The Ireland Blog!

Carl and I enjoyed visiting Ireland and would happily go again.

Thursday 9th August
We arrived at Bournemouth airport early! Too early to be checked in!! (not like Barcelona then!) After check in and baggage checks (which took no time at all) it was time for lunch and a few drinks!
After drugging up Barb so she could actually get on the plane it was a scramble for seats. Charlotte couldn’t sit with C and me as we in the emergency aisle and was not an adult (although she paid adult fare?!?) The fight was fine, although the landing was loud as they used airbrakes. Barb said it was all terrible, screamed in Charlotte’s ear and tried to break Bern’s hand!
On arrival we collected the baggage and picked up the hire car – a very nice 07 reg Ford Focus – with a huge boot!
It was now rush hour time as we drove from Shannon towards Limerick, our first stop. We were staying in a Travelodge, and although I had addresses for all the B&Bs we’d been staying in, I’d forgotten to get the address for the Travelodge. Not a problem, we thought, It’ll be signposted… After an hour of driving through Limerick and out the other side, we were told it was on Ennis Road…the road we’d come into Limerick on….so we’d managed to drive right past it! The Bern pipes up that he saw a sign for Travelodge earlier, but thought it was an advert when he couldn’t see it! Not that he mentioned any of this at the time.
We eventually found the Travelodge…with it’s neon sign covered by trees, yes we nearly missed at again!
After freshening up, we drove back into Limerick for dinner. We ate at the Texas Steakout, which had a warm friendly atmosphere and the food was pretty good.
After a busy, tiring day, feeling full and having had a nice cup of tea, we crawled into bed.

Friday 10th August
We were up at 8am, watching She-Ra and Transformers on TV while getting showered and dressed. Breakfast was at Eddie Rocket’s American Style Diner, a 60’s style place which was next to the Travelodge. I decided to have the Power Breakfast, knowing we wouldn’t be eating for ages as the wedding was at 1.30. After our fill, we got togged up in our wedding gear and headed off to Ennis. After driving to Ennis, and being unsure of where we were (again!), we spotted a couple of landmarks on JP and Caoimhe’s map and arrived at the church in Ruan more than an hour early! After about 45mins other people started arriving, so we stepped out into the drizzle and into the church. JP arrived at 1.15, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights! Caoimhe arrived half hour later and the service commenced.
After the wedding, it was still raining, so it was straight to Ennistymon for the reception at the Falls Hotel. After another ‘are you sure this is the right way?’ journey and finally finding a town that was on the map, we arrived, assuming we’d be late and that everyone else would already be there, but we were one of the first to arrive! After checking in, finding our rooms, marvelling at the vampire toilet (It doesn’t have a proper reflection!) and having a cuppa, we headed to the bar as it was about 2 hours till the wedding breakfast.
At about 6.30 we headed down for the wedding breakfast and we on the same table as Gillian and David (Gillian is a friend of JPs from school) who were lovely. After the starter and soup it was time for the speeches, on which bets were placed. We said 41.41 for 4 speeches. We were no where near, the time being about 25mins and the priest won!! He couldn’t accept the €100 win, so the money went to charity. Then we had the main meal (delicious!), pudding (yummy!) and tea/coffee after which we all felt quite spherical! By the time we’d finished eating it was almost 10.30! The tables were then pushed back and the evening continued with a live band, which played some ‘hits’ but mostly Irish music. I even managed to get Carl up to dance for 2 songs! We went up to bed at about 12.30, and we heard the reception going on until about 2am, as our room was above it!

Saturday 11th August
After breakfast and a walk around the hotel grounds to view the waterfalls by the hotel, it was off to our first destination…The Cliffs of Moher. This was to be one of the highlights of our trip to Ireland, seeing the cliffs, rising over 700ft out of the Atlantic, stretching for nearly 5 miles along the coast. Sadly, we didn’t get to see much of the cliffs…and we renamed it the Mists of Moher, as that was what we saw! After a quick wander round we decided to move onto our next destination, popping back if the weather improved. So, it was north to Doolin to see Doolin Cave. Doolin Cave is the home off ‘the great stalactite,’ discovered in 1952 and measuring 6.54 metres (20 feet) in length, it is recognised as being the longest stalactite in the Northern hemisphere. After a minibus ride to the site, we were issued with hard hats and descended over 80ft to the first tunnel. The most impressive part of the tour is the Stalactite itself which is immense. You enter the chamber with all lights turned off, so it is near on total darkness, as it would have been when it was discovered. Then the lights come on…there certainly is a WOW factor (lots of awe and wonder!)
After the tour, we had a pub lunch (we were starving by this time!) in Doolin before taking the coastal road back towards The Cliffs of Moher, were we chose not to stop as the mists had come in even more! We continued along the coastal roads, taking in the sights, through Liscannor, Rinneen, and Quilty before going inland towards Cooraclare and Kilrush and onto Killimer to catch the ferry across the River Shannon, from Co Clare and into Co Kerry. The 20minute ferry ride was fine and we arrived in Tarbert and headed to the neighbouring town of Glin in Co Limerick! We stayed in O’Driscoll B&B, which was very nice.
After settling in, and having a little siesta, we headed off to O’Shaughnessy, a local ‘typically Irish’ pub for a drink. The pub was, well, not somewhere I would usually frequent! Its wooden floors and old bar had a certain charm, and as we sat and drank our beverages the only thing I could think of was ‘they really need to wash their net curtains!’ I mean COME ON! There was on old drunken Irish man, propping up the bar, swearing a lot, as is the norm apparently! After one drink, we were ready to leave, stopping off for some takeaway before crawling into bed. Having said that, Carl and I watched a fascinating game show, whose rules seemed rather complicated and you won €1000 for getting picked out of the audience! Sounds good to me!

Sunday 12th August
After a delicious full Irish breakfast we set off towards Tralee to tour The Dingle Peninsula. The route we took around the Peninsula was lovely. Firstly we travelled to Castlemaine, taking a detour to a viewing point to see the views of Castlemaine harbour and the valley and mountains of Killarney. En route to the viewing point we did wonder how many people travelled that way as it was rather narrow. Arriving at the top, we took in the views, especially observing the litter - an empty box for a blow up doll and a vacuum cleaner…chuckling to ourselves, wondering if the same person left them both and what they were doing with them half way up a mountain!!
From Castlemaine we took another detour, this time criss-crossing across the peninsula to view the north coast. We drove through Glennagalt Valley (The Valley of the Mad – so called because the water from a well in the valley was said to cure insanity) and then drove to Inch and stopped off at Inch Strand. Inch Strand is a beautiful 4 mile long sandy beach backed by dunes. After walking along the beach, watching an insane man go into the sea (it was cold!) and running up and down the sand dunes like children, we had lunch at Sammy’s Restaurant.
Feeling full, we headed off towards Anascul and on towards Dingle. We stopped off in Dingle and took a walk along the high street, taking in the brightly coloured shops. It was then off on ‘Slea Head Drive’ to drive the coastal road of the peninsula. Charlotte and I stopped off to see the Fahan Beehive Huts (and use the little boys/girls portaloo – see piccy!) The Beehive Huts were originally farmsteads of the free farmers of the Early Christian Period and would have been inhabited from ancient times until 1200AD. We then continued on to Slea Head, passing a Crucifixion shrine known as ‘The Cross’ and taking in the views over Blasket Sound and its islands, which were very picturesque. It was then on to Dunmore Head (yes…great name isn’t it!!), Ballyferriter to the Gallarus Oratory. The Gallarus Oratory is a 1300 year old stone building built by early Christians as a church. It is amazing really, the way it was built and the fact it is waterproof!! We then headed back towards Dingle seeing the ruins of a Romanesque church at Kilmalkedar along the way.
We then decided it was time to head to our next bed and breakfast in Skibereen….which was quite a drive! It took longer than expected due to very windy roads (and a windy car!!) We decided that there was no way you could actually travel at the 100km speed limit and stay on the road!! After driving through Killarney, through parts of Kerry’s National Parks (the best bit was driving through tunnels that went through the mountains!! Cool!) and through Bantry we were starving, and being a Sunday, a little worried that we would remain that way, thinking all the restaurants would be closed!!
We arrived in Skibereen and were staying in a farmhouse, which was cheap and cheerful. We headed into town and the only non-take-away, chippy-type place still serving was a Chinese restaurant. Being allergic to Chinese food, I was worried about ending up with chicken and chips, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had a lovely black bean sauce with chicken and rice. It was then back to the farmhouse for a well earned sleep…
…until 4.30 am when the fire alarm woke us up! Boy was it LOUD!! Luckily it was a false alarm and we didn’t have to evacuate, but by that time I was awake and struggled to get back to sleep. Bah!

Monday 13th August
After a poor night sleep we were up early, had another full Irish breakfast before heading off along the south coast towards Cork. Our first stop was Ross Carbery to see the Drombeg Stone Circle, dating back to 2nd century BC. It was then back into the car towards Clonakilty, Courtmacsherry and Kinsale, where we stopped for a well deserved beverage. Kinsale is ‘one of Irelands most picturesque coastal towns’ and I did think it was pretty. We walked along the harbour and around a few shops and had a refreshing cuppa in a rather hot café! It was then up to Cork, stopping briefly at a retail park before heading to Blaney and its castle.
We arrived in Blaney and were rather hungry! We walked past a few cafés and restaurants and found them rather pricy, so opted to get a baguette from the supermarket! The baguettes were freshly made and rather yummy. We sat outside munching away when we were bothered by a wasp. Barb had a hissy fit, and so we had to move rather swiftly to the opposite end of the park, away from Mr Wasp. After about 10 minutes Bern realised he’d left his digital camera on the bench and hotfooted it back to our original location, which was next to a group of lads. Barb was certain the camera would be gone, and asked me every 10 seconds or so if I could see anything – which I couldn’t – she could probably see more than me, being long-sighted!! Carl followed Bern and we then saw them disappear into the supermarket. The boys had seen the camera and handed it in. Big phew all round!
After the traumatic lunch, we headed into Blaney castle, deciding to go straight to the stone to get that done so we could then wander around more leisurely. After a short queue we had all kissed the stone (except Barb!) and went for a wander. My favourite bits of the castle were the garden walks. They were very pretty and entertaining too! Lots of nooks and crannies to investigate…along with a bit of tree climbing!!
After thoroughly looking around the castle and its grounds, we headed off to our next B&B destination near Mallow. This didn’t take too long at all as we travelled along one of the best roads we’d come across in Ireland!
On arrival we had tea and scones and a chat with our hostess. We then freshened up before heading off into Doneraile for some food and returning for an early night.

Tuesday 14th August
Our last day in Ireland. Our flight was at 1.30, so to take full advantage of our remaining time we got up early, had yet another full Irish breakfast, and headed back up to Limerick and spent the morning seeing Bunratty castle and Folk Park. The castle itself involves going up and down lots of spiral staircases to get to various rooms. The castle was well maintained and interesting to walk around. I particularly enjoyed the folk park, walking around the tiny thatched cottages, the reconstructed ‘high street’ and seeing the donkeys! All too soon it was time to leave, so it was off to the airport to return the hire car, having lunch at the airport and flying home. On this flight Charlotte sat with me and Carl, which was nice, and Barb was drugged up even more!
Back in England it was raining…we left blazing sun and home to rain! No fair. And had bad traffic on the way home too!! Nothing like it!