If the Valar do not grant us the right to follow the Straight Road, we reach the Aran Islands instead. Exploration of the island of Inishmore and distribution of the Ælfwine Trail Cruise certificates. Accommodation on the island or back in Galway.

Day 7

Breakfast. Visiting Clonfert Cathedral, previously a monastery where Saint Brendan worked and was buried. He is the patron saint of the Elendili, and a great predecessor of Elendil-Ælfwine. Ride to Dublin. Exploration of the capital of Ireland: Trinity College where the famous Book of Kells is kept, Guinness Breweries, a soiree with Irish music in Temple Bar. Accommodation in Dublin (1/2).

Day 8

Breakfast. A trip around Dublin: a beautiful, Celtic monastery in the Glendalough valley and (provided that the booking is successfully made) the sanctuary, and Newgrange, one of the passage tombs of the Bronze Age complex. Second part of the exploration of Dublin. Accommodation in the capital. (2/2).

Day 9

Breakfast. A Dublin-Holyhead cruise to North Wales. Drive across the island of Anglesey together with a short visit in a village of the longest name in the world:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch; visiting Caernarfon Castle where the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales, took place. Exploration of Trywn Llanbedrog where Tolkien’s family spent the summer holidays of 1920, and Tolkien made a couple of drawings. Ride through the mountains of Venedotia (Gwynedd), where Chrysophylax the Dragon dwelt (the Snowdonia National Park). Accommodation at a youth hostel.

Day 10

Breakfast. Ride across North Wales and Northern England to the university town of Cambridge visited by Tolkien on academic and informal business. A walk through the city (we may luck into a River Cam punt trip). We will also try to meet with the participants of the Omentielva Nelya (a Tolkien linguistics conference). Accommodation.

Day 11

Breakfast. Journey to the Folkestone-Calais ferry crossing. Exploration of the region of the Teutoburg Forest, where Arminius (aka Hermann the Cherusker), leader of the Germanic tribes, ambushed and destroyed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus. A monument to Arminius. Accommodation nearby Dortmund.

Day 12

Breakfast. Ride from Germany to Poland. Return to Katowice (the Młodzież Powstańcza Square) sometime at night.

Total price: 1900 zlotys

The price includes 11 nights’ accommodation at youth hostels or in bed and breakfast hostels, insurance, a LUX coach ride (this time it is going to be a big, 50-passenger, modern coach driven by very nice people), tolls, the English Channel and St George’s Channel crossing fares, and a Tolkien guide.

As previously prize competitions, film screenings etc will be held during the tour.

You are asked to take some extra £20 and 70 Euro – the money for entrance tickets (including museum and the Aran island cruise tickets).

We kindly request you to pay the first instalment, 500 zlotys, by the end of January, 2009. This money is needed to secure our accommodation during the tour.

We have already written a bit about our Expedition here. We have also begun to follow through the most interesting points of it. Click here to find a note concerning Tolkien’s stay in Kerry, West Ireland.

Kategorie wpisu: Fandom tolkienowski, News in Westron (English), Wydarzenia