Day 14: Cris' Bad Day

We woke up at the ugly crack of dawn, since our ferry left the Aran Islands at 8am. I am not a morning person, so I was pretty grouchy. I also sleepily noticed that I had what seemed like a painful pimple on my cheek. I have NEVER had a pimple on my cheek before, so I was confused and assumed it was due to weird travelling habits or something.

Our bnb included breakfast, and I was ridiculously tired, so I drank lots of coffee. I assumed that I didn’t sleep well since I didn’t have a fan near the bed (we left it in the car and didn’t bring it on the ferry). After the coffee, realizing with dread that I had to take a ferry again, I begrudgingly took another motion sickness pill. One of these days I will stop combining drowsy medication with caffeine, I promise.

The ferry ride wasn’t bad at all. Apparently, Day 13 was a nasty ferry day, and Day 14 was more like normal. It was very calm, and I totally could have gotten away without using a motion sickness pill, but I had taken it before we left our bnb, so too late for that!

Off we went in the car. It was our one of our longer car drives. It would be over 3 hours of driving to get to our next airbnb. The car ride was difficult for me. I’m the navigator, and I help Paul by giving the gps directions, but I was SO tired, it was very hard to stay awake. We assumed at the time that it was the motion sickness pill and that I would get better later.

We stopped along the way to see Carrowkeel, which is a Stone Age cemetery for ancient clan leaders and their families. It was made of four big tombs made partially underground, with circular rock roofs. Of course, it was on top of a mountain, and of course, surrounded by sheep. It was a 1-2 km hike to the top of the mountain, and it had to be one of the hardest walks/hikes of my life. I was so tired, I felt like I was trying to walk through thick sludge. I was slurring my words and kinda going cross-eyed. It was weird. I also had a slightly sprained ankle from Day 12 and two swollen knees from our bike ride on Day 13. Yeah, things weren’t going well for poor Cris.

Paul got more and more concerned as we walked, since it seemed odd that my motion sickness pill hadn’t worn off yet. We finally made it to the top of the mountain and it was amazing. Such beautiful views! And the mounds were cool, too. We went into a few of them.

We traipsed (I was more stumbling than traipsing) back to the car for the next place, Knocknarea, which was an even bigger Stone Age cemetery stone mound. However, when we got in the parking lot, the thought of hiking another 2 km to see it just filled my fog-thickened head with dread. I have never felt so groggy and miserably tired in my whole life. It was getting a bit scary. 

So, sadly, we left Knocknarea for another future Ireland vacation, and headed for our airbnb. It wasn’t until later that night, after I had passed out for a LONG time, that I put two and two together: I am now thinking that I was stung by that bee on my cheek at the Aran Islands fort. For some reason, I didn’t feel any pain until the next morning. I don’t understand that part. However, I’m thinking that either I have become slightly allergic to bee stings, or, the combination of drowsy medication, caffeine, and bee stings are not the right combo of toxins for a body. And maybe my annoying bleeding disorder messes it all up, too. Anywho, whatever the reason, Day 14 was not a good day for me. At least we saw some amazing history and some astoundingly beautiful views still!

Day 13: Cris loves fairies, not ferries

Today was Aran Islands day! We stayed on the island overnight, too. Looking back, Paul and I agree that so far everything in Ireland has been awesome, but if there was anything we would take off the list, it would be going to the Aran Islands. It was the least interesting part of our entire vacation (so far). (Next off the list would be Ring of Kerry).

It started off with a ferry trip to the main island. I had high hopes that it would be a gentle trip, since it’s only the bay of the ocean and the ferry is quite big. Tragically, it was quite windy. Within minutes of leaving dock, the ferry was swaying something fierce. Since the ocean and I are not friends, I was frantically searching for my motion sickness pills in my purse. The good part is that the pill started working almost immediately, but the bad news is this non-drowsy motion sickness pill always makes me…super drowsy. I don’t even wanna know what a purposely drowsy motion sickness pill would do to me…

So we landed on one of the Aran Islands (Inishmore), thank goodness, but now I was wobbling around like a drunk sailor. I was super chill but also stumbling about in slow motion. I hate taking my motion sickness pills. So first thing we did is stop for coffee. In hindsight, mixing drowsy pills and coffee isn’t the smartest thing to do. After an hour of weirdness, I was finally normal and ready to go.

We hired bikes in the “town”, which is really just one small street of tourist attractions and one grocery store. Paul and I realized our mistake right away: Aran Islands is a tourist destination, and we HATE touristy things. Crowds and tacky souvenir shops galore, as well as guys standing next to tour buses or horse-drawn carriages and boldly begging you to take a ride with them. Yuck.

Also, the island was very obviously poverty stricken. Unlike the rest of Ireland, which is mainly clean and tidy places, this Aran Island was full of not as pleasant of homes, WAY less livestock, not much true Irish culture, and yeah, it was just sad.

For being an island almost completely based on tourism, it’s also not very tourist-friendly. We got bikes from a bike rental place, with no maps or helpful directions. The streets don’t have signs or directions toward the attractions, and there is pretty much no internet. So, we left on our bikes with only a basic knowledge of what to see on the island, from the info when we had reviewed the island online the day before.  

We rode our bikes on a road, and hoped it would bring us somewhere good. It was a beastly road, full of bumps and potholes and loose gravel. We watched a kid wipeout on his bike and get slightly injured, poor thing. It was also a lot of brutal ups and downs, which was not kind on my knees. My bike options had been: a bike too high for me or a bike too low for me. I chose the too low option since I could pedal, but that meant more strain on my knees, which have always been bad.

We finally found a cool fort, made thousands of years ago, so that was cool. Unfortunately, you had to pay with cash, and it was far from town. I imagine lots of tourists get all the way there and then get turned around super angry, since the only ATM on the island is next to the ferry. We had the money, but it was kinda expensive for seeing an average looking fort ruin. NOTE: while at the fort ruin, a bee attacked my cheek, and at the time, it seemed like I did NOT get stung. This is important info for Day 14.  

The whole island is made up of thousands of rock walls. Apparently, the islanders get really bored and just make walls all over the place. It was a weird island.  

We then rode our bikes to the seal colony, where there were no seals. Lame!

Then we went back to town for dinner and to crash at our airbnb, which was really just a bnb, so it was a small bedroom and bathroom and nothing else. We rode for 10 miles on bikes, up and down hills, so we were SUPER tired. We crashed early, since our ferry left at 8am the next day. 

Paul's Note:  My favorite part of the island was this super majestic horse rolling around on its back.

Day 12: Cris of Green (Mount) Gable(s)

We changed our plans for Day 12. The things we were GOING to do (Achill Island and Keem Beach) will both have to be done on a future trip to Ireland. Just another excuse to come back!

Instead, the local folk constantly insisted that we hike up “their hill”, which was Mount Gable. It’s an odd piece of landscape near Clonbur, where we were staying. There is Mount Gable, a nice sized mountain, and it’s just sticking out in a landscape of rolling hills. Clonbur is also between two lakes, and there are more mountains on the other sides of the lakes. All in all, Mount Gable is all alone and towers over the village of Clonbur.

Anywho, since the locals said that the views from the top of Mount Gable were incredible, we decided to do a bit of local hiking. We were kinda sick of driving. The descriptions in internet-land say that the hike to the top of Mount Gable is “an easy walk”. I brought my hiking boots on the short drive to the parking lot, but of course, I totally forgot to put them on. D’oh!

The “easy walk” was a zig zagging deep-rutted tractor road that steeply goes up the mountain. Of course, it’s also a mountain full of grazing sheep. Laugh. Even though it’s Day 12, and we’ve been hiking and walking TONS by now, I was having a very difficult time going up this steep path. I was gasping for my breath and seeing spots over and over. I was super embarrassed because I assumed that I was in bad shape somehow.

Paul kept encouraging me that “it’s just around this corner!” which were Lies! Lies! Lies! Finally, I was about to pass out, so Paul suggested he would go on ahead to see how much farther it was going to be. After a few minutes rest, I very slowly trudged up after him. He made it to the top and was waving at me, and the sight of the actual top gave me a boost of energy. Whew.

When I got to the top, I finally realized what the problem was: this mountain was WAY taller than we thought it was! I have always struggled with high altitudes, and I was seeing spots and gasping for breath because the air was a bit thinner. It was hard to notice on the way up, but at the top, WOW the views just went on and on forever. It was so incredibly beautiful. We stayed up for a long time, and then it looked like it was going to rain. It was weird to see the low rain clouds at the same level as us.

Going down was mainly easier, except that since I wasn’t wearing my hiking boots (oops), I slipped once and slightly sprained my ankle. Oh well.

After that awesome workout, we went back to our place to eat lunch and meet our airbnb host. He was kind enough to let us rent his fishing boat for one of the lakes. Paul was pretty excited about that. We went off on one of Ireland’s adorable looking fishing boats, with directions from our host on where to catch fish.

Of course, as we left shore, it started raining again. It was light sprinkles, and Paul optimistically said ‘it’s almost done raining!’ Lies! Laugh. It got worse and worse and soon it was a steady rain. I was fine for a while, because I had brought a towel and spare clothes to drape over me for shelter. But then they all got sopping wet, and then I got soaked, and then I started shivering and Paul drove me back to the car. He kept fishing, because he’s a more diligent ghillie (local term for fishing guide) than I will ever be.

Unfortunately for Poor Paul, he only caught one fish, and it wasn’t the pike or trout he was trying to catch. Sigh. All that cold and rain for nothing…We went back to warm up with a nice cuppa, tired after another busy adventure-filled day.  

Day 11: Irish Seaweed, Irish Wealth, Irish Music

Today we woke up feeling fresh as a daisy and effervescent as a petunia.  We had an appointment with the seaweed bath proprietor (of course) so we headed down by Killary fjord.  The people at Connemara Seaweed Baths go down to the ocean and collect seaweed each morning, then when someone wants a bath they make a sort of seaweed tea in a bathtub for you to soak in.  The seaweed is supposed to have all sorts of health benefits.  It was very relaxing and a bit slimy.

After soaking and steaming we walked around Killary for a while and then went further into the mountains to visit Kylemore Abbey.  The place was gigantic (33 bedrooms) and also had six acres of walled gardens.  

The gardens were cool because they have a lot of fresh veggies and herbs growing for the nuns that currently inhabit the abbey.  They also used to have huge heated glass buildings that were used to grow exotic fruit like nectarines.  The guy that built the place went a little crazy with the money-spending especially after his wife died so there was a little but super fancy gothic church and a mausoleum in her honor.

Our Airbnb host let us know that there was some Trad music at the pub near our place so we chilled at the gardens with some tea (coffee) and scones until it was time.  Somehow when we entered Burke's Bar we were given a reserved table immediately in front of where the music would be.  Soon after we got our food the musicians began to arrive.  They were just a hodgepodge of locals that probably hadn't played much together but boy were they talented.  I was sad to see two bagpipers blow in, but they ended up working really well with the music instead of overpowering it.  So, the gang was two bagpipers, two accordionists, two flutists, a guitarist, a banjoer, and a lady with a big drum thing.  Together they played simple melodies that built to complex harmonies with short breaks for banjo or pipe solos.  It was amazing, I can't believe how much talent is in this little town.

I can't accurately describe how much passion and skill these people played with so I'll just put a quote from someone who can (Patrick Rothfuss): 

I touched the last string and tuned it too, ever so slightly. I made a simple chord and strummed it. It rang soft and true. I moved a finger and the chord went minor in a way that always sounded to me as if the lute were saying sad. I moved my hands again and the lute made two chords whispering against each other. Then, without realizing what I was doing, I began to play.

The strings felt strange against my fingers, like reunited friends who have forgotten what they have in common. I played soft and slow, sending notes no farther than the circle of our firelight. Fingers and strings made a careful conversation, as if their dance described the lines of an infatuation. Then I felt something inside me break and music began to pour out into the quiet. My fingers danced; intricate and quick they spun something gossamer and tremulous into the circle of light our fire had made. The music moved like a spiderweb stirred by a gentle breath, it changed like a leaf twisting as it falls to the ground, and it felt like three years Waterside in Tarbean,

Day 10: Twout, Mackerel, Haddock, and Cod

Here on Day 10, we are a bit road-weary and need some chill time.  This area of Ireland (the Burren) is a weird limestone area with lots of old burial sites.  The limestone has been eroded for kabillions of years so it's all rutted and difficult to hike on.  We stopped by Poulnabrone Dolmen which is around 5000 years old.  It's basically just an old gravesite, but the location was cool.  The Burren is a lot less green than the rest of Ireland so it's pretty interesting that the old-timers used to bury people in this area.  

Paul was getting antsy for some more fishing. So we spent the morning finding some rivers and lakes for him to try out. The first river didn’t go well, because it was not a good bottom for wading barefoot.  (Paul's note: Stinging nettle is not good when you slip and slide backwards into an acre of it).  Paul got a bit wet and wasn’t catching anything, so off we went to another place. This place was where a river and lake met up. It was drizzling constantly, so I stayed in the car to read. Paul went fishing and caught a few fish. Huzzah! 

Then we were off for Kilmacduagh Abbey. I felt great sadness there. There were seven church/cathedral/abbey ruins on the same smallish area. It’s like it was a cursed place or something. Every religious structure that was put in this area was in ruins. One was a cool tower to hide from Vikings, put up in the 10^th century. The earliest building here was put up in the 7^th century! Wowsers.

It was a cool place, but everything was gated off, so you couldn’t get too close to most of it. And it just seemed like a sad place due to all of the ruins and whatnot. 

Now Paul's taking over this blog.  I ditched Cris after we checked into our B&B and went ocean fishing.  I drove down Galway way to a cool old boat with 7 other folks.  Our captain was a frenchman that has lived in Ireland for 12 years so his accent was ridiculous.  We went out into the bay and dropped plastic feathers down 60 feet and jigged for mackerel, haddock, and cod.  I caught about 20 mackeral, 10 haddock, and 2 cod for a pretty amazing day of fishing.  

Sadly, since I ditched Cris I didn't have anyone to take my picture.  So, here's my bucket of mackerel.  Everyone likes a good blog about buckets of fish....

The best part about this fishing trip was that the skipper gutted and threw a bunch of mackerel on the barbie with salt in their gut, sprayed them with vodka, and served them on a slice of bread.  It was tasty and super fresh.  

The best part about this fishing trip was that when we got back to port there was a lovely seal waiting for us.  When someone dangled fish over the side the seal would kick extra hard to get half his/her body out of the water to beg. And she had a super stylish necklace on. It was super cool, I want a seal instead of Achilles now.  

Day 9: Dingle Dingle

We woke up this morning with bright eyes and bushy tails which had to be tamed to a more manageable state.  I was looking at a lot of driving today, but there were a bunch of cool mountain roads so I was at least looking forward to parts of it.  We drove around Dingle Peninsula and then all the way up the the Cliffs of Moher.

First in Dingle was a few old beehive huts and Gallarus Oratory.  I still don’t really know what an oratory is but it seemed like a little chapel.  It was pretty sweet because it’s just made of stone with no mortar but over the last thousand-plus years it has remained exactly the same and is still waterproof.  All the flat stones it’s built of slope downward so all the water falls outwards, kinda  like a bunch of shingles stacked up to make a domed building.  The beehive huts were similar but round. 

Cool stuff.  They also let us a feed a bunch of sheep which was fun and slimy.

We also stopped at Dunbeag Fort which is right on a cliff and probably won’t be there much longer due to erosion. 

Next up was a cool old church (Kilmalkedar).  It had a sundial and a stone that they used to use to teach the Roman alphabet to students.  It was neat to see the chiseled letters in the rock that you could still make out.  Of course the view from there was amazing so we sat down for cheese, sausage, and bread lunch. 

We were driving through Dingle and saw Dingle Distillery so we stopped for a tour.  The tour guide was super informative and funny so it was a good time.  Their gin is amazing.

We got back in the car and drove 3 hours up to our next lodging right near the Cliffs of Moher. 

There was still plenty of daylight so we decided to hit up the Cliffs a day early.  Most of the big tour groups had left already so it was a great time to go.  The cliffs are pretty majestic, the pictures definitely don’t capture the heights.  Cris got to feeling a bit vertigoish so we took our time and sat on some steps for leftover pizza.  It was lovely. 

Day 8: Mmmmm Hamburger

We woke up today full of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.  Unfortunately a bunch of other tourists seemed to wake up at the same time full of grumpiness, inappropriate fart jokes, and disregard for rules.  We went to the Torc waterfall parking lot but it was overfull of cars so we just moved along.  There are plenty of better waterfalls back home so no big loss. 

Up next was the Bonane Heritage site which had some cool ruins all within a 2km walk.  There was a ring fort, a stone circle, some famine ruins, and a few other things.  Nothing spectacular, but it was cool to see how they lined up the stone circle to match the different times of year and locations of other settlements. 

We then stopped by Muckross House which is a pretty cool old house but it was also packed with visitors and they were charging way too much to do anything there.  We went for a nice walk but moved on without battling the crowds.  Kinda a rough start to a day but it was still beautiful everywhere.

Next we popped over to Ross Castle.  Everything in Killarney is really close together so not nearly as much driving today!    For some reason the castle wasn’t nearly as busy as everywhere else even though it was amazing.  Back in the 1970s a nice American gentleman bought the castle and then offered to gift it to Ireland as long as they promised to restore the ruins to their former glory.  So, the people of Ireland relearned many of the old ways of building to totally piece the castle back together exactly as it was before.  All the woodworking was nailed with wooden pegs through hand-hewn lumber and the rocks were hand chiseled and place.  It was an amazing project and was really cool to walk through and see exactly what the castle would have looked like hundreds of years ago (luckily the toilet facilities were updated so we didn’t have the authentic smell). 

We then went to downtown Killarney and walked around for a while.  We stopped by Murphy’s Ice Cream for some unique ice cream flavors.  They use a lot of local ingredients like sea salt, Jameson whiskey, and various fruits and berries to flavor their ice cream made from local cows.  I had Jameson and butterscotch, Cris had sea salt and malted chocolate.  Both were amazing. 

Saint Mary’s Cathedral was just down the street.  It is a smaller church that is still used so a lot of Catholic folk go there to pray and light candles and whatever else they do.  The organ was pretty sweet. 

Finally, we drove up to our Airbnb in Castlegregory.  We drove through the typical Irish mountains and countryside but then the view suddenly changed.  Gone were the bright green fields and constant sheep, now we were met with views of long sandy beaches, occasional palm trees, and dunes covered in grass.  It was pretty cool.  There were a few guys windsurfing that we watched for a while (they’re a lot better than me).  It was the perfect windsurfing location: big bay so the waves aren't that bad, lot's of wind, and mountain views.  I also had the best burger I’ve ever had at Spillane’s.  Seriously, best burger ever.  

Day 7: Sheepishly Driving the Ring of Kerry

We woke up today with hearts full of song and the wind in our sails.  We had originally planned on seeing Skellig Michael today but that involves a $300 boat trip for only 2 hours on the island so we elected to spend our money and time elsewhere.  We didn’t really have a plan except for the Ring of Kerry which is probably the most touristy area in Ireland.  We ended up just letting Google be our guide and we skipped out on about a third of the busy drive and went diagonally across the peninsula through some crazy mountain roads that I’m quickly falling in love with.  If I had a Porche instead of an Opel I would be grunting along with Jeremy Clarkson on these serpentine mountain roads. 

Google finally found our destination of Ballycarby Castle.  A nice farmer met us there with a docile sheep that he thrust into my arms.  We thought he was being super nice and snapped a few photos but then of course he asked for money.  It was cool to hold a little sheep and the castle was pretty cool.  It was made of three arched-roofed stone buildings with a castle built over top of it and most of it was in pretty good shape still. 

Of course the views around there were stunning so we sat in a clover field and ate our usual bread and cheese lunch that we got from a farmers market. 

Just a km down the road were two ring forts (Leacanabuaile and Cahergall).  Usually I’m pretty indifferent to these oldtimey forts but these ones were pretty amazing.  The first was probably 12 feet tall and still had rooms intact so you could see how their little settlement was set up.  The second fort was even more impressive.  The outer walls were about 16 feet thick.  They had stacked stones up 20+ feet tall and 16 feet thick and then for a doorway they placed 4 massive rocks as lintels, it was a serious work of engineering.  Unfortunately for Cris, the stairway going up wasn’t too scary but for some reason the way down was like a medieval Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

We also stopped at Staigue Fort later on which is a big deal to tourists but isn’t nearly as cool as these other two. 

We continued around the Ring of Kerry with all the tour busses and other tourists and were thinking that it’s really nothing special.  The Beara peninsula from yesterday was way cooler and less busy.  Then we made it to a scenic overlook that blew us away (side note: it’s always super windy here which is getting kinda old).  Mountains were surrounding us, the ocean stretched out below, and the various colored fields scattered around added beautiful colors and textures to create an amazing view. 

Just before we got home we randomly found a small lake that had trout rising on it like crazy.  I got out my rod and tossed a spinner for a while which resulted in a beautiful 14 inch wild rainbow trout.  I called to Cris but just as she got there with the camera I pulled a Robson Green and let that clonker slip through my fingers back to the icy depths. 

Not sure if I’d do ‘The Ring’ again, it’s a lot of driving for maybe 4 very cool things.

Day 6: Circles that Rock and Finally Fishing

Here on day six, Paul was getting antsy for some fishing, so we found an absolutely stunning lake for him to fish at, called Glanmore Lake. The drive there was as stunningly beautiful as everything has been so far in Ireland. Sigh. I spent the whole drive trying to convince Paul that he could live HERE and by THIS lake instead of the ugly Lake Hartwell where we live now.

Fishing here is very weird (feel free to ask Paul about it if you want to hear his passionate opinion), so we found an old boathouse with a cement slab next to it. Who knows whose property it was, but other people had taken photos of this location, so we assumed we could fish here. It was steep and insanely beautiful green mountains all the way around the lake, and the lake was warm enough that Paul went flyfishing while wading the lake. I stayed on the cement slab with a book. With the backdrop of beauty and a good book, I was in pure heaven. So engrossed in my heavenly sphere that I didn’t notice a local (maybe the owner?) park his car RIGHT next to my head! Whoops. I wasn’t sure if I was trespassing, and all he did was say ‘hello’ and go get in his boat. Feeling awkward, I headed for our car that was parked down the road. I found Paul wading the lake and he was grinning ear to ear. He had caught 8 trout and had loads of more bites. Yay!

A bit later, Paul was ready to go. We drove off from that paradise for some more Irish paradise. First up, Ardgroom Stone Circle. I mentioned Stone Circles in an earlier post, but in case you didn’t know, I have wanted to see Stone Circles since I was a little girl. So this was a dream come true.

Of course, the Stone Circle was in the middle of a working farm, so we had to climb a step ladder over the fence, where there were sheep and cows all over. And then, there was the Stone Circle! I was overwhelmed with emotions, and, as Paul later said, “You got a little weird, there, Cris.” I was so overwhelmed with joy at touching and seeing these ancient stones, that I stood in the middle of the circle and cried big fat happy tears. Paul was very nice about it and backed away politely for a while. I am not actually sure how long we were there. I was off in my own happy land.

After the Ardgroom Stone Circle, we went a few miles down the road to ANOTHER Stone Circle(!!). This was called Cashelkeelty Stone Circle. There wasn’t a lot of information about it, just a parking lot and a sign pointing down a path in the woods. So off we went, thinking it was just up the path. An English older couple had pulled into the parking lot at the same time, and followed a bit behind us, none of us knew where it was or anything about it.

So Paul and I led our little impromptu group through the woods.

 It led out into, surprise surprise, a working farm filled with sheep. It was also right up in the mountains. There was an arrow pointing the way down a tractor road, and off we went. We had to cross three stepladders over farm fences and walked passed plenty of sheep. And the path just kept going up the mountain hills. It was pretty tiring and when we finally got to the “stone circle”, it was just two stones left, and nothing else.

The English couple were pretty bummed, since that was A LOT of exercise with little reward. So they left shortly afterward. Paul and I went climbing up some mountain rocks and enjoyed some stunning mountain views. At least the Ardgroom Stone Circle was good. I didn’t mind the exercise, sheep, or mountain hiking, so I was still pretty happy.

Random lesson of the day: From now on, start filling gas tank in car when it’s half full. It’s getting less and less populated in these parts and we had a tougher time than usual finding a gas station! I love how few people are around!

Day 5: Cliffs of Jameson

In theory, day five was supposed to be more relaxing and less driving. But one thing Paul and I have discovered about Ireland is that there is TOO MUCH to see here. It’s really hard not stopping at extra places along the way.

We were originally planning on leaving our airbnb right away in the morning. However, our host, a lovely old lady, charmingly insisted on us coming in ‘for tea’. One thing Paul and I had been looking forward to was doing one of those ‘tea socializing things’ they do over here in Europe. So we went on in for biscuits and tea. It was wonderful getting to know a local like this. Except I was also fiercely jealous of her life. I mentioned that I was super excited to see a stone circle, and she said ‘oh my friend down the road has one of those in her backyard.’ WHAT? That’s so crazy. She eats lots of lamb and walks in the mountains by her house, too. Sigh…

Anywho, after our later than expected start, we were off to Ballycotton to cliff walk. It was a beautiful path along the ocean. We walked, then found benches to sit and talk, then walked some more.

 After that, we were getting thirsty to it was off to the Jamison whiskey distillery.

We did the tour, which was WAY cooler than the Smithwicks tour. We had looked at google reviews before going, and they all said ‘volunteer at the end of the tour!’ So Paul and I had our hands ready and when the tour guide asked for volunteers, we were the first to raise our hands, so we were both chosen, along with six other people in the crowd. Woohoo!

The volunteering was to sample three whiskeys and then tell the crowd which we liked best. It was Jack Daniels (American), Johnny Walker (Scotch), and Jamison (Ireland). Naturally, we were supposed to say Jamison was the best. I thought it was easily the winner. Paul has a fondness for Scotch, though, so secretly he liked both Johnny and Jamison about the same. But he played it cool and said Jamison was the winner. Laugh. After trying the three whiskeys, we got to end the tour by having some more free whiskey. Yum.

After our tasty beverage, we went off to Gougane Barra National Park. It was really really pretty there, however, it started pouring soon after we got there, too. There was this weird holy island thing there, too, where Catholics are supposed to go in a circle and say Hail Mary’s or something at 9 different arches and then do some ritual with well water or something…um, I don’t understand Catholics. But hopefully it was a cool thing for those people to do…?

Anywho, since it was pouring, we decided not to hike at Gougane, which was too bad because it was so pretty. So we went off to find our next airbnb. On the way, we drove past an awesome castle ruin, so we turned around and went to check it out. Even though it was raining pretty hard by then. I LOVE rain, so I didn’t care. The castle was Carriganass Castle, and Paul had too much fun joking about the end part of the castle name. Laugh. It was pretty cool and I am super glad we stopped to see it. 

Then it was off for a late dinner at the first pub we found. Not the best food, so we learned that we need to look up a few restaurants before leaving places with good internet. Then the airbnb where we crashed. SO many busy days, but so much fun!