GPS problem could have been the introduction of the M8 and re numbering the old N8 as R639 (I recommend folk make notes of these reregs so like me can use 10 yr old paper maps) or just miss programming with the Roc being there in the same place long before sat nav and gps. It was either an early start or making excellent time finishing up in Blarney by half three,,

Recalculating...

I apologize for it being SO long since I came back to finish this. Life became really crazy busy shortly after we returned. Now that the holidays are over with, I'm determined to finish this report.

 

 

Oct 2nd:

My husband woke up feeling much better this morning finally. When you're trip is only a week long, two days of not feeling well is a good chunk of time. We had a lovely buffet style breakfast, including the best scones I've ever had.

We left our B&B and headed straight to the Blarney Castle, which was only about 10 minutes away. Despite getting there about thirty minutes after it opened I was surprised by how many people were there. The weather was absolutely wonderful! My husband and I both left our jackets in the car and went on to explore the castle in our t-shirts. It was a warm day, around the 50s or 60s Fahrenheit.

With it being autumn I was expecting to see a fair amount of fall colors, especially on the Blarney Castle grounds with the numerous amount of trees. However I was amazed by how green everything still was!

We entered the castle and started the climb to the top, exploring as we went. Those stairs are something else! They're very steep and incredibly narrow. It had rained the night before so the stairs were a bit slick, but we made it to the top. The view from the top of the castle was stunning! It was especially nice with the clear blue skies. We didn't kiss the Stone; we both felt we already had the gift of the gab, the gift of eloquence - however maybe if I had, I would have had this trip report done sooner! Going down the castle stairs was much easier than going up (separate stair case). We exited the castle and walked through the Poison Garden that was right near the castle. It was very interesting to see the different plants in there that were poisonous, some I recognized and did not know they were deadly.

From there we drove on to Killarney. By the time we reached Killarney the rain had caught up with us. It came down in a couple of down pours that made it almost impossible to see. Thankfully we were parked in the lot for the Muckross House when the worst of it came down. We decided to take a jaunting car ride. I know, it's a completely touristy thing to do, but it was our first trip to Ireland and the trip was for our anniversary. It was fun. I probably wouldn't do it again, but it was fun for one time, and our driver was great to talk to. He drove us out to the Torc Waterfall. When we came back to Muckross House we found out it was going to be another 45 minutes until the next tour. We decided to do some shopping instead.

We found a pub in the town center called The Smoke House for dinner. It was a small quiet place. My husband had a lamb burger, he said it was the best lamb he'd ever had. I had a dish of two very large field mushrooms that were stuffed with vegetables and couscous. It was alright, not overly spectacular, but my husband definitely loved the lamb burger.

We found ourselves a bit worn out and returned to our B&B for the night. We stayed at Woodlands B&B.

 

October 3^rd:

The bed at Woodlands was the largest bed we had come across so far. It was a king size bed. It was nice to have the extra sleeping room for one night. Our breakfast was good. Our host, Patrick, was a lot of fun to talk to. He had a really good sense of humor. He really wanted to talk about American politics but my husband and I aren't really into politics, plus our trip to Ireland was during the government shutdown, so we weren't the best conversationalists when it came to that topic.

The day was absolutely gorgeous. This day was our anniversary and we really couldn't have asked for a better day!

We drove out to Tarbert for the ferry to head up the coastline. By the time we arrived to Tarbert, clouds had rolled in again, but the rain stayed away. It was my first time on a car ferry. It was definitely interesting to watch the buses load on and off the ferry.

Once on the other side of the estuary the GPS took us down some unnamed country lanes en route to the Cliffs of Moher. It had been programmed to take the fastest route, and apparently these country lanes were meant to shave off three minutes... it didn't. We pulled over to reexamine it and our map because we were sure it was getting us lost. It didn't but it was an interesting route.

Once we arrived to the Cliffs of Moher it was completely clear and the sun was shining. The cliffs weren't shrouded in mist or clouds, just completely clear. It was great to be able to see them so clearly. As we left the Cliffs of Moher visitor center parking lot, we came across three young hitchhikers. Normally we would not have stopped for them, but as they were younger than both my husband and I, we decided to. It was an interesting experience to pull over on that narrow road, with the large amount of traffic coming from the visitor center so we could re-arrange luggage to try to fit all three of them in the back of our car. In the end one of them had to hold my suitcase on their lap. My husband and I both only packed a carryon size of luggage but the truck of the car was so tiny that my suitcase spent most of its time in the back seat. The young hitchhikers were all in their very early 20s from Germany. Apparently they had been hitchhiking and backpacking over most of Ireland, staying in hostels along their way. They were headed to the Doolin Caves. We felt good being able to make it easier on their feet. We dropped them off at the caves and wished them well for the rest of their travels.

From there we drove on to the far outskirts of the Burren. It was just barely the start of that landscape. I was amazed by how far that landscape went! We pulled off the road and walked around the rocky landscape, making our way towards the ocean's edge. The tide was coming in so we definitely didn't want to get too close. Despite not seeing the heart of the Burren, it still was so amazing to walk across all of it and to see the various different plant life sprouting up between the cracks in the limestone. As we walked back up to the car we could see some cairns up on the small cliff side that was next to the car. My husband decided he needed to get a better look. There was already a path up the cliffside, although it took some very careful walking. I felt it was a bit treacherous, but I'm sure I was being overdramatic. My adventurous side was running a bit low. We made it to the top, seeing hundreds of cairns that people had made on the top. We snapped a quite a few photos, of the cairns themselves, as well as the view from the top. We left the cairns as they were, we did not add any to the landscape and made our way back down. I was ready to be done with this rocky landscape after almost rolling my ankle three or four times - probably a big factor in my adventurous side waning. I'm still not sure if heading down the trail was any easier than going up it.

We were early to check in at Nellie Dees B&B in Doolin. This seemed to be a theme for our trip. I had read that the owner could/would give up your room if you weren't checked in by 6pm. So despite the fact we were traveling in the off season we were paranoid of this, and often found ourselves checking in super early. We were also petrified of driving around in Ireland in the dark. Maybe I'll be a bit more brave next time around.

Our host recommended that we try the Riverside Bistro for dinner. My husband had a burger that he thought was very good. I had a bacon wrapped chicken breast over mashed potatoes that was also very good and a little bit too much wine. Oops. We ran into the young German hitchhikers again at the Riverside Bistro. Apparently they didn't enjoy the Doolin Caves near as much as they thought they would. As we made our way back to Nellie Dees we noticed some abbey ruins really close to the B&B. We had left our camera in the room so we grabbed that and quickly walked to the ruins. The sun was setting and what a SPECTACULAR sunset it was. It was still a clear evening. I was able to capture some amazing photos of the cliffs in the distance and the town of Doolin bathed in shades of gold and orange. When we reached the ruins, the sunset had shifted to shades of pink and purple pierced through with gold. I was able to get some great pictures of the celtic crosses against the back drop of the sunset. The abbey ruins had a peaceful yet lonely feel to it. I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but sometimes I get lucky with some great ones.

We walked back to Nellie Dees and decided to call it an early night since we had a long day of driving ahead of us for the next day. I was disappointed we didn't head back to a pub for some trad sessions. But as I'm already planning my second trip back to Ireland, I am sure I will get to see plenty then.

 

 

Michele, I don't have a website for my photos so I can't share a link for them, but I would love to share a couple of the sunset photos with you all if you don't mind. I know pictures can really bog down your website, so I wanted to ask before I attached them.

 

 

 

 

Smshow- Please continue, you've got me hooked....do the 3 German lads show up again? Where to after Doolin?

Michele Erdvig wrote:

---

I would love to see a couple of photos. You can attach them here on your post if you are in the "Advanced Editor" mode.

Enjoying the continuing saga!

---

Thats a good idea. I would love to see a few pictures from your trip