“The crossing was a bit rocky but safe and we arrived at the cottages in Courtown safely and even managed to make it to the local shop to stock up on supplies before it shut at nine. Before we set off, the Irish centre in Camden had asked us if we could give a lift to a client of theirs whose mother was very ill and needed to get back to Kildare. When we collected him at the centre in the morning his brother and the brothers’ girlfriend were there as well and they were all pretty drunk, it seemed, after an all-night session. The mother had died and it was a funeral they were going back to now. At Rosslare we put them on a bus to Dublin to connect with another bus home. They thanked us profusely, though a little worse for wear, as they swayed about on the ferry landing clutching a little bouquet of flowers…”

Alex McDonnell, Aisling co-ordinator narrates another tale of reunion and reconnection – read more about this and other recent Aisling trips here