[愛爾蘭大冒險] 沼澤分解不完全的泥土，是高威人的乾柴，燃燒出的爐煙是愛爾蘭移民的鄉愁。
愛爾蘭第二天，我們跟團來到了高威，Connemara國家公園，導遊叔叔超強，可以一邊滔滔不絕介紹愛爾蘭，講古到唱一首愛爾蘭民謠還可以一邊在蜿蜒的鄉間小路上飆車，是那種會車都要停下來讓一讓的小路，根本雲霄飛車不可思議，而且這裡的速限是100，seriously？所以導遊叔叔給了我們一個小暗號，如果有人暈車想吐，就悄悄地走到駕駛座告訴他「火山」
導遊叔叔叫麥可，他有著渾厚低沈的音色以及龐大的共鳴腔，所以唱起歌來超好聽，我有忍不住偷錄了一段。但是他說話的方式不禁讓我感覺他是不是做這份工作做得疲乏了呢？他說話的速度超快而且音量不大，好像嘴巴多張大一點都會消耗他太多能量。我想他可能每天都要對新的一群遊客講同一段歷史、同一段他父母老婆和兩個女兒的故事、甚至是同一個笑話，應該是覺得很煩吧，不過話說回來他還是是個很好的導遊，會很有耐心地禮讓羊群，並且嚴肅地訴說一個笑話逗得前面美國來的太太們哈哈大笑。
他說愛爾蘭是一個混血種族，因為維京人在九世紀的時候來過這裡，後來十一世紀時諾曼人又來，到了十六世紀時英國正式入主愛爾蘭，佔領了東邊比較肥沃的土地，於是許多愛爾蘭人就往西跑，但是看看窗外，這片貧瘠的土地，不是岩石就是沼澤，難怪愛爾蘭出名的燉菜裡都是一些根莖類的蔬菜，像是馬鈴薯、紅蘿蔔（可是還是很好吃欸！）。更不要說陰沈的天氣了，愛爾蘭人說他們冬天跟夏天的差別就在夏天下的雨比較溫暖。於是就在下著大雨中，我們來到一間旅館附設的咖啡廳休息，氣溫本來就不高，大概15度，加上下雨我實在覺得有點冷，一心想喝一杯熱巧克力配一顆司康。一衝進咖啡店煙霧瀰漫中一股奇怪的味道，我還以為失火了！結果發現窗戶邊有一個壁爐(照片2)，大量的煙從裡面飄出來，我連拍照都藉著窗邊撒進來的陽光捕捉到了白濛濛的一片(照片1)，於是點了一個司康趕緊坐到火爐邊取暖。
吃完超好吃的奶油配司康（？）沒錯...因為奶油太香醇，我一個司康就塗了兩盒奶油...。回到車上導遊繼續講述英國人來了以後禁止愛爾蘭語，不過因為英國人不願意來開墾西邊，使得Connemara是其中一個保留到愛爾蘭語的區域，現在愛爾蘭的學校都會教授傳統語，並且路牌上方的斜體字也是愛爾蘭語，下方才是英文。
我們在一個超大的沼澤旁停車 (照片4,5)，麥可帶著我們離開公路，走進草原，並且不忘叮嚀我們最好跟緊他，踩他踩過的路，因為沼澤區有許多鬆軟的地面，看起來可能跟一般的地面一樣，但一踏空可能就會掉進水裡。這裏的腳感非常有趣，好像海綿又像彈簧床，地面有些濕滑，在上面跳可以感覺到底下有許多中空的縫隙，或許是造物者遺留的一隻超大氣墊鞋。麥可撿起地上一塊黑黑的東西叫我們傳遞下去(照片3)，有點濕濕的，我還以為是什麼動物的大便，但仔細一看裡面的紋理很整齊，像是樹枝、草、土壤被壓得扁扁，一層一層，於是忍不住用鼻子嗅了嗅，竟然沒味道欸！
原來，這是沼澤區分解不完全的泥土，高威人拿它們當柴薪，先前休息的咖啡店裡的壁爐燒得就是這東西，而那特殊的氣味也源自於它！麥可說，他的父母移民去澳洲住了，但是每次他們回來高威，都會偷渡一點出去，雖然是不合法的，因為這裡是國家公園，只要帶離這個區域都是違法，但是對愛爾蘭移民來說，只要一點點混在柴火裡，飄散出的爐煙就能療癒對祖國的鄉愁。
麥可繼續一邊超蜿蜒小路一邊大聲地說：這裏的羊有路權，說時遲那時快，明明一望無車的公路上忽然緊急煞車，原來現在是笑笑羊的尖峰時間，一群可愛的羊屁屁在我們車子前面晃來晃去，根本融化我的心。不過這邊的笑笑羊們明顯和我之前看過的笑笑羊不太一樣，牠們有很明顯的大角，而且是在岩石和山坡上奔跑跳躍的專家，身上粗糙的羊毛看起來不蓬鬆，反而有點像雷鬼頭，是為了抵禦寒風和大雨，所以這裏的羊毛多半是拿來做地毯或是其他家飾織品。
麥可提議前方有一段下坡，景色非常好，不如我們下車走一段，他開到山腳下等我們，於是我們一行人浩浩蕩蕩下車，右邊山坡左邊峽谷前方不遠處有一個港灣(圖7)，在這麼視野遼闊的地方散步根本享受！而且路邊超多笑笑羊，所以我一下車就決定要當最後一個，想要錄一些環境音，就在吵鬧的人們遠離後山坡上有兩隻笑笑羊忽然開始合叫，一隻叫得超高亢一隻叫得比較溫馴，我伸長了手用麥克風對著其中一隻，努力想要跟牠有點眼神交流，沒想到幾分鐘後，牠忽然朝我奔來，跳下山坡，一蹬一蹬跑過馬路，跳過路邊的石堆，進入山谷的草原，我！的！天！啊！是羊叫 跟 羊蹄 欸！！！由於錄音耽擱了一點時間，我趕快拿著手機衝去跟大家會合，當我興奮不已地坐上車後才發現我的程式整個凍結在錄音畫面，完全不、能、動...，最後我只好強制關閉錄音程式，南柯一夢...
我想我會永遠記得這片美麗哀愁的風景。
[ Adventure in Ireland ] There's no fire like fire besides.
Second day from Dublin to Galway Connemara National Park. The tour guide is a knowledgeable chatty folk who has a sleepy voice. He kept talking during the whole journey meanwhile is able to drive a little coach on a bumpy road which has a speed limit at 100 km/hr (That's the speed limit on highways in Taiwan!!). He has a nice bass sound but speaks fast in a low voice like it will waste too much of his energy if he opened his mouth bigger. The way he talk made me wonder maybe he is so sick of this job due to he probably has to repeats the same history of the land, tells the same story of his wife and parents even maybe the same joke to every tourists every day. Anyway he is still a great guide and gentle driver who tells joke with a pokerface and slows down without rushing sheep that lingering at the middle of the road.
He talked about Viking, Norman and how King of England came and took away the eastern part of the country where is more fertile so many Irish were forced to went west. We looked out the window, the land is so poor here, lots of rocks and bog. Not to mention the gloomy wether...like Irish says that the only different between summer and winter in Ireland is that the rain in summer is warmer.We stopped by a coffee shop beside an Inn for rest. It was raining which made the wether chilly and I was so desperate for a cup of hot chocolate and a scone but when I entered the store I thought something was on fire since an unfamiliar odor in the air and smoke everywhere...Then I noticed there was a fireplace on the left-hand side (See picture 1,2). The white area on first photo is smoke result from sun light from the window beside.
After a scone with butter we back to coach. Tour guide continued with Irish language was forbidden when the king of England in charged this land. Fortunately, English was not willing to develop the poor land so Irish language was able to preserved there. Connemara is one of the district that Irish language was most spoken. Connemara is a large area in Galway county and it used to be divided into North Connemara and South Connemara.The mountains of the Twelve Bens and the Owenglin River, which flows into the sea at An Clochán/Clifden, marked the boundary between the two parts.
We parked beside some bogs(See picture 4,5) and warned us better stick to him or we might fell into the bog. Because it's hard to differentiate ground and land which are dissolving in this area. The bog district is like a huge sponge but felt like a bit similar to a spring bed. When stepping on the ground, I felt it's hollow underneath. The tour guide picked up a debris and passed down. I thought it's some kind of animal excretion at first but I smell nothing so I looked at it carefully and it seemed like a mixture of twigs and grasses and dirts. Although it's a bit wet but the structure is quite tight and hard. Our guide finally reviled the secret (See picture 3).
Remember the coffee shop we stopped by? The fireplace inside uses this as firewoods. Some of you might notice it smells different from regular firewood, because they are dirt which didn't dissolve completely and only appears in the bog area. He talked about his parents immigrated to Australia for living but every time they came back to Galway, they will secretly carry some of them out to Australia which is totally illegal. But only a dust burning with normal firewood the scents heals their homesick. Like an old Irish saying: "There's no fire like fire beside" which means there's no where like home.
The sheep have the right here! They happily living in this area and so unafraid of human! Their wool is rough due to the cold and rainy wether so mostly the wool are used to make carpet and furnishing textile. They are expertise hiking on the rocks and hills and the biggest tragedy of my trip occurred here...
Our guide dropped us on a hill slope so that we can spend sometime walking and enjoy the beauty of this national park. I intended to fall behind since I want to record ambience, and suddenly two of the sheep on the rock started to bleat. I tried to move forward and looked into one of the sheep's eyes. The after a while the sheep turn to me and ran down the slope!! The sheep cross the road in front of my face and left the road to valley on my left-hand side (See picture 7). I was so excited about all the sound I recorded. sheep bleat and steps!!! I stopped the application and ran to catch everyone because I was so much behind, and when I finally got in the coach I found the app was stuck. It didn't crush but freeze at the recording window....
I'm still upset now...such a beautiful location with a miserable story of my own...haha. At least I will remember a warm story of the Galway's special firewood as compensation.
😅
