Today, St.Patrick's Day, is the day when the whole country goes a little whacky with parades in the morning, and the rest of the day drinking green beer. Apparently. The parade has gradually got more tasteful - I remember the years when I was a child watching lorries with silly advertisements going past. Now it's much more of a carnival atmosphere. It's really quite refreshing to see.

When Irish eyes are smiling...and all that lark.

John invited a bunch of us down to his parents cottage down in Youghal, Co.Cork. It proved to be a wonderful weekend [and a birthday celebration for me]. My climbing friends are such a great bunch of people, if a little whacky at times.

By day, we wandered around, clearning out the cobwebs from our heavily intoxicated bodies.

By night, we slept....yeah right.

Youghal contains some amazing scenery. We wandered up to Ardmore Head, in search of some climbing. There is a small amount of climbing there but contains large amounts of loose rock. The colour of the rock, although the photos probably don't reflect it, is fantastic. It really feels like a calm summer's evening place to climb.

My parents moved our family down to a place just outside Greystones, on the east coast of Ireland. So many people can't appreciate how lucky you are living up by the sea. It contains so many possibilities that living in a city or in the heart of the countryside doesn't. I love it.

Louie and Rick accompanied me out to the Great Wall. It was something I could never expected. The huge incline in places was incredible. The place contains *so* much history, yet you rarely could even begin to imagine it all.

Someday I would love to come back here and walk along the wall for a couple of days. I leave China tommorrow. It will be sad leaving for this is an incredibly friendly place, and I've met some really kind people.

There is something about this place, that makes its history really hard to imagine. So many wonderful buildings, quite intricate in ornamentation. Sometimes looking so cold.

But it has been a fun trip and I have got to experience many things that perhaps other people haven't. I hope I will get sent here to work with the Sun guys again. I will be a great chance to see so many wonderful characters again.