Day 008 > Monday 09 September

Safeway (Northern Ireland) have been supporting Phab N.I. (Physically disabled and able bodied) as their chosen charity for the year and today was spent visiting as many Safeway Stores as possible to meet the staff who have been working so hard to raise money. Phab promotes social inclusion for young people with disabilities through pre-school, youth clubs and independent living training. Local and national press appeared at each of the stores where we posed for photoshoots with various forms of transport to emphasise our story.

Three forms of transport were added to our list including a Ferrari Moderna, a little custom built steam wagon and a City Tours single decker bus which had been designed to accommodate up to 13 wheelchairs and 23 passengers.

Later in the afternoon Robin Dunseath, Adventure Leader introduced the Adventurers to David Trimble (First Minister) and Mark Durcan (Deputy First Minister) in Stormont who were both personally interested and supportive of the 80 Ways adventure.

Finally, we attended a fantastic black tie dinner at the Harbour Commissioners building in Belfast which was hosted by Safeway to raise money for Phab N.I.. Miles was on top form as he gave the key-note speech which, we are sure, inspired many to further support the good works of Phab N.I.

Day 009 > Tuesday 10 September

We enjoyed our first taste of real Guinness today in the Cloughan Inn near Mullingar in the midlands of Ireland. The team were travelling through on their way to Roscommon Town from Dundalk in the cab of a 20 tonne tipper truck, driven by Matty who had turned out for us after a long day's work hauling sand. Mike was comfortably lying on the drivers bed for the four hour journey, allowing him to take the weight of his butt for a change. Apart from us there were 9 other customers in the bar but after hearing what we were up to a quick whip round raised 156 Euro for the cause and the drinks were on the house. We are going to love Ireland!

Earlier the team had travelled from Belfast to Kilkeel on the City Tours bus, again calling at various branches of Safeway and stopping for press photo calls along the way. At Kilkeel we enjoyed a splendid lunch at a Phab holiday and conference centre before travelling by helicopter over the border to Dundalk.

Northern Ireland had proved to be an enjoyable and productive leg of the journey and we shall remember the kindness of the people and the beauty of the area.

Day 010 > Wednesday 11 September

Given the significance of the 11th September it was appropriate that it was the fire service and the police who helped our merry gang travel from Roscommon to Galway. Crammed into the Garda wagon the adventurers set off with lights, sirens and a motorbike escort to Galway Town where they transferred onto Fire Engines to Galway City.

Mike McNamara, our cameraman (and for some reason referred to as Carbonara), joined us again today although it took a couple of Guinness to calm him down after a very "bumpy" flight from Dublin.

We made a quick visit to Hewlett Packard to collect a few bits of IT kit they had donated and then met with some Jack and Jill Babies and their families. The Jack and Jill Foundation are the beneficiaries of all our fundraising while in Ireland and they provide essential primary support to the families of children under the age of four who have severe disabilities. This support is not provided by the state in Ireland.

Our own challenge of the day was presented by Aoife who has developed a serious infection around a wisdom tooth. Emergency trips to dentists and doctors resulted in talk of hospitals and operations meaning that Aoife was in Jeopardy of having to leave the party. With Aoife pumped full of antibiotics and painkillers we were all grateful for the complimentary accommodation provided by Jury's Hotels in the centre of the buzzing University City of Galway.

Day 011 > Thursday 12 September

By lunchtime we thought the plans for the day were going completely pear shaped but our visit to Carlow turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip so far. Aoife's hometown had pulled together to organise a day of historic travel including barges, steamroller, vintage cars and horseriding in the saddle designed for the amazing Mr Kavanagh. Mr Kavanagh was born with no arms or legs yet he was a fine horse rider and archer and worked as a despatch rider, Member of Parliament and goodness knows what else.

Ironically it had been the more modern forms of transport which proved challenging. Travelling in small planes the flights to Waterford were diverted to Shannon due to bad weather. Here one pilot, dressed as dracular and without IFR capability, had to abandon the plans altogether. Our other pilot, dressed as superman, was able to fly the adventurers to Waterford to meet the helicopter. They were now severely delayed and only just beat the rest of us who hired a car and drove across the country.

Sadly, we missed all the children who had turned out to see the helicopter land and missed travelling on the barge, but from then on we were back on schedule. It seemed that the whole town of Carlow had turned out to see the adventurers riding on horseback through the streets with a cavalcade of carriages and riders, many joining us at an informal but highly inspiring evening at the Delta a training center for people with special needs.

All money collected in the streets was in aid of the Jack and Jill Foundation, founded by Jonathan Irwin after the loss of his own young son.

Day 012 > Friday 13 September

Miles often says that if something is in the realms of the possible, then it is achievable. So was it going to be possible for the adventurers to paddle up the Liffey on a cardboard boat?

Smurfit Corrugated (Ireland) Ltd obviously thought so and designed the cardboard boat to prove it.

We are getting good at helping Mike into weird ways of transport and the wobbly boat gave us no trouble at all and soon they were off, singing row, row, row the boat to the delight of the crowds and the T.V. crews who had turned out, probably to see everyone swimming.

It was soon apparent that they were all to survive and we all spent the morning mucking about on the river in the beautiful sunshine. As a bonus we transferred into a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) and sped out to the harbour at about 500 m.p.h.

We've now got a couple of days to wind down a little before heading to France on Monday. Time to work with Shakira our Web Mistress and to get our clothes washed at last.

Day 013 > Saturday 14 September

Imagine how privileged we felt to be the guests of honour at the Jack and Jill Foundation dinner at Dublin Castle. We were collected by the Lord Mayor's car and delivered into the cobbled courtyard to be welcomed by a vibrant display of fire dancers, drummers and colourful figurines.

180 guests, each paying around €1000, were gathered in the great hall for drinks before entering the magnificent St Patrick's Hall where previous Kings of Ireland had been crowned. We could tell it would be a special dinner by the array of cut crystal glasses lined up at each setting. The first wine was a 1977 something, which certainly didn't come from the local "Offy", and the fine wines continued to flow.

Following a short endorsement of the 80 ways project and the Jack and Jill Foundation by Charlie McGreevy, the Irish Finance Minister, Caroline led the main after-dinner speech with support from the rest of the team. Regina Nathan gave a special performance of song to close what was a brilliantly organised event.

But more was to come.

The 80 ways team and the organisers of the event, along with Jonathan Irwin and his wife met for an after event briefing in the Hotel which went on until after 5:00 a.m. - the highlight of which being Aoife's singing which resulted in several offers of recording contracts.

Day 014 > Sunday 15 September

After what seemed like just 10 minutes of sleep we were up and out to enjoy Caroline's treat for us all. Caroline is a regular at a fitness club and is already putting us all to shame by her determination to train regularly. It had been arranged for each of us to have a massage session at a local club. This was just what the doctor had ordered and provided welcome relief for sore backs, gained through lifting too many bags and too many people into weird and wonderful ways of transport over the last two weeks.

A leisurely meal and a pleasant evening was spent in the Cafe en Seine with Shakira, our web mistress, and Coman and Yvonne from the Aisling Foundation. Mike and Miles took a relatively early night and missed the en Seine experience.

Us younger members of the party agreed that we have the rest of our lives to catch up with sleep and determined to wring the last drops of enjoyment out of Ireland before moving on in the morning.