We had a lazy kind of day. Didn’t have to much driving, and there really wasn’t a whole lot to see. We did however, see a castle where the movie Brave Heart was filmed.
The inside was by “Tour only” -and all the tours were booked. But the man was nice enough and gave us the student discount to tour the outside -it only cost one euro, so we couldn’t really argue!
The view from the house we stayed in. Amazing. As usual.
Dinner! Yum!
I have been a terrible person! I have gone an entire MONTH without blogging –and not JUST that, but an entire month while on vacation without blogging. I don’t even know what to say! But it isn’t for lack of material –you see, about two weeks ago my friend from Alaska flew into England. She is here for a month and while she has been here, we have done everything possible to fill every moment with excitement. That means that by the end of the day there is very little brain power to pull together a blog post (more on that later).
Then last week her and I took off on one of the most amazing adventures of all time: A road trip through IRELAND! I know, and I haven’t even blogged once.
So to make up for that –here is a brief rundown.
But first….our CUTE car!
Day 1:
Dublin. We flew to Dublin, rented a car and made it to our first house. Then we hopped on a train and went to visit the Dublin Castle –at night! Creepy and awesome all rolled into one.
Dublin Castle by Night
Day 2:
Cork. We drove from Dublin to Cork. In one day. Something that the locals tell us is a very long journey. Something that we can agree with! It was supposed to take us four and ½ hours –and ended up taking nine. Nine hours of driving. On the wrong side of the road. On the wrong side of the car. It was a long day! A beautiful day, but long. We slept hard that night!
Day 3:
Galway. A less stressful and less intense day for sure! We saw some AMAZING things: Cliffs of Moher had to be on the top! We also stopped at a castle (Bunratty Castle). It was a beautiful drive. Ireland is SO pretty and the people are so nice.
Bunratty Castle
Driving:
Found my house…now just need to find a roof!
See? I fit perfectly!
Random drinking fountain!
Cliffs of Moher:
Day 4:
Drumsna. Sheep. Sheep. Sheep. Have to stop laughing about the sheep! There were sheep in the middle of the road –which cracked me up. Sheep on the side of the road, middle of the road –sheep, sheep, sheep! We also saw another castle and the Kylemore Abbey –impressive from the outside, but not so much on the inside!
I was ‘talking’ to these guys -calling them with my donkey call “Heehawww” and they both came running so we called them “He and Haw”
Me with “He” and “Haw”
Aughnanure Castle
…and that is where we are today! Just outside of Drumsna, awaiting tomorrow’s big adventure!
Cork – Galway
After a long day of driving, we were very happy to have a rather quieter day. We stopped in at a castle along the way -because why not? When in Ireland -you stop at as many castles as possible, right? Anyways -this one was called the “Bunratty Castle” -not pronounced the way you would think!
There were signs all over the place saying things like “Earl’s kitchen” and “Earl’s bedroom” -so we started referring to the ‘owner’ of the castle as “Earl” -at one point when going down some very steep, and windy stairs, Morgan commented that “Earl must have died going down them.” It was pretty much the funniest thing of the day.
We also went to the Cliffs of Moher. We walked along as far as we could, daring to go to the very end. We were about 1/2 way there when we both suddenly got so tired. We resolved to thinking that we would have to pay to get to the very end -and that the views weren’t that great. At least that is how we comforted ourselves when we turned back.
The views were amazing -but the walk was long, cold and it was really windy!
As we continued we also saw “Black head” which was a random ‘beach’ filled with crazy looking rocks. We also stumbled upon a tiny little castle looking building in the middle of nowhere, so of course, we stopped. It turned out to be a spring of sorts and had a sign up that it was drinking water. So of course, we drank some. We are both still alive and well.
Then of course, we found what was referred to often as “my house” -a tiny shack in the middle of nowhere with no roof but an amazing view. I figured I could live without the roof -especially since I had an awesome view to make up for it!
It was an awesome day filled with amazing views.
Bunratty Castle
Earl’s Kitchen
Earl’s view
Earl’s bed? Haha!
When we came out of the castle -to our surprise there were TWO of our cars! One for each! The rest of the time it was a running joke that we only parked next to red cars.
Cliffs of Moher
I was a wee bit excited about this sign!
Morgan had a better, more fitting reaction!
Off to the cliffs!
Black Head
It was cold!
The “castle” that turned out to be a water spring.
Drinking up…
My house…
Galway – Drumsna
Another quieter day -of course, anything compared to that first day of driving nine hours would be considered calm! We saw your “Classic Ireland” today in the form of sheep, on the road. On the road. In the middle of the road. All over the place. It was cracking us up.
At one point -we stopped in the middle of the road to take pictures of all this. Since the sheep were more on Morgan’s side of the car, I handed her my camera and asked for a picture…This is what she returned…
It has been the source of endless jokes and comments all week -cracking us up at the most random of times. Everything about the picture.
There, a much better shot…
We also stopped and saw another castle and the Kylemore Abbey -which was less than impressive from the inside, but on the outside looked quite amazing.
I was so excited to see Tim Hortons -having been told that they have the “best coffee” known to Canada -I was seriously disappointed when my ‘coffee’ ended up being coffee flavored warm milk. Bleck!
Castle that I can’t remember the name of. We will call it “Irish Castle.”
We also say these guys on the side of the road, so stopped to get their picture. I was making ‘donkey noises’ and ‘calling’ them by saying “Heehaw” -and they both came running. We named them “Hee” and “Haw” -respectively.
Me with “Hee” and “Haw”
More sheep, because -ha! Sheep!
See? Sheep in the road! Classic!
Oh, this view…
The Kylemore Abbey
Some very creepy woods…
Dublin – Cork (Newmarket)
Day two was an adventure and a half!
Since I hadn’t driven for a while on the wrong side of the road, I really wanted to avoid the big roads, highways, motorways and other fast moving roads. From my research I figured it was possible, but our GPS kept wanting to take us to the motorway -or straight through downtown Dublin -something else I wanted to avoid! After driving in circles -ignoring the GPS -it directed us to a parking lot. It instructed us to “Keep driving straight” which went through a school parking lot, through the woods and apparently, would get us where we wanted to go.
Frustrated, we went into a grocery store, armed with our map -to ask for help. After explaining our situation to the lady she looked at us like we were nuts and asked “Are you MAD!?” Apparently, avoiding the motorway was a silly idea. A few people gave us some general tips -we paid a toll, and decided to take the motorway, just out of Dublin to avoid going through downtown.
We successfully managed to navigate our way out of the city -and got onto some roads we would later learn were called “Secondary roads” -roads that should be avoided if at all possible. It was a beautiful drive, down the country lanes -and since it was our first day, we were taken back by the outstanding beauty, the rock hedges, sheep, cows and everything else. Everything else, that is, except the smells!
We passed happy old men in their tractors, cows grazing contently on the side of the hill, and stone hedges that were just adorable! We also stopped a few times to take pictures -one someones property, opps!
…and nine hours later, we pulled into our accommodations for the night. The journey was estimated to take four hours -but since we were avoiding the main roads, it took us nine hours. Nine long, but beautiful hours. Our sleep that night, was amazing!!
The Ah-May-Zing view!
The adorable secondary roads
Some cows, and a random pig!
Our adorable car!
Me….
…and Morgan (on the stone hedge)!
Tangled Thoughts 