Why did the sheep cross the road? ...

...to eat more grass!
TODAY...
Lots of driving today, lots of sun pockets that came out of the clouds, but with winds gusting to 60 mph, we didn't stay outside of the car very much. We finished our tour of the Connemara peninsula, and there were two things here very different than what we've seen so far. The first would be the many sheep that tended to be alongside the road unfenced and free to cross from side to side in search of the perfect grass to munch on...on quite a few occasions we had to hit the brakes or cheat to the other side of the road in order to avoid hitting them! The other was the beautiful mountains. The Maumtauk Mountains stretch from the ocean inland, and we were able to drive completely around them between yesterdays and todays journey.

We drove north to the Westport area, pausing at the National Famine Memorial, and Croagh Patrick, a very daunting mountain that seems to stand out from the others around it, a pointed top with a wide stone path, visible from its eastern side. This is where St. Patrick was said to have driven the snakes from Ireland, and once a year Catholics come from all over to pilgrimage to the top, many attempting the journey in their bare feet. We would have liked to have hiked to the chapel at the top, but the high winds and time it takes to do so prevented us (they say it takes 2-3 hours just to reach the top, and then 2 hours back down!) The roads we drove today also allowed to us to almost completely uncircle it, viewing it from all directions.

We stopped for lunch at a coastal town of Clifden, not much else exciting here, but along our coastal drive we stopped at the town of Roundstone visiting a local pottery shop and also a local jeweler. Both design and make their wares onsite, and we each picked something out to take home with us. The land here is even different from what we saw earlier - unfortunately the narrow winding roads with no where to stop didn't allow for us to take any good pictures - but the best way to describe it is that it's just like the Burren, except instead of being flat there are lots of hills dotted with green and rounded rocks (perhaps how that nearby town got its name). A few more sheep crossing the road and then it was on our way east of Galway to spend the night.

The Rainbow Connection

TODAY!
We woke up to a sunny day! It wasn't long after we hit the road that it started raining, and off in the distance we saw a spectacular double rainbow! By the time we were able to pull over and take a picture, it had faded a bit - but when it first appeared it was so brilliant in color! We decided we had never seen anything like it!

We drove about 20 min to the Cliffs of Moher - a place that I visited on my first trip to Ireland. It was extremely windy, even Andrew could barely walk against the wind. These cliffs are much more stark than those at Giants Causeway, but also a high tourist attraction - even today there were several tour buses. The ocean was extremely angry below, reacting to the high winds and storms in the sea the day prior. I decided not to sit out on the cliff's edge like I had on my first trip here. We also saw another rainbow off in the ocean.

We continued our drive along the coast, stopping several times when we saw something of particular beauty. We saw a completely different part of the Burren today, an area much more dense and walked out to where the limestone meets the bay. Looking down the coast you could see large waves crashing high into the rocks.

Around lunch time we walked around Galway city. We stopped at a great Irish pub for lunch, sat by a peat fire and had Guiness and Irish Coffee with our toasted specials (I finally got one Mom!) while the rain poured outside. We did a little shopping - I found a great green irish sweater :) and then headed north into another peninsula known as Connemara where we will spend the next day and a half. On the way to our overnight stop, we stopped at the Cong Abbey ruins - built in 1100. The picture is me in the Monk's Fishing Hut that juts out into the water. The monks would sit inside next to the fire while they waited for salmon to swim into their nets they had in the stream below. Even after all the rain today, the water was still clear straight through to the bottom.

We are spending the night at The Rosleague Manor Hotel in Letterfrack and we're going to have a special dinner here. Definitely not something we could do every night on our journey, but Andrew picked it out as a treat for us. It's a beautiful old manor house that appears to have a spectacular view - I can't wait to see it in the morning!

The Burren

TODAY!!!
We drove up into the Burren, a protected land area of Ireland, a unique limestone landscape that whose origins were beneath ancient seas. We are now heading toward the western coast of Ireland. Our first stop was the little town of Carran, where we visited the Burren Perfumery. The only one in Ireland - they don't welcome any tours or buses, so we knew it was going to be quiet! It was a really great place - they use the wildflowers from the Burren area to create their scents - Andrew and I each picked one out for each other. Finding our way there was quite the adventure, we made a wrong turn and went through some of the most narrow roads I've seen so far! With periods of rain off and on, we weren't able to see much of the Burren rocks that cover the lands, but once we left the perfumery we had enough sunshine to truly appreciate the area. We even got a glimse of a rainbow across the fields.

We drove further north making a couple of picture stops - too cold and rainy today to take any walks. We saw the church of Carron - ruins and a walled cemetery that were first built in 1200! This was truly a neat place - one that isn't visited too often, we had to walk through thick mud to get there, since there was no path. We also saw the Poulnabrone - a Portal Tomb that is believed to be from 4,000-5,000 years old.

We finished our day with one of the best pubs for local seafood - Monk's Pub in the tiny town of Ballyvaughan. We were one of 3 tables in the pub, and Andrew noticed the man at the table next to us had a Pittsburgh Brewing Company sweatshirt on! We got to talking, and not only are they vacationing from the states, they live in Mars, PA! These were the first Americans we've seen so far, and to think how close they live to us back home! They wanted to know if we knew where to catch the Steelers game!

On Friday November 7th...
Andrew participated in a morning practice and meditation at the Buddhist Center named Jampa Ling. We had a nice breakfast with the people there (we were the only visitors right now - but there are a group of folks who live there - and a group from the area who come to practice) It was really a peaceful place and a nice rest for us.

Then we started heading south, stopping at a used books store in Carrick-on-Shannon we hit up the internet cafe and just walked around a bit, having lunch at a sandwich stop (very good and packed with the locals) before we drove to Arigna to tour the mine. This was the oldest operating mine in Ireland, closing down in 1990. This was the first time this entitre trip that we really got turned around in circles. Since it was a smaller town it wasn't signposted very well, and we felt like signs for the Mining Experience we always pointing the direction of a circle! We found it though, and it was a great afternoon excursion since it was raining pretty good this afternoon. Once again, we were 2 of 4 on the tour, and it was really a facinating experience.

We then drove about 250 km down to where we will be staying for the next 2 nights - Ennis - where the Trad Festival (traditional Irish music) is being held this weekend. We were able to catch up with a couple we met at the hostel at our first day (Monday) which was really fun! Andrew had a lot of Guiness, I had lots of Bulmers (Irish hard cider) and we had great conversation and listended to good music.

After a late start, (hmmm...I wonder why) we are headed for some sights in the Burren...

The pictures are from the mine tour which shows the originial mine entrance and main shaft.

Antrim Coast and Glengariff Forest

On Thursday November 6....
We continued our journey along the northern coast of Ireland. We did a short hike to the Carrik-a-rede Rope Bridge. Thankfully, it was closed for the season, so we didn't have to pay the 8 Euro just to walk along the path and see it! Again, there was only 2 other people along this 2 mi. walk we took. The ocean here was extremely blue and although we were high along another Ireland cliff, you could hear the waves breaking below.

We continued in the car driving along the coastal route - definitely not for the faint of heart! We only encountered 2 other cars along the way, and cannot imagine what the drive would have been like during "high" season along these narrow, curvy roads. No tour buses allowed here, and the pictures we took just don't capture the beauty here.

In the late afternoon we drove into Glengariff National Forest and were able to take a short walk (It gets dark at 5PM here). There was only one other car in these 3 huge lots, and we didn't even see them! We took the "Waterfall Path" and although we didn't have enough time to walk the entire way, we did see a few nice waterfalls along the river.

In the evening, we traveled 270 km to our overnight destination at Jampa Ling Buddhist Center. We are now back in the Republic of Ireland. Amazingly, we were able to find this place in the middle of a forested area - let's just say the Irish don't mark roads in the country very well!

A "Giant" Walk

On Wednesday November 5...
We spent most our day walking the Giant's Causeway, an area of hexagonal cliffs created by ancient volcanoes. So large and unique, it was believed that Finn MacCool (not "Joe" although Andrew thinks they could be distant relatives) the Giant used these columns to build a bridge to Scotland. The weather has been cool but no rain as of yet - just enough to keep us sniffling a little bit :) We really enjoyed our hike along the cliff-side looking down into the ocean, especially because we barely passed anyone along the way! We figured that in the summer months when the weather is a bit warmer there must be a lot more people who visit here.

Later in the afternoon we toured the Bushmills Distillery. The oldest licensed distillery! Andrew didn't like the whiskey he picked out to sample at the end of tour, and he made me drink both.

We also enjoyed a quiet evening at a local seafood restaurant where we had the place all to ourselves. In fact, the waitress had to turn on the music after we sat down. Casey had stuffed peppers and I had the Surf and Turf. Yum Yum!

In the picture here, "Where's Casey?" The ocean is behind and around this narrow point along the cliff.

"London" Derry

On Tuesday - November 4
Drove up from our (very cold) hostel room room to Londonderry today. This is Ireland's only walled city and has a lot of history from conflict in the early 1600's to the most recent conflicts of the 80's. We enjoyed our walking tour of the city. With it being "out of season" we were the only 2 on the tour! That was kind of neat. Our favorite part of the day was walking through the Bogside to view the Political Murals that pay tribute to the many years of struggle. Today the city is peaceful with little conflict to report.

Following our day here we drove to our B&B in Portrush, a summer fishing town that is sleepy this time of the year. It looks like we were the only ones here, and we got a great bay view from our second floor room.