Dawn Treader Voyages
C. S. Lewis Study Tour and Cruise
August 16 - 26 or 29, 2004
The 11-Day Core Itinerary that follows is easily expandable for those travelers who wish to arrive early for independent touring in the British Isles and/or stay on to join our organized Oxford and Cotswolds Extension at the tour’s end.
Monday-Tuesday, August 16th-17th : Home to Belfast
Wednesday, August 18th : Belfast
Thursday, August 19th : Belfast to Dublin
Friday, August 20th : Dublin to Embarkation
Saturday, August 21st : Waterford, Ireland
Sunday, August 22nd : St. David’s,
Wales to St. George’s Channel
Monday, August 23rd : Cork, Ireland to The Celtic
Sea
Tuesday, August 24th : Tresco, Scilly Islands
to The English Channel
Wednesday, August 25th : Disembarkation to Portland to
Weymouth to Wells to Bath
Thursday, August 26th : Home or Oxford & Cotswold
Extension
The Route Of Our Journey
Monday-Tuesday, August 16th-17th
Home to Belfast
North Americans depart their home cities for overnight transatlantic flights
and a connection on to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.We begin
our journey and adventure where C.S. Lewis began his. Born in an inner suburb
of the city on November 29th, 1898, Clive Staples Lewis disliked both Christian
names he had been given from his mother’s side of the family. As a
wee boy of not quite four, he announced that he was “Jacksie,”
later abbreviated to “Jack,” the name he would use for the rest
of his life.
Check in at our first “home away from home”— the stately Culloden Hotel, Northern Ireland’s most prestigious fivestar hotel. Spend two nights at this lovely estate on the wooded slopes of Lewis’ beloved Holywood Hills, overlooking Belfast Lough and the County Antrim coastline. Originally built as an official palace for the Bishops of County Down, the Culloden is a proud member of the exclusive Small Luxury Hotels of the World. It features a well-equipped Spa with ready access to fitness activities and other personal services and garden grounds that will bring you joy.
Tonight, meet your fellow SEA CLOUD II shipmates at a Welcome Dinner in the hotel’s acclaimed Mitre Restaurant. Following a warm welcome and introductions by our Tour Host, Stan Mattson, Professor John Gillespie, noted Lewis scholar and Head of the School of Languages and Literature at the University of Ulster, has been asked to provide an overview of Lewis’ life in Ireland and respond to questions. Keith Getty, the increasingly internationally acclaimed Ulster composer of hymns of faith sung the world over (e.g. In Christ Alone), will provide splendid Celtic music at the piano, joined by his lovely new bride, the very talented vocalist, Kristyn Lennox.
Wednesday, August 18th
Belfast
After
breakfast, coaches will be ready for us to set out along the “C.S.
Lewis Trail.” There will be much for us to see today with the way
prepared by Northern Ireland C.S. Lewis Society member,Tony Wilson, a retired
member of the faculty of Campbell College, which Jack attended briefly as
a boy. First, the Lewis Centenary monument (unveiled by the city of Belfast
in 1998)—a life-sized statue with a bronze wardrobe as part of the
scene. Not far away, a commemorative plaque identifies the location of the
semi-detached house in Dundela where Jack and his brother Warren (three
years older) were born.
The boys’ father, Albert, was Belfast City Council Solicitor whose prosperity had increased by the Spring of 1905 so that he could move his family to a much larger home—Little Lea. In C.S. Lewis’ autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Little Lea is remembered as “almost a major character in my story. I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of wind under the tiles…I soon staked out a claim to one of the attics and made it ‘my study.’”
The
last group of Lewisians we took to see Little Lea were kindly invited in
(during a summer downpour!) by its most recent owners, Mr. and Mrs. Denis
Rogers. Several of us crawled into the very attic where a bright little
boy, not yet ten, began creating his own imaginary world of “Boxen”—precursors
to later fictional characters now known to millions throughout the world.The
house of Jack’s lifelong friend, Arthur Greeves, was just across the
street when we were last there. It was recently demolished for redevelopment
in spite of the valiant efforts of the Society to save it.
A few blocks beyond Little Lea, we visit St. Mark’s of Dundela, a Church of Ireland (Anglican) parish where the Lewis boys’ maternal grandfather was Rector from 1874-1900.The current Rector, Reverend John McDowell, welcomes us and produces from the church’s safe the 1899 Baptismal Register recording the final baptism performed by Thomas Robert Hamilton—that of his two-monthold grandson, Clive Staples Lewis. Decades later, Jack and Warren gave a stained-glass window to the church in memory of their parents.The font and the church silver also have connections to the Lewis and Hamilton families.
On
then to visit Campbell College and up through the scenic Holywood Hills,
a “land of longing, the breaking and blessing of hearts,” out
to The Old Inn, Crawfordsburn for lunch. Since Lewis once said “Heaven
is Oxford lifted and placed in the middle of County Down,” it’s
no surprise that he chose this four-century-old inn for a belated honeymoon
with Joy. During their week’s stay, Jack hosted a party to introduce
his wife to Ulster family and friends. History buffs take note that other
Crawfordsburn overnighters have included Peter the Great (Tsar of Russia),
Jonathan Swift, and former President George Bush! Here former Member of
Parliament David Bleakley, author of C.S. Lewis—at Home in Ireland,
will regale us with insightful tales of the Lewis family and their roots
in County Down and Belfast.
Those who wish to explore historic Belfast may be dropped off downtown for shopping and dinner on their own. Our guides will be happy to make suggestions for experiencing the best local color and cuisine in town. Or you may prefer to enjoy dinner again at the splendid Culloden, where we will be resting for the second night before setting out for Dublin.
Thursday, August 19th
Belfast to Dublin
Enjoy another “Atkins-violating” Irish Breakfash followed by
a coach transfer into downtown Belfast. En route we pass the Harland and
Wolf shipyards where the Titanic was built. Catch
the mid-morning Enterprise Train to Dublin—a two-hour trip, with an
everchanging panorama of the Mourne Mountains and the countryside Lewis
so loved and longed for throughout his life. Private coaches stand by at
Connolly Station for our 12:35 arrival. On then, through the city center
to Francis Street. At the heart of the city’s antiques trade, this
street is lined from top to bottom and on both sides with small, welcoming
shops crammed with antiques of varying historical, aesthetic and monetary
value. The shops here exude a dusty, dreamy atmosphere for browsing through
decades of Irish history. But behind the easygoing facade hides a world
of experienced dealers running a big business with brisk turnover.
Next stop is tranquil Merrion Square, surrounded on three sides by some of Dublin’s best-preserved Georgian townhomes. Built between 1762 and 1764, each has its own brightly painted front door with an intricate and unique fanlight above. Plaques highlight homes of the most distinguished Dubliners—Oscar Wilde’s parents, Sir William and “Speranza” Wilde (No. 1), author W.B.Yeats (Nos. 52 and 82), Irish national leader Daniel O’Connell (No. 58) and others.
On the west side of the Square is our final visit of the afternoon, the National Gallery of Ireland. (A former Chairperson of the museum’s Board has traveled with our company on the Sea Cloud II and, in July, will be taking Mrs. Post’s suite on the original Sea Cloud. Good connections always help!) Beyond the crème de la crème of Irish artists, the collection claims exceptional paintings from the 17th-century French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish schools. Highlights are Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ (1602), Velázquez’s Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus (c. 1618), Rembrandt’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c.1647), Poussin’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1655-60) and Vermeer’s Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid (c. 1670). Strive to see the French Impressionist gems as well—paintings by Monet, Sisley, and Pissarro.
Late
afternoon check-in is at The Merrion…just a stone’s throw from
the National Gallery. Our last night as landlubbers will find us at home
in what the Zagat Survey ranks as “The Top Hotel in Ireland.”
An owner of Dublin’s most luxurious hostelry is, again, one of our
former Sea Cloud II passengers. Hearing
that we were bringing the ship to his city, he insisted we stay at “his
place.” One of the four sumptuously-decorated Georgian townhouses
now reincarnated as the hotel was the birthplace of Arthur Wellesley, the
first Duke of Wellington.
This evening is free. As an option, many of us will head out for a traditional
Irish pub night at Taylors Three Rock for good food and drink, an Irish
ballad group, the “Merry Ploughboys” and Taylors’ Irish
dancers. Audience participation is welcome. As J.R.R.Tolkien once suggested,
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold,
it would be a merrier world.”
Friday, August 20th
Dublin to Embarkation
Enjoy
the morning at leisure. The Merrion’s well-equipped Tethra Spa is
open for fitness activities or for the sheer delight of relaxing selfindulgence,
or a mixture of the two. Also, there’s time for independent city-exploring
or Grafton Street shopping. Meanwhile, your luggage goes by truck to the
ship. After lunch, we’ll enjoy a guided tour of St. Patrick’s
(the national cathedral of the Protestant Church of Ireland), a fine, 305-foot-long
Norman edifice. Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, was
one of the church’s most uncompromising Deans.Above the door of the
robing room is his oftquoted epitaph,“He lies where furious indignation
can no longer rend his heart.”
Next, we’ll stroll through Trinity College’s quadrangles en route to the Old Library for a look at a few pages from the 9th-century Book of Kells. (Each day, one of the priceless vellum pages of the illuminated text is turned…a museum version, we guess, of reading through the Gospels in a year!)
Time may permit a stop at O’Connell Street for the story of the 1916 Uprising or a pause at the Old Jameson Distillery for a tutorial on Irish whiskey. But no “foostering around.”We shant be late for a five o’clock embarkation of the Sea Cloud II moored alongside Sir John Rogerson Quay. At the head of the gangway we will be greeted by the Captain’s warm “Welcome!” and flutes of champagne for toasting a Bon Voyage. Soon the lines are loosed for cast off…and it’s down the River Liffey…and out into the Irish Sea for a night under a thousand twinkling stars!
Douglas and Merrie Gresham have now joined our traveling party and tonight we will listen to some of Doug’s boyhood reminiscences.
Saturday, August 21st
Waterford, Ireland
Morning
arrival at the mouth of The River Suir for today’s port call—Waterford!
Ireland’s oldest city was founded by Viking invaders in the 9th century.
Later came the Danes, and then English settlers…even Huguenot refugees
who left France for Ireland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
in 1696.
The Waterford Crystal Factory in nearby Kilbarry is the world’s largest, with more than 2,000 employees. A VIP tour for us…seeing the entire process of blowing, delicate cutting, engraving and polishing. Waterford has long been the byword for the crystal of connoisseurs. (Of course, there are galleries and showrooms… credit cards accepted!)
Next stop is Portlaw on the River Clodagh, which was founded as a model
village by a Quaker family, the Malcolmsons, who had started up a cotton
industry in the 19th Century. Beside the town is Curraghmore House, family
home of the Marquis of Waterford. Though Lord Waterford does not normally
allow visitors other than Thursdays, he’s made a special arrangement
to host us.The house itself is splendid, with exceptionally fine plasterwork.
After morning coffee and scones, explore the gardens and grounds. Specimen
trees, planted mainly in the 1800’s, have grown to magnificent sizes…and
on the perimeter, a bridge built in 1205 for King John
to cross the river.
Back to the Sea Cloud II for lunch, and immediately underway.To starboard is the village of Crooke and, portside, we round the lighthouse on the Hook Head promontory. As sailors of old, you’ll gain a new appreciation for the phrase,“By Hook or by Crooke.” In the afternoon, sail the Irish Sea! A ship’s officer provides running commentary explaining tall-ship sail maneuvers as experienced crew members climb the rigging to set 3,000 square meters of canvas above our heads.With a main mast twenty stories tall, fair winds are all the power we need to speed our course towards Wales, with plenty of time late in the afternoon to gather in the lounge for Dr. Mattson’s inspiring and informative talk on the spiritual pilgrimage of C.S. Lewis.
This evening is the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Party followed by a multi-course gala dinner.
Sunday, August 22nd
St. David’s, Wales to St. George’s Channel
During
breakfast, Sea Cloud II anchors in St. Bride's
Bay off the coast of Wales. Harking back to his great, great, grandfather,
Richard, a Welsh farmer, and his great grandfather, Joseph, a Welsh Methodist
preacher renowned for his power in the pulpit, Jack once confessed to George
Sayer, his close friend and biographer, “I’m more Welsh than
anything…. I’m grateful that on my father’s
side I’m descended from a practical Welsh farmer.Without it I should
have turned into a hopeless neurotic.”
Transported by the ship’s tenders, we shall put into the tiny seaside village of Solva, where Douglas Gresham spent an unforgettable August 1958 holiday together with his mother and brother, just after Joy and Jack’s “belated honeymoon” in Ireland.
The morning’s highlight—Sunday worship at historic St. David’s Cathedral. (In 1124 Pope Calixtus II declared that two pilgrimages to St. David’s were equivalent to one to Rome…three equaled a trip to Jerusalem itself!)
Today
the cathedral is Anglican, the only one in all the United Kingdom with a
stall permanently reserved for the reigning monarch. We’re not likely
to see Queen Elizabeth at church. (Her majesty spends August at Balmoral
in Scotland…where she becomes a Presbyterian!) But her Honorary Chaplain
will be there. At our suggestion, the Dean John Wyn Evans has graciously
arranged for John R.W. Stott to be the guest preacher.We shall also be joined
by special guests, Nigel and Gillie Goodwin.
Parts of the granite-gray cathedral date from the 12th century.The floor slopes and several pillars lean drunkenly ever since a 1248 earthquake.The hodge-podge of decorations, renovations and additions reflect 900 years of church history— St. David’s shrine was wrecked during the Reformation but his relics are still intact behind the altar.
Again, an afternoon reserved for sailing near Skomer and Grassholm Islands. No safe landings are possible on these windswept outcrops of granite in the Atlantic, but we do hope to maneuver close enough to witness (at least with binoculars) the seabird colonies on the cliffsides going about their business. Everybody’s favorites are the Puffins—but 30,000 pairs of Gannets also call this home.
Before dinner, Stan Mattson’s second dialogue with Douglas Gresham in the ship’s lounge.
Monday, August 23rd
Cork, Ireland to The Celtic Sea
Sea
Cloud II returns to Ireland to visit Cork, where Lewis’
father, Albert, was born and where his grandfather, Richard, served for
years as a boilermaker in the city’s thriving shipyards.We tie up
alongside in Cobh (pronounced “cove”), the last port of call
for the TITANIC. A busy morning for us in County Cork. Blarney Castle and
kissing the Stone reputed to confer eloquence…or at least the “gift
of gab.” (“Blarney” means pleasant talk, intended to deceive
but without offending.) Browse the Blarney Woolen Mills shop before returning
to the Sea Cloud II for lunch. Local maritime
historian Michael Martin will lead those who are interested on the Titanic
Trail Tour he has created. If there’s time, you may also wish to check
out the Queenstown Story in Cobh to learn how, from 1848-1948, more than
2.5 million adults and children emigrated from Ireland. Understand in a
new way an “Irish Wake”—the special farewell for emigrating
sons and daughters, most of whom never returned to Ireland.
After lunch, we set out by coach for Kinsale.With a charming semicircular harbor full of colorful fishing boats, this small village of 2,000 has made a name for itself as the “gourmet capital of Ireland.” Samples of local delicacies accompany our afternoon tea. Photographers find a picture-postcard shot around every corner— winding streets with imaginatively-painted shop fronts, well-kept 18th-century houses, window boxes and street stanchions with cascading summer flowers, and sailboats constantly leaving and returning.
History, too. One of the governors appointed to represent the British Crown in Kinsale was William Penn. His adventurous son would set off for the New World and found a state! Fast forward to 1915…it was just off the Old Head of Kinsale that a German submarine sank the Lusitania. Many of the 1,500 lost are buried in the local cemetery.
In the evening our ship sets her course southeastward across the Celtic Sea. Stan and Nigel offer poetry readings from Lewis with other after-dinner entertainment planned.
Tuesday, August 24th
Tresco, Scilly Islands to The English Channel
Off
the westernmost extremity of England (visible from Land’s End on a
clear day) lies a collection of small islands. Remotest of all are the Isles
of Scilly, an archipelago of more than 150 isles and rough-hewn islets.
Due to the climatological effects of the nearby Gulf Stream, these unique
islands enjoy mild, sunny days that quickly make up for centuries of negative
stereotypes for which mainland English weather is famous.
Sea Cloud II calls at Tresco, a subtropical paradise which seems somehow geographically out-of-place.Thanks to a 19th-century Lord Proprietor, Augustus Smith, the island’s famous Abbey Gardens are planted with all manner of exotic species. Smith’s cleverly engineered wind-breaks and terraces helped create microclimates mimicking growing conditions normally found in faraway places like the Mediterranean, South Africa, and New Zealand.The result is a modern horticultural wonder! Undistracted as we traverse the island’s car-free roads and footpaths, we’ll have ample freedom to enjoy all of Tresco’s amazingly diverse flora.
This afternoon we look for “fair winds and following seas” to sail into the English Channel. Spiff up by seven.The Captain welcomes us topside for Cocktails followed by a Farewell Dinner one deck below.
Wednesday, August 25th
Disembarkation to Portland to Weymouth to Wells to Bath
Enjoy a final salubrious morning at sea. By 11:00 a.m., arrive at Portland
for disembarkation. Kim Gilnett,Tour Director of the Summer Seminars-in-
Residence Program at The Kilns in Oxford, welcomes us to England.
Coaches are standing by for an hour’s inland drive to Wells.This afternoon, we’ll visit the town’s most famous landmark,Wells Cathedral. Being careful to honor the church’s Quiet Hour from 12 noon to 1 p.m., we’ll plan for folks to have lunch on their own in town before our organized tour of the great cathedral and grounds. Construction on Wells Cathedral began in 1180, though its origins lie as far back as 705. Earning cathedral status from Rome in 1245, the chapel went through a flurry of expansion until 1552, when it was blown up by overly zealous Reformers.Work to rebuild the Cathedral began shortly thereafter. Master masons over the centuries have added considerably to this breathtaking structure, widely regarded as one of the finest in the world.
In Bath Wednesday evening, our group will, alas, part company.Those continuing on for the Oxford Extension will begin with an overnight at a deluxe hotel in Bath. Another of our coaches will take the folks flying out of London the next morning to airport hotels Wednesday night - dropping off first at a convenient Heathrow hotel and continuing on to a second hotel adjacent to Gatwick (charged separately according to hotel and accommodations chosen). Still others may choose to break away in Bath for their own independent post-cruise touring in England or other parts of Europe.
Thursday, August 26th
Flights home for those not participating in the Oxford
& Cotswold Extension.
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The C.S. Lewis Foundation is a non-partisan, non-sectarian, donor supported 501(c)3 corporation.