Winding Down

It's hard to believe that this great trip is over.

We really enjoyed  our two nights in Doolin.  A gorgeous, spread out, village with the added bonus of great live entertainment.  Up until the last night there I hadn't booked anything for the Thursday night, but always thought it was likely to be Galway.  I was half way through doing a booking when I decided to have a last look in case I could get something close to the city centre instead of having to drive in.  And I did, amazingly about a two minute walk away.

View of the Aran Islands.  Couldn't really see them until the morning we left Doolin

View of the Cliffs of Moher from our bedroom window

A Martello Tower.  These were built around the UK when they feared a French invasion.  The door is 3 metres from the ground, so I wasn't getting in to see.

View of the Burren

Another great B and B, probably the cheapest yet, under $80 Au with full breakfast.  Really nice room with a huge bathroom.  We really can't complain about the value of the accommodation over here.

We had still hoped to do a boat trip to the cliffs,, and headed around to the wharf after checking out.  Yesterday we had been told all going well there would be a twelve and three pm trip.  However when we got there we discovered they weren't running one until 3.00 pm, so too late for us.
 It was a leisurely drive from Doolin to Galway, not a great distance at all.  We detoured a little and saw some more of the northern Burren sights.  It was still early afternoon when we arrived, so we went the extra distance through the city to the Salthill area, stopping on the beach for a lovely coffee.  Traffic was a bit more than we anticipated and we did wonder if the detour was really worth it.

It was just before three when we checked in, giving us heaps of time to walk around the Galway streets. Galway is a very pedestrian friendly town with all of the major streets pedestrian only.  Jim even stopped at a barbers for a haircut.  Very good value too.

The Spanish Arches in Galway

Back to drop off some more purchases, then out for a meal.  Of course, coming outside after eating, it was raining again.  We have learnt not to go out without raincoats and umbreallas because it can be completely different the next time you walk out a door.

Friday, our last full day in Ireland.  We opted for a later start knowing that the next morning was going to be an extra early start.  Another good breakfast and we  headed out of the city.  There is a fairly new motorway linking Galway and Dublin but we opted to go off and look and some towns.  Big mistake.  It took us half an hour in stop start traffic and we didn't really see anything.

As we were booked near the aiport which is north of the city we went via Trim.  I didn't really know much about it, but soon discovered they have a lovely castle ruin so we decided to have a look at our last castle, they did some of the filming for Baveheart there.  There was a guided tour at a reasonable cost but we decided we didn't really have the time to wait until it started.

 Trim Castle

We found our hotel easy enough, unloaded all the bags and shopping and took the car back.  We thought we would have to get their shuttle back to the airport and then get the hotel shuttle from there, but they were nice enough to get an employee to drive us, which saved us a lot of time.

Then it was time to totally repack the bags.  So all the heavy stuff into the smaller bag and lighter into the large bag.  And they seem to weigh under - all that extra shopping I could have done!!

Ever since booking our return tickets I had been concerned about the time gap at Heathrow of only 1 3/4 hours, and even rang twice re this but was assured it was within limits.  When we arrived at Dublin, they also frowned at the time and remarked that Heathrow can be a tricky transfer.  As we were reasonably early, they decided to move us to a flight an hour earlier.  We got the last two seats, in different rows, and with a bit of a rush to the gate we made it.

The flights were pretty uneventful if long, boring and uncomfortable.  In the end we had heaps of time in London for a coffee and a look around the shops then on to the longest flight which was over 12 hours to Kuala Lumpur.  Another flight of just over 7 hours and we were in Melbourne.

So we line up at the bag collection and wait and wait, and ours don't appear.  On checking, we discovered we made it out of Heathrow in time, but the poor bags didn't.  Lucky we had our toothbrushes in carry on.

I guess we can't really complain as in the nine week away, apart from our dose of food poisoning and Jim's teeth issues, very little went wrong.

A few thoughts from the trip -

The UK public toilet system is almost non existent and often when you do find any, you have to pay.    It became a challenge each day to find a facility, so you'd make sure if you were having a coffee, they had a loo.   If you were lucky to find a town with a tourist information office, they often had them or could point you in the right direction.  Any venue you paid to enter normally had facilities so you made sure you used them.  After our travels in Australia and finding something in just about any town you travelled through, we were a bit shocked.

We were quite surprised at the great value in accommodation in the UK.  Maybe  this was partially due to a reasonably good exchange rate.   Many times we got lovely rooms with full breakfast for around $100, sometimes less.  We would often skip lunch, just having a coffee at lunch time as these breakfasts were so big.

Drivers - where do I start.  It seems we have much stricter rules and regulations here and sticking to speed limits and parking restrictions is pretty rare.  Jim was pretty amazed by the things we saw.  Maybe they just don't have money making fines like we do.

Food - we tried a number of local delicacies.  Jim even found himself eating black pudding and white pudding.  However, we were sick of most things only being served with chips and peas.  Food was reasonably expensive.  What we might find was $10 here would be ten pounds or ten euros in UK, so with the exchange rate at 1.7 or  1.5 times, quite a bit more expensive.

In summary it has been a great 9 weeks away with a fair bit of diversity from Cambodia to France, England, Scotland and Ireland and a taste of Wales.  A lot of different cultures and habits even within the UK, but all great friendly people except for perhaps one cranky French bus driver who I think needs another vocation.  We now look forward to sorting out the caravan and working out "where to next".

This is the final blog for this trip. Hope you have enjoyed sharing some of our highlights.

Carolyn & Jim

Ring of Kerry to Cliffs of Moher and Beyond

Overall, we  have been pretty lucky with our weather.  In Scotland when the weather turned cold (tops of 8 degrees) we still avoided the rain affecting anything we did.  So I suppose we can't complain a great deal when our day doing the Ring of Kerry was atrocious.  The day before had been lovely, but overnight the rain came in.  But we set out nevertheless.

So much of the beautiful scenery was clouded in mist.  The rain continued through the morning but did stop for a great deal of the afternoon.  The morning was interesting when Jim misread a sign and to get back on track we ended up on the narrowest of tracks going up the side of a cliff.   This one didn't have any pull over areas, and we were so glad not to meet anyone else wanting to come down.

This isn't a black and white photo, that's how grey it was

The views are there somewhere

As per the B and B suggestion we went to Valencia Island.  There is supposed to be a beautiful cliff view but by the time we drove to that part of the island, we were in fog, so no views for us.  We did take a very rough side track to St. Brendan's well.  This is right out in the absolute middle of nowhere, so desolate with the wind howling around us.  But a small shrine had been made around the well and there were a number of rows of seating.

The well of St. Brendan

We continued back to the mainland and stopped at what was advertised as the best cliff views in the Skellig.  Probably also the most expensive.  The wind was blowing so fiercely it was a struggle to walk up the hill against it.  The viewing point is on a very high point, but we certainly couldn't see over to the islands that the view is famed for.

Skellig Islands are out there somewhere.  I'm glad the wind was blowing towards me

Our next stop was an ancient stone fort in amazing condition considering it is 2500 years old.  It had great views of the water from its high vantage point.  We then continued on to the point where we entered the Ring of Kerry the day before.  We had been warned at breakfast that there were road works and the road from this point on was completely closed.  Lucky we had already seen that section.  But Brigid gave us an alternative way back, and this was totally breathtaking.  We came out at the Head Of Dunloe, looking down into the gap, and couldn't believe the vista in front of us.  We headed down the track and crisscrossed a number of small lakes. In the end we were so glad about the roadworks.  The owner told us that night that in summer they wouldn't suggest this road as it is so busy with walkers, jaunting cars (horse & carts) and tourists.  We stopped at Kate Kearney's Cottage and had a lovely dinner, much better priced than in Killarney itself.

Dunloe Gap

The next morning after another superb breakfast we reluctantly left our lovely accommodation.  No wonder it is rated 1 out of 131 B and B's in Killarney.  Our first stop was a few kilometres back along the road to see the Troc Waterfull.  We hadn't stopped there on our way in the first day, but were now treated to quite a spectacle after all the rain.

Torc Waterfall

At Brigid's suggestion we drove via Tralee and got a ferry over the Shannon.  This avoided Limerick and its traffic and saved 137 kilometres.  The ferry trip was beautiful in its own right, so a bonus.  From here we headed to the coast, making our way through all the lovely little villages.  We stopped at Brigid's Well.  There are so many of these holy wells throughout island, and they come in so many forms.  This one had been done very ornately.  As we turned around to leave, we were treated to quite a spectacle on the bay behind.

On the ferry

Our little black car lined up at the gate

Three little pubs all in a row

Lahinch golf course.  Like nothing we had seen before.

St. Brigid's well

The scene when we turned around.  The light was unbelievably bright.

From here it was a short trip until we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher.  From a distance we could see the huge carpark with so many cars already there.  Then we saw all the buses on the other side.  This must be one of the most popular sites in Ireland, and we are way outside the main tourist period.

As we were walking over it started spitting.  We looked at the sky and one side was clear and the other decidedly bleak.  We decided to look at the centre first in the hope that the rain would have blown away while we were inside.  No such hope, it bucketed down.  After a little while it eased right off, so we decided to head out while we could.  It was spectacular, and within a few minutes of taking some photos, down came the rain again with a vengeance.  By the time we had got back to the centre we were soaked.  We had coats and an umbrella, but the rain just blew in at us and our trousers were soaked, plus our shoes.  Back into the centre again where the rest of the tourists were also trying to take shelter.  After a while of seeing nothing but grey outside the door, we decided to give up and go back to the car.  We walked out the door and the rain stopped and the sun tried to come out.  That is Ireland for you, somewhere more changeable than Melbourne.

The cliffs

And two minutes later

Another view of the cliffs.  See the tour boat to get an idea of perspective.

So we managed to walk along the cliffs at last.  A new track with rock wall has been put in, but we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw a young couple walking on the otherside that is unguarded.  You just have to see this place to understand our consternation, as the cliffs are over 700 feet straight down.  And then while we were watching them, he slipped on the muddy path and fell flat on his face.  He was one very lucky tourist, as he was quite close to the edge and lucky that he didn't go sidewise.  Straight after this he and the girlfriend climbed back on to the safe side.  I think he got a bit of a lesson from that.  Jim told him we might have been able to make a lot of money from photos of him going over.

The path along the cliffs.  This is where the young couple were walking outside the barrier

Late afternoon we got to Doolin and found I had made another great choice with accommodation.  This was another great deal that included a two course meal each if you stayed two nights.  The only reviews that were better than the B and B were for their restaurant.  What a top quality dinner we had, just superb. After dinner, as per the suggestion of Marian the B and B owner, we went to McGann's pub where there was live music.  Doolin is cosidered the centre of Irish music and although they started late, the music was great, played with the traditional instruments (although the bagpipes were electric).  It was rather a late night by our standards.

Live entertainment

Wednesday we had been considering getting a boat to the Aran Islands and then back along the Cliffs of Moher.  Marian suggested that would not be a good idea as we would not enjoy the trip on the Atlantic on a day like this.  She gave as an alternative suggestion that involved a round trip of the Burren area and the historic sites and great scenery.

We called in at the Burren Smokehouse and saw how the salmon is done, then on to a perfumery.  We had to stop and see the most photographed place in the area, the Poulnabrone Dolmen, an ancient burial place from when men first farmed this area, around 6500 years ago.  The Burren is very unique, mostly made up of grey limestone rock, cracked and creviced, making remarkable scenery.

The Burren scenery

We followed the coast around back to Doolin, and after seeing the Atlantic we realised why Marian suggested against a boat trip.  We did find out later that all the boats were cancelled.

Another holy well, near the town of Ballyvaughan, on the coast

This was inside the well!

Looking over the bay to Galway, our next destination

We finished off our time in Doolin with another wonderful night listening to the traditional music.  What a great time.

Some of the talented musicians.

Our time in Ireland is fast nearing its end.

The Wild West

The Dublin tour bus had a joke about the weather.  It only rained twice last week - once for three days and the other for four.

Well, it is living up to that reputation.  When we woke this morning it was teaming rain, so heavy that we wondered was it worth going out.  Plus our rain coats and umbrella were in the car which is parked about 50 metres away.  Eventually it eased right off and we mad a dash out the door, and headed to Blarney Castle.

There were lots of other mad people like us with jackets and umbrellas.  But if you don't, chances are you will never get another opportunity to see these places.  Our luck held and we only encountered drizzle most of the time we were there.  We were both quite surprized at how much we enjoyed the castle, expecting it to be very gimmicky.  But it is a wonderful old building with beautiful expansive gardens.  The Blarney Stone is at the very top of the building, a climb up narrow steep stairs.  We saw quite a few people kiss the stone, but neither of us really had any urge.  It certainly doesn't look a comfortable thing to do.  You have to lean backwards and down while a worker hangs on to you and another takes a photo.  They now have some iron bars across, but this used to be completely open and a loooong drop to the bottom.

Blarney Castle

The top with people lining up to kiss the stone

View from the top

Another view from the top of the gardens

The Blarney Stone from below.  They lean back through that gap.

After leaving the castle we called into the Blarney Knitting Mills.  Not so much a mill as a shop selling a huge variety of Irish goods.  We controlled ourselves and did not purchase.  

We came back to our apartment for lunch, and then made the short walk into the city centre.  We walked through the English Market with its huge varieties of meats, cheeses and other fresh foods and delicacies.  We were sorry we went to Tesco yesterday, as we didn't know about this and it was a much more interesting array than what we ended up with.  We wound our way around the main streets of the town, occasionally going in and looking at shops, and eventually making our way back to the apartment.

We had to ask what this is.  A Monk fish with enormous head and small body from the North Sea

Saturday morning we headed south to the coast and then west. Our destination was Killarney but we were taking the round about route, the West Cork Scenic.  This took us through a number of lovely little fishing villages.

Sometimes the unplanned things turn out the best.  We saw a sign to a stone circle and drove the short distance in.  This was the Drombeg Circle, which I soon discovered is Ireland's most famous and most visited circle (although we were the only ones there).  Also at the site was a communal cooking pit, that had a trough where hot stones were dropped into the water to heat it.  There were also the remains of huts.  So interesting and so old.

Our next stop was at Skibbereen, eventually finding our way through the maze of one way streets in this busy little town.  Like many busy places most of the narrow roads have been made one way, so navigating can take some time.  While there we went to their Heritage Centre.  Skibbereen was one of the worst hit areas during the Great Famine, and this centre has been dedicated to that.  It was well set up.  On our way out of town we stopped at the cemetary with its mass grave.  Around ten thousand are believed to be buried here.  Many families were too poor to afford a burial, and would take the deceased to the cemetary in the middle of the night, under cover of darkness.

We took an interesting photo around this time of the road to the back of the cemetary with its 80 kph sign.  This road (track) after about 100 metres became even narrower, hemmed in by high hedges and trees.  We hoped no body was going to come over at 80.  Many drivers here are "eejits" and if the sign says 100 they think that's what they should do, despite the road conditions.  And parking, that's a real laugh as they park anywhere and they especially like the wrong side of the road.  The lady here was laughing about it telling us that they all just say "but I'm only going to be ten minutes".  On our walk into Cork on Friday afternoon, we came around a corner on a major road, and there were four cars with warning lights flashing just past the corner.  We wondered what was going on, then discovered the row of cars the whole block (which was no parking), and another row double parked (and empty of drivers).  It was school pick up time.  The ones at the rear put the warning lights on because they were near the bend.  There were even a few triple parked, and this was a main thoroughfare.

80 kph road, and below, a little further along it.  This wasn't the only one we saw.

During our time in Ireland we had found it quite pretty and very green, but really no wow factor and wondered at all we had read.  But then we reached the west coast and found it.  The afternoon drive into Killarney was superb, taking in a little of the Ring of Kerry, something to really look forward to.

Our accommodation here is just wonderful.  I got a fantastic deal if you booked three nights in October.  Our room is huge, there are beautiful sitting rooms throughout the building and breakfast was one of the best yet (and that is saying something).  The building is purpose built with ten bedrooms, but we are way past the peak season so not a lot here.  The people running it are just wonderful and sit down with you to take the time to work out the best itinerary for you during your time here.

It is situated in the National Park, about 4 kilometres out of the town centre.  At breakfast we have been treated to deer outside the dining window, with two of them even locking horns for a while.

After breakfast we went and explored Muckross Abbey which is nearby. No charge to see this, and the cloisters are in excellent condition although the rest is a ruin.  There is a huge yew tree growing in the centre of the cloisters with a lot of myth attached to it.  From here we looked around Muckross House and gardens, although we didn't do the inside tour as we felt we didn't have the time to do it justice.  But it is obviously a very popular place, right on the lake as it is, and there was a huge amount of parking and facilities there.

Side view of Muckross House

On then to our main destination for the day, the Dingle Peninsula.  We were amazed that we finally had a sunny day.  It was a 70 kilometre drive to Dingle, and we stopped here for lunch.  From Dingle you travel the Slea Head Drive, a spectacular circular drive that brings you back into Dingle.  There are a number historic sites along this route, plus wonderful lookout areas, so it was slow going with lots of stops.

One of many beehive buildings, they think dating back to around 1200 AD

We were amazed at the traffic jams when we got back to Killarney as it was a Sunday afternoon.  Early evening we drove into the city centre and were amazed at the numbers around.  Then we found a possible reason.  It appears Sunday had been the football grandfinal, and they were celebrating as only the Irish can.  We couldn't believe it when this enormous truck overflowing with supporters in its huge bucket, with a band of followers behind, drove through the narrow main street.  Somehow they managed to get three cars to move (that were of course in no standing areas anyway) so it could navigate the tight corner.  I don't know how they found the drivers or what would have happened if they hadn't.

But it now looks as if the sunshine has been and gone and the rain is back.  What a shame as the Ring of Kerry is our next destination.