Vis

Dear Diary,

today I write to you from Wicklow Town in County Wicklow - a town founded
by the Vikings and I have much to tell you since last I wrote.

Before we left Howth, a local historian Diarmuid O'Cathasaigh came to give
the crew and some locals a talk on connections between the Irish language
and Old Norse. It was very interesting. He explained how the two islands we
sailed past on the way to Howth have Scandinavian names - Ireland's Eye
translates to Ireland's Ay or Ireland's Island - that's very clever!

After Diarmuid gave his talk another crew member, Louise gave a talk about
the ship and the work the ship does - like trying to discover how the
Vikings actually sailed their ship and how we eat and sleep on board. I
helped Louise by answering some of these questions. I explained how we
sleep on board when we are on watch in the anchor tent and how we sleep
between the benches when we are sailing. I talked about the good hearty
breakfast of porridge every morning and the lovely dinners we get everyday.
We have a special gas ring on board the Sea Stallion to cook and boil water
as well as an excellent chef, Jens.

I had Wednesday off so myself and some other crew members from midship went
for a walk around Howth pier and played Nefatavl for a while. It's a very
good old Viking game that I was able to teach the crew. A Nefatavl gaming
board was actually found at Ballinderry Crannog in Westmeath in Ireland (a
crannog is a type of manmade island with houses on top) and it can be seen
in the National Museum of Ireland.

On Thursday we packed up and set sail for Wicklow. It was a very calm
sailing and since there was little wind for some of it we had to row a bit
more. Carsten divided the crew into pairs and we each took turns rowing so
no-one would get too tired and sore.

Again, we arrived into a fantastic reception. People really do love coming
to see the Sea Stallion and hearing all about the voyage. Wicklow has a
very interesting history and some fun archaeological sites to visit such as
the Black Castle and The Danish Steps (these are steps down to the sea) and
Wicklow Gaol. I went to the Goal today. We were brought around the gaol by
the Gaoler from 1799 just after the 1798 rebellion in Ireland. I saw the
cells that the prisoners were kept in and I was even a prisoner myself! I
was accused of stealing rabbits and the gaoler put me into a small smelly
cell but he signed a special release form so I could go. I have the release
form - I'll show it to you when I get home.

I'm off for dinner now but I'll write soon.

Take care,

Erik