More Cliffs of Moher Please

The cottage to the right of the yellow door cottage is our home for four nights. In front of the road is a small ocean inlet.

A perfect abandoned haunted house

We took a walk down the dead end road that ended
in a small wharf where two heavily bundled
fishermen were fishing in the wind. Another
couple of fishermen were untangling miles of
line used for their traps.

The parking lot across from the Cliffs of Moher is large and crowded. The Cliffs are the most visited tourist site in all of Ireland. While we bundled up against the wind, flocks of crows gathered, fighting after a crumb Keith threw them. I felt like I saw a million crows in Ireland and England. They were everywhere, swooping in dark circles in the sky, hopping along the ground. Survivors.

My first sight of the cliffs kind of took my breath away, either that or it was the 50 mph wind gusts.

My bearded man still takes my breath away too.

The whole time I was eating up the beautiful scenery, my hair was lashing my face like a million tiny whips. It was still worth it.

There are fences and barriers along quite a stretch of the Cliffs, but they eventually end and you can travel at your own risk along dirt paths that are dizzyingly close to sheer and certain death. With the gusty wind, this is somewhat thrilling.

Even though we were traveling at the end of September, there were still a lot of people there. I can't even imagine what it is like at peak season during the summer months.

We found a large shelf of rock where you can actually sit and dangle your legs over the infinity edge if you want. I didn't dare to dangle.

The young man in back of me first did yoga and then took a wee with his back to us. I think this certifies him as a truly natural man, and a jerk.

Traveling with Keith Brook is rather wonderful. He is an avid researcher and planner, mapping out sites to see that we all love. He has a deep historical knowledge of many countries and eats an average of one ice cream per day while on holiday...a great guy to travel with.

This fence is covered with hair ties. They probably all blew off in the constant gale.

Keith Kennedy showed us this bright little gold beetle. I had never seen one and wanted to wear it like a necklace. It was beautiful. 

As we traveled down the hill from the Cliffs of Moher and into the little town of Doolin, we passed this old tower. It had modern windows installed and it looks like someone lives there. How cool is that?

The Cliffs of Moher are featured in Harry Potter's Half Blood Prince movie. The sea cave isn't a real place but was recreated in a studio, so I'm not sure where this tour would have gone but I would have loved to try it!

We ate a great meal in the Ivy Cottage and the free wifi was a bonus.

Every corner of Ireland is beautiful. Every turn in the road made me happy to be alive.

We had a fireplace in our cottage and bought peat to make a fire. We got it started with some small sticks of wood, but the peat burned warm and long. I was so excited to have a real peat fire of our very own! It has quite a distinctive smell, not unpleasant, more like coal than wood. 

That evening as we sat around the fire, we discussed what sites we were going to see in a few days...our last full day in Ireland while driving back to Dublin. Since peat grows in bogs, we found a place in a little town with the beautiful name of Lullymore called "The Bog of Allen". We spent an hour making jokes about it. "Bog" is a nickname for toilet and so the descriptions of the carnivorous plants and wild atmosphere that could be found at "The Bog of Allen" had us laughing like 5th graders for a couple of hours. As Keith Kennedy so drolly put it, "Even if we go visit the bog of Allen, Allen just might not be available."  This is why its so fun to travel with the Brooks and the Kennedys. 😂😂😂

Bunratty Castle Had Neither Buns Nor Rats

May I just say, thank you Ireland for painting big signs on your streets. 

My life has been saved many a time by following your guidance

 when all my American instincts would have lead me a close encounter of the foreign kind.

King John's Castle has not been restored, but contains video and other displays telling of it's long history. It was originally begun by King John, but he never lived there. It was sieged again and again, including competing tunneling forces that dug like prairie dogs underneath for months.

The best thing about this castle was the view 

from the turrets. Limerick is a beautiful city

Yvonne and I were briefly put in the stocks for singing "Ooo da lolley, ooo da lolley, golly what a day" off key.

Hanging out with Yvonne can get a person into all sorts of trouble

We left Limerick and traveled north to Bunratty Castle. This is part of a huge touristy complex that was quite fun. The castle is full of furniture and props, some old and some not so old that help you envision castle life. 

The narrow stone stairwells were slightly claustrophobic and the smell was reminiscent of this old throne.

Thank goodness we didn't have to eat mutton and drink ale like in olden times. An egg sandwich and a diet coke were much more palatable.

I wanted to steal these old time caravans. I also wanted to climb inside and look around

We call this pretty red vine Virginia Creeper. I always think this is an insult to all the nice women I know named Virginia, not one of whom is a creeper.

There were even pigs for atmosphere!

A shady tree lined street was so beautiful in the fading afternoon light

This looks like a flower but it was a gigantic mushroom

We left Bunratty Castle, deciding against a 57 Euro medieval dinner that was offered at the long trestle tables inside the castle. As we drove away we saw a couple bus loads of tourists emptying out ready to be entertained.

As we drove toward our next destination of Ballyvaughan, in a search for an elusive limestone rock formation called "The Burren", our sat nav lead us on a crazy series of narrow country lanes. We caught glimpses of beautiful country homes amidst the green of fields and trees. Often, we had to pull over or back up when met by an oncoming car. While all the lanes were paved, some actually had grass growing through the pavement in the middle. 

Mark filmed a little bit of our journey

We pulled into Ballyvaughn in the dark, finding our cottage amidst green grass and stone fences. It was a legitimately old cottage with a thatched roof, flagstone floors and only l 1/2 baths. It also came complete with 5 large daddy long leg spiders in the kitchen window. Keith Kennedy voted to let them be, but I dispatched them to heaven with my cold American heart.