Irish Blog — The end is near for L.V. Rogers Bomber Rugby Tour
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The L.V. Rogers Bombers rugby tour of Ireland is on its final days.
The LVR team departed from Nelson almost two weeks ago. The Mighty Bombers opened the tour with a 27-5 win over the Balgriggan Rugby Club before being brought back down to earth with a 36-12 setback at the hands of Montevia — a team sprinkled with high level players.
LVR Vice Principal Frank Marisco, who is with the team on the tour along with coach Michael Joyce, has graciously accepted the challenge of blogging the tour for The Nelson Daily.
There’s been lots of sightseeing, training and, of course, an experience of a lifetime — being in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day — to blog.
Here’s Frank’s latest entry.
Sunday, March 20
It’s Sunday morning and it is bittersweet.
The kids have had a great time in Galway but know it is time to move on to our next challenge. One last breakfast at the GBC then back to the hostel to pack and load onto the bus.
The kids remind me to get the passports out of the safe — a good thing because I probably would have forgotten to do it.
We get on the bus and do a double headcount, to make sure we don’t leave Mav behind, and then it is onto the winding road to Limerick.
Our driver and tour guide, Michael, has a story about almost everything.
Today we get history lesson after history lesson as we drive through the fields of County Clare. As we drive through the barren limestone hills near Doolin, we stop and explore a megalithic burial tomb dating back over 3000 years.
We carry on the Cliffs of Moher where lunch is waiting at the restaurant in the visitors centre. We spend an hour exploring the cliffs and O’Brien’s castle, which sits on the promontory overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The sun manages to peak through the mist and we catch a glimpse of Arran Island in the distance. On the bus and we head to Lahinch – a funky surfing town with a couple of world class golf courses nearby.
Some of the kids grab ice cream cones and the rest climb over the breakwater and watch Quinn strip down to his skivvies for a quick face-to-face with the big breakers hitting the shore.
Back on the bus and it’s one more hour to Limerick.
We arrive at 5 p.m. and find out we are staying in a really fancy hotel right on the beautiful Shannon River.
We walk downtown and have a tasty meal at a Thai restaurant then the kids head home to watch a movie and hit the sack.
Tomorrow we get the “all you can eat” buffet for breakfast.
As they say – a well-fed teenager is a happy teenager.
