The drive from Clifden to Doolin takes you out of the
Connemara and into the Burren, a strange, barren landscape of rocks and more
rocks.
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| Lifesavers on a beach in the Burren. Slow day for swimmers! |
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| We saw the Google man! |
Our next destination was Doolin as a base from which to
explore the Cliffs of Moher. We had great plans of hiking the 7km to the cliffs
and taking the bus back or vice versa, but when we got to Doolin the wind was
blowing a gale and even my gung ho travel companions were a bit wary of walking
along the cliff face so we drove to the information centre and used the safety
of the observation barriers to view this amazing piece of nature’s handiwork. I’ve
seen lots of pictures of the Cliffs of Moher but nothing beats seeing them in
person. Like Niagara, the majesty and magnitude of the sheer, 200 metre drop, needs
4D (3D plus the wind!) to be appreciated. Once again, our timing was great
because we didn’t get there till after 6 so all the tour buses had departed and
there were just a few other hardy souls to share the experience with. We spent
about 20 minutes watching the ferocity of the sea and took a lot of fairly disappointing
photos (due to the lack of aforementioned 4D on the camera).
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| Get away from the edge! |
Back in Doolin, we sought sustenance at O’Connor’s pub,
where we had a wee wait but not too long to get a table. Geoff had the roast
lamb, Taine had a burger (for a change- he’s averaging 2 a day) Sophie and I
both had the guiness Irish stew, washed down with a bottle of red, followed by cheesecake
and Irish coffee. It was all excellent. At 9.30 a traditional music session
started so we hung around for an hour to tap our toes. We stayed at the Doolin
Inn, an up market backpackers and they had the best continental breakfast we’ve
come across, including berry smoothies and fruit platters.
If we’d had longer in Doolin we definitely would have taken the
ferry to the Aran islands. From the harbour it looked like it would be a hair
raising ride on a very angry looking sea. We spent a bit of time ogling the
beautiful knitwear in the craft shops. No doubt if there was any room in our
luggage we would have bought some.
Our lunch stop was in Limerick and we used the time to visit
King John’s Castle. A.A Milne’s poem, ‘King John’s Christmas’ was a favourite
of mine as a kid so the idea of seeing his castle was appealing. Turns out King
John never actually visited, let along lived in this castle in Ireland but
nonetheless it was an interesting history lesson and we learnt quite a bit
about sieges and under mining. Now, whenever I feel under mined, I will think
of the poor inhabitants of King John’s Castle.
From Limerick we drove to our overnight stop at Dromineer,
just outside Nenagh. I’m actually not sure what my thought process was when I
booked this. I think I’d planned on Ennis and then went further afield when I couldn’t
find anywhere suitable. Don’t bother googling ‘things to do in Dromineer’, because
there aren’t any! There’s a great big lake called Lough Durgh but it’s a mighty
way around, certainly too far for us weary travellers on a dinghy grey day. We
checked into our B and B, a very intimate little house. With no space to bring
our cases in and walls thin enough to hear a mouse squeak, we high tailed it
into Nenagh to look at some ruins and find dinner. It was too wet to get out to
look at the ruins but the meal at the Thatched Cottage made up for the lack of
entertainment. Full as googs we opted for an early night.
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| Family bonding in Dromineer |
After a fantastic cooked breakfast, we accidentally drove
off without paying the bill. Most of our accommodation has been pre paid so
when we couldn’t find our host when we were leaving, and given that he hadn't mentioned payment at check in, we just assumed he’d use
the credit card details lodged with Booking.com, however an email from them saying we
hadn’t respected the conditions of the agreement (i.e, we’d done a runner)
ensued. Awkward. We’ve spent some time trying to contact the owner to
rectify the mistake this afternoon but so far to no avail. I hope we don’t get black listed by
B and Bs. Geoff will be thrilled ;-)
Today was our last full day in Ireland and with an early
flight tomorrow we elected to drive all the way back to the airport. We took a
bit of a deviation to visit Kilkenny for lunch and I’m glad we did. It’s a beautiful
old city with a lovely castle and the most extensive grounds ( open free to the
public) that I’ve ever seen. We had a bit of a wander and then continued the
drive back through County Carlow, with scenery similar to home.
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| Only in Ireland |
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| Kilkenny Castle |
Tonight we’re staying at a guesthouse near the airport. We
ate at an old coach house, run by a Bulgarian couple, offering an English
carvery with a lot of cabbage. You couldn’t get anything more Irish!
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