Sunday, August 17th - Day 5
Sunday morning we had another traditional Irish breakfast at our B & B. I was starting to wonder how anyone could eat that much food on a daily basis. It was so filling!
When Siobhan, the owner's wife, brought out our breakfast we told her we had done the 30-mile loop the day before in 6 hours. She said she also did the long ride, but she did it in 3 hours! My jaw dropped. Wow! She probably hadn't stopped for lunch, snacks, bathrooms breaks, or some site-seeing, but it was still impressive.
Nick and I looked at each other at the end of breakfast and asked if we should start packing up at the same time. He laughed and said, "It's like we're two pods in a pea." Haha! We call that Nickenese. :)
We were out the door by 8:30am to see The Cliffs of Moher and The Burren before arriving in Galway. It was hard to say goodbye to Dingle. We talked about how we could possibly find a way to move there we liked it so much.
We hopped on a car ferry in Tarbert that took us to Killimer. It was about a 20 minute ride. It cut our drive short by at least an hour. I got out to take a few pics, but it didn't last long. It was SO windy and cold. Nick lasted much longer than I did. When he got back into the car he said, "It's pouring wind out there!" Haha! Another Nickenese comment. :)
On our drive up we listened to classical music on the radio. I recognized a piece and started humming along. Nick hadn't ever heard of it, but he liked it. He was surprised that I knew it so well. The radio host started announcing the name of the piece when it was over. I reached for the volume knob to turn it down because the announcer was so much louder than the music. Unfortunately, I turned it down too much and we missed the name of the piece! Nick couldn't believe it! We were laughing so hard!
After a bit of research I found it!! It's from Sophie Cashell's Debut album - "Maurice Ravel- Pavane for Dead Princess." It's a beautiful piece! (I can't remember why I know that piece so well though.)
For lunch, we stopped in the sleepy beach town of Lahinch.
We stepped inside a surf shop to get the low down on kite boarding in the area and to see if we could find a hat for Nick. Both were pretty unsuccessful, but they did recommend eating at O' Conners on the board walk. We got there right as they started serving food.
Nick ordered a caesar salad and I ordered banger's and mash. It was delicious!! Nick's salad consisted of lettuce, mayo, and fish. He ate about two bites. That was the last time Nick ordered a salad in Ireland. :)
This may be a bit TMI, but I told Nick it would be wise to use the 'facilities' before driving to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren because there wouldn't likely be any place to go. He thought it was silly. ...(to be continued)
On our 20 minute drive to The Cliffs of Moher we saw about 5 different golf courses. Once again, it was torture for Nick. First, he couldn't go kite boarding with so much wind, and now he had to drive past beautiful golf courses. The courses sure were beautiful!
We found the Cliffs! (And about a thousand other tourists!)
We walked around the visitors center first. There was a 10 minute video starting right as we arrived. We grabbed a seat. It was one of the corniest videos we've ever seen. That's when we decided not to watch any other "informative" videos at museum's or visitor center's in Ireland. Considering how much money they likely make, I would think they would put a little more effort into a decent video.
Nick went to find the 'facilities,' but there was a huge line! (Yes, you read that right. It was a long line for the men's room!!...just keeps getting better!) There were a ton of people in the visitors center, so instead of staying to read some information we just went for the Cliffs.
The first thing we noticed was how incredibly windy it was!! At one point, the wind blew my purse completely parallel to the ground. (My purse isn't that light!) Now I know what gale-force winds feel like!
Thar she blows! :)
We came across this sign and a fence that was trying to prevent people from going farther, but most people just went right around.
The Cliffs were completely exposed and there was no fence or guard rail blocking you from the edge! Believe it or not there have been winds that knock people off!
Nick walked right up to the edge. It didn't look too scary...
I decided I would lay down and peer over. After I caught a glimpse of the 600 ft drop below, I was frozen in place. I literally could not move. The wind was swirling around me. It felt like there was more wind coming from behind me than in front of me. The wind was TRYING to throw me over the cliff! (Ok, not really.) But it was pretty scary! Nick was just laughing at me while he snapped some photos. Eventually, he came over and helped me.
Nick was pretty fearless! Even he said it was a little intimidating with the amount of wind blowing around us!
This was the best picture we got together. Haha!
The fearless one.
Pictures really don't do this justice. The feeling of the wind and ACTUALLY peering over the edge. There's no feeling like it!
At this point, Nick REALLy had to "go." He saw the field behind the Cliffs and ran until no one could see him. The only things that could see him were the cows. They all started walking toward him! Haha! Nothing like a live(stock) audience!
We had do to a jumping photo while we were there too!
Even though there was a large crowd at the Cliffs it was Nick's favorite thing we'd seen and done on our trip! I was shocked!
I loved the view, but that wind was something else! I was ready for some flat, dry lands...
On the last part of our drive before heading to Galway, we drove through the Burren. It's one of the most arid landscapes in Ireland. It literally means the "rocky place."
We came across the Leamanah Castle first. We actually drove right by it without realizing it. We doubled back to get a quick photo.
The Burren used to be a seabed over 250 million years ago. There were fossils everywhere.
This was the site I wanted to see. It's called Poulnabrone Dolmen. It is a portal tomb.
What I was most surprised by first was the rope around the tomb to prevent anyone from going near it. The second most surprising part was how many people completely ignored the fence and walked right up to it! There was a group of older Polish women that were jumping around on the tomb! I looked around at all of the other tourists to see their reaction. They were just as shocked as I was! I should have taken a picture of them!
I asked Nick to take a photo of me in front of the tomb. He wanted me to take my hat off but I wouldn't because I had hat hair and it was *slightly* windblown from being on the Cliffs. He said he wouldn't take my photo if I didn't. I refused, and he started to walk away. His foot went about 3 feet into a crack in the stones. I started laughing, and captured this moment. I think some people might call that karma. :)
I wanted to get one last photo before leaving the Burren. Nick pulled to the side of the road. I jumped over a fence and up on top of a hill. I was looking around not paying attention when he ran up and tackled me to the ground. I was dying laughing. If we had landed an inch to the right his head would have landed in a cow paddy. If we had landed an inch to the left there was a short, sharp stick he would have landed on! We were crying we were laughing so hard! Haha! I think that was my favorite part of the day! :)
We had about an hour left as we drove up to Cappa Vaugh B & B in Galway. We passed the Dunguaire Castle on our drive. At 5:30pm they do a dinner and show. We'll save that for our next trip to Ireland. :)
Our B & B was actually just outside of Galway in Salthill. It was run by a sweet couple named Pat and Catherine. We were pretty hungry so we headed into the downtown area of Salthill to grab some Thai food for dinner and walk along the Promenade. It looked like all of Salthill was out for a walk that evening. At the end of the walk there was this sign. Apparently, most people from Galway and Salthill would kick this wall when they reached the end of the promenade. The Rotary Club took advantage of the common occurrence, and asked for donations when you kicked it! We had fun trying to get some kicking photos.
Nick's happy face. He got some Thai food, a walk on the beach, and got to kick a wall! Haha!
On our way back to the B &B, I had to get a photo of some of the cute houses on our street. What a sweet town!
It was such a fun day! Our trip was already half way over! Monday we would be heading to Inishmore on the Aran Islands! I couldn't wait!
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