First, I need to catch up from last night in Ennis. We headed towards the restaurant at our hotel and heard live music coming out of the pub so we ducked in and ordered dessert. A local group of musicians was playing traditional Irish music and below is a short video of a jig they played. We stayed about an hour and they played without break. It was great and the crowd loved them.
We drove from Ennis to the Town of Dingle which of course is on the Dingle Peninsula. Rick Steves has an entire chapter in his Ireland travel book on Dingle including a detailed description of a 30 mile drive around the peninsula that he highly recommends.
We originally planned on taking the drive tomorrow but the bartender at the pub where we had dinner tonight suggested we take the drive this evening to take advantage of the sunny skies and not get caught up in the buses and traffic during the day. That sounded like a good idea so we took the drive this evening and it was great. Pictures and videos below.
For my planner friends I took a picture of the Ennis city sign that shows they were a gold winner in the TidyTowns competition. TidyTowns is an annual competition that evaluates 600 submittals across the Country against 6 categories.
The longer I drive in Ireland the slower I get. Lots of blind curves, hills, rough pavement and narrow roads. So I just slow down and "fock" the drivers behind me who want me to drive faster, as Paul at Celtic Rider said. We are using a nice Toyota Corolla Hybrid that handles well and is easy to drive.
Our first stop today was The Burren on the coast in County Clare. It is a geologic formation that stretches for 5 miles right on the ocean. It's pretty wild looking with what looks like slabs and blobs of rock, mainly limestone. We entered The Burren area, a national park, with open and free access, just a few small parking areas along the road.
Next was a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. This attraction is about the opposite of The Burren in the sense that it is the number one tourist site in Ireland. It is a large area that has been developed to accommodate over one million visitors a year; large parking lot, a visitor center that is mainly a gift shop, coffee shop, walkways and walled viewing areas. Apparently for several years the Irish government purposely did not put up barriers near the Cliffs believing it was a form of natural selection of those who fell off the Cliffs. However as more and more people accidentally fell and committed suicide they put up rock barriers. The Cliffs at their highest are 700 feet above the ocean.
We had what was our best meal on the trip so far at Tubridy's Bar & Restaurant in Doobeg, County Clare. I had a lamb stew on mashed potatoes and Sooz had roast beef and mashed potatoes. I had it saved in my Google map before we left the States but I can't remember where I heard about it. When I asked the waitress where I may have heard about the place she mentioned that the Trump sons had been there a couple of months ago because their golf resort is very close. I told her I am sure I did not save it because of the Trump boys.
I started losing steam so we decided to head to our hotel in Ennis. It's a nice small town and I am going to try to catch up on posting pictures to the blog so if you want to see them go back a few days in the blog and check them out.
Last night we stayed at the Claddagh House B&B just outside Ballina. The room was nice especially since Sooz needed a rest with her cold, but the best part was meeting Bill and his wife Dawn who were helping the owner run the place while she was out of town. We really enjoyed their company and getting a feel for what it's like to live in the area. They had recently moved there from another part of Ireland after retiring. Bill like to fly fish and ties his own flies. Dawn has been helping her friend out at the B&B and other things in the community.
We then drove a short distance to the Dun Briste Sea Stack on Atlantic coast. It is a dramatic coastline with a piece of what used to be the main part of Ireland now located just offshore. We hiked to the peninsula to be able to see the stack better while the wind was howling, the rain pelting and the temperature dropping. It was cold. But I'm glad we went because the landscape and scenery were bold and raw and perfectly Ireland. I love that kind of weather and scenery.
Next on the agenda was a visit just down the road to Ceide Fields, "a bogland reserve teeming with flora and fauna marked by stone age dwellings and tombs" . There was also a nice, modern Visitor's Center. The story is that a local farmer was out clearing his fields and found a couple of strange looking rocks that he placed out by the road. It just so happened that an archaeologist drove by, saw the stones and determined them to be foreign leading him to locate a prehistoric dwelling area nearby under several meters of bog. "The site is the most extensive Neolithic site in Ireland and contains the oldest known field systems in the world."
We tried to reserve a room in Galway but everything under $250 a night was booked so we continued on to the Hydro Hotel in Rathbaun, County Clare that dates back to 1875 and got its name due to it being the first hotel in Ireland to offer guests hot and cold running water.
Video of Dun Briste Sea Stack:
Video of a modern sheep rodeo:
Hydro Hotel in Rathbaun, County Clare
I love this sign telling you to slow down due to loose gravel
Tyl Irish rural narrow road
Sheep rodeo!
Visitor Center at Ceide Fields Historic Site
View from top of Visitor's Center
Inside Visitor's Center
Dun Briste
Dun Briste Sea Stack
Dun Briste
Not Photo Shopped
Dun Briste Sea Stack - check out the wavy looking grass due to the winds
Lots of driving today after leaving the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise. After 2 hours of driving we stopped at Molloy's Bakery in Roscommon. I didn't take any pictures so I can't show the huge amount of fresh baked goods they have from pastry to bread. I had a kind of hot dog (sausage roll) and vegetable soup which came with some fresh baked bread. Very tasty. Sooz had a quiche and hot tea. Unfortunately Sooz has come down with a cold and has been fighting it all day.
We continued on to visit the Roscommon Castle just down the street from the bakery. It seems so strange to have an ancient castle ruins in the middle of town surrounded by a walking path and city park. And these ruins were entirely open to the public for no charge; we just walked right in and gave ourselves a self-guided tour. I wish you could see the pictures because it was really cool.
After driving a little further west we wanted to visit the Sligo Gaol (prison) which is in the town of Sligo and was open from 1823-1959. After we arrived at the site we found out it is not open to the public and is being used for storage by County Sligo. It's very strange to see this nearly 200 year old building being used for storage.
About 10 miles away is the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetary. We got there a little late so we missed the guided tour. Sooz picked up a book and we did our own tour. The main structure on site is somewhat similar to the Newgrange structure we saw several days ago except that the Carrowmore structure is 6,000 years old, 500 years older than the Newgrange structure. The Carrowmore structure was also designed to allow sunlight to light up the interior area for only 4 days a year, around the end of October. The ceremonial part that directs the sunlight is actually set on stone shims so that it is properly aligned.
From there we drove to Ballina and are staying at a B&B. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow, it depends on how Sooz is feeling. We know we want to spend a couple of days on the Dingle Peninsula. That area looks pretty interesting.
Carrowmore
Susie taking Carrowmore in stride
Carrowmore Visitor Center
Roscommon Castle understatement
Roscommon Castle fixer upper
Do I need a caption here?
Roscommon Castle
I'm not a construction guy, but these stone walls without cement or mortar are pretty impressive and they are everywhere
I'm still getting used to driving the car instead of the motorcycle. It really is different driving a car than a motorcycle. I find it easier riding the bike than driving the car. The narrow roads feel much more narrow than with the bike.
We drove to Abbeyleix to investigate Susie's family history. We went to Heritage Center and had a great chat with the 2 people working there. Sooz got some good advice and suggestions one of which was to check out the cemetery in Kilkenny, and the local bakery since we were going to be there.
The weather turned pretty nasty on the drive there getting cold, windy and rainy. The cemetery did not pan out but the bakery was a good call. We did a drive by of the Kilkenny Castle and some of the shops, but the weather kept us from doing much walking.
A wee bit of a sad day today; we turned in the motorcycle for a car. It had to be done, Tropical Storm Lorenzo will be here tomorrow night and the weather will turn nasty for a day or two.
In the morning though, we toured the Newgrange historic site at Bru na Boinne. The Newgrange circular structure was built 5,500 years ago and we were able to go inside. It's pretty wild standing in the middle of this structure that was built before horses were domesticated, before the wheel was invented and 1,000 years before Stonehenge was built. The ceiling was round and has never leaked and of course there was no cement or sealant used. It was designed to be aligned with the rising sun during the winter solstice. It's in really good condition because the Irish were/are superstitious about going inside. It was a tight squeeze to get through the 4-foot high opening and at times so narrow I had to turn sideways. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the structure.
We had to take a bus to the site and John our guide had about the driest sense of humor I have ever heard - he was great and I recorded a video of him.
After Newgrange we jumped on the bike and headed to the town of Naas for lunch and then rode to Celtic Riders to drop off the bike and pick up our rental car. Below is a short video of the owner Paul and his daughter Louise who keeps Paul in line and the office running smoothly. His son Ian manages the shop and keeps the 25 bikes they own running and in good condition. It is a well run operation and I highly recommend Celtic Rider if you are looking to rent a motorcycle in Ireland.
After Paul gave us a lesson on how to drive a car in Ireland we headed south to our hotel in Portlaoise. Paul coached Susie on what to say if I start getting too close to the left side of the road, which is something American drivers have a tendency to do.
Not a lot of pictures today, it was mostly ride south and try to stay warm. After a very nice breakfast at the Salthouse Hotel we geared up and started south. We bypassed Belfast and stopped for coffee and warmth at McCartneys in Moira, Ireland.
Once we crossed the invisible border between Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland speeds changed from mph to kph and currency from Pound Sterling to Euro. Brexit may change all of that, or not. Brexit is about all we see on the TV news.
The Salthouse Hotel spoiled us for future hotels, it was very nice. And let's just say that the Dalys Inn in County Meath, where we are staying tonight, is not the Salthouse Hotel.
One thing we have noticed on this trip is that we have been traveling fewer miles per day and travel times are hard to gauge. As you can see on the map below we covered a fairly large segment of the Isle today and really did not go very far compared to U.S. distances. We had highways for over half the trip today and we made excellent time averaging 75-80 mpg on the highway. However, for part of the trip we were on narrow country roads and maybe had an average speed of 35-40 mpg. As we start heading further south in Ireland there won't be any highways, only local roads so travel will be slower and more difficult to gauge travel times.
Tomorrow we return the motorcycle and rent a car. It looks like Hurricane Lorenzo has followed us and will hit Thursday as a tropical storm with high winds and lots of rain. We had always planned on changing from the bike to a car and the storm just makes the decision easier, plus the car rental is about one-third the cost of renting the motorcycle.
