As I wrote earlier, we left Bunratty Lodge for Sixmilebridge the next day.  I was curious to check out some kind of Duck barge in that town.   I spotted a photo of it somewhere.  It was painted in 2 or 3 colors with ducks sitting on it.  Never got to see anything, just some kind of statue in the middle of the town river.  We turned around and headed back for N18 west to pick up N85 west for R476 north towards Kilfenora visitor center.

After driving on N85 for a while thru several roundabouts, I stopped at a convenience /petro store to verify we were traveling correctly.  He said we were just nearing the next roundabout for R476 and Kilfenora.  That was good news.

So now on the way I knew Dysert ODea was on the same road.  We did finally reach the sign post for the Odea church ruins.  We made our left hand turn and knew it was correct as is typical, the road narrows to 1 and !/2 lanes.  After a couple miles in, we reached the ODea sign post directly across the foot path entrance to the church ruins.

I carefully turned the car around to be headed back on the same road, being sure not to go into the side ditches.  Took a photo of my wife Mary, and then of me in front of the ruins/cemetery.

Pics. In photobucket link below.

https://s534.photobucket.com/albums/ee346/garyvol/

We looked the place over and am still amazed at Irelands ruins.  Its really nice that Ireland just doesnt bull doze this stuff for the sake of progress.

We next stopped at the ODea Castle.  Again another narrow road to navigate.  Glad it is early so that we did not meet any incoming buses yet. 

One factoid from the clerk in the castle was that she pointed to a section of ceiling between the entrance and the main interior room.  A foyer type of room the size of maybe 10 x10.  It had an iron grate ceiling.  She quizzed us, why do you think the ceiling is grated.  Mary and I shrug our shoulders, had no clue.  She said when the enemy broke into the main entrance door into this room, boiling oil would be poured thru the grate on top of them.  Ouch, but I suppose every castle had to be built with some kind of line of defense against the enemy.

We next get to Kilfenora which calls itself the county of many crosses, with a visitor center and the start of the Burren.  The visitor center is cute, with a little video room and museum.  We had a light lunch at its bistro next door.  We then browsed the book store and found a nice colorful laminated map of the Burren.  We actually chose a trip route ,shown to us by the store clerk, to drive on and see some of the national park.  Before driving off, we toured the next church ruins.  Again great stuff to look at.  Plus they are now covering sections of the ruins with a plexy glass type structure.  Good idea to keep the interior protected from the weather.  We back tracked on R476 and made a left hand turn at Killinaboy.  I stopped alongside a fella for directions.  This guys job was putting up a stone wall from the house down to the edge of the road.  He said yep, you are heading in the right direction.  Youll see the granite type mountains rise in front as you travel.

We drove east on this road for about 5 miles as the stone type mountains can be seen all round.  We then made our turn southward toward R460.  The plan was then to take R460 back into Corofin and then back to the visitor center to freshen up and continue on to Doolin.  R460 was a great road seemingly to cut right thru the stony terrain.  We found a rest stop/picnic type area where we could pull off the road and roam the grounds of stone and flowers and also the lake across the road.  The lake is actually formed from pure stone type granite including all along the shore line. 

Travelling on R460 was good until we got slowed down by these cows being herded down the road by 3 guys in a landrover SUV taking them back to the farm barn.  Photo in link.  Note a whipping cane in a raised position hanging out the right window.  One guy got out with the cane and the landrover began to inch forward to get past the cows.  I quickly followed him, but it was something else to see these cows gradually get back over towards our car.  Mary could almost pat one of them.  Almost felt like we would get bumped off the road.  So that is cow rush hour traffic on R460.  When we got to the Kilfenora visitor center I told them of the encounter.  I also mentioned that American farmers typically move their herd across the road from one field to the other and then get them back to the barn.  The clerk smiled and said welcome to cow rush hour traffic. 

Pic

So we then drove to Doolin, checked into the Oconnor Farmhouse B&B and headed to the Cliffs.  Boy, such hilly roads to drove on.  We drove into their parking lot and used a discount coupon for the Visitor center.  Not knowing what was there before, but we enjoyed the visitor center.  Full of info. With lots of video stuff to watch.  We spent lots of time strolling around the cliffs from one end to the other.  Our plan was to have dinner at a roadside restaurant on the way back to Doolin (Farmstand something) suggested by Joan of the B&B.  However, we chose to eat at the Cliffs café at the visitor center..  Wast to bad either. 

pic

We got back to the B&B to freshen up and then walked past Gus Oconors to check out the pier.  However, the rain began to move in so we figured it was a no brainer to go back to Gus OConnor pub for some drink and catch some of the music.  2 guys and a gal played some good music.  The place was packed.  The rain had stopped so we then strolled along the main road toward the other pubs.  One had country type music, not for us.  Hotel Doolin looks cute from the outside.  Lobby has a gas fired Fireplace.  After a long day, we went back to the B&B to get ready for tomorrow.  Had a wonderful breakfast.  Joan served us lots of food.  Now we are headed for Knock.  But we will visit some places along the way including Croagh Patrick.

We drove north along the Altlantic Burren from Doolin.  Again, fascinating landscape to watch.  I even pulled off to side of the road to snap some pics.into the link.  No fences at the edge of the cliffs here.  Just 500 feet down to the water.  One problem, I left my sunglasses on the car trunk, as I drove away I said uh oh, left my sunglasses back their.  Mary said to late now, keep driving.  We drove around the city of Galway, and our next stop is the Ross Abbey Friar ruins.

Ill get to that in the next session.

Let me know if you wish to view more photos.  I am only putting a few into photobucket so as not to bore you to much.

-gary