It's a long way to......Galway

Thursday was a long day especially for Michael driving. We left Dingle early before even availing ourselves of the breakfast part of our B&B, and it was a lucky thing we did. Which leads us to the quiz portion of this trip’s blog (if you don’t care for mathematical word problems feel free to scroll ahead):

You are traveling from Dingle to the Cliffs of Moher. Your navigation system calculates the time to your destination as 3 hours and 15 minutes. Assuming that this estimate is based on your traveling the speed limit the entire way, if you, however, do not feel comfortable driving at 100km/hr through narrow, winding country roads and instead creep along at the veritable snail’s pace of 70km/hr, how long will the trip really take you?

Add in a quick sandwich stop (declining even waiting for the bread to be toasted), spend an hour at the Cliffs and then wind your way on to Galway with a few castle stops along the way and you’ve got a full 10 hour day.

Here is a recap:

At the Cliffs of Moher (was I confusing them in my mind with the Cliffs of Dover? Because I was a wee bit surprised when they weren’t white J), it was overcast and CRAZY windy but thank god once again that we have not seen rain since Dublin. In fact, when I mentioned how horrible it would have been to view them in the rain, Michael assured me that if it had been raining he would have never gotten out of the car. Pretty rock. Pretty rock.

Driving through the Burren…an area of surprisingly barren, rocky terrain apparently limestone from the days when Ireland was equatorial then stripped of soil by the glaciers and then burnt free of trees by the first human inhabitants. We stopped at the Poulnabrone Dolmen an ancient “druids altar”. I ran ahead to get photos before the incoming tour bus of people which left Michael vulnerable to starting a lengthy (as all conversations with the friendly Irish seem to be) but interesting conversation with one of the Irish versions of a forest ranger. It turns out the conservation regulations against defacing national monuments and public parks are sadly similar to, say, Planning Permits in Anguilla…nice in writing but impossible to enforce. So this fellow is eternally frustrated with being tasked to protect this amazing piece of history when there is no real risk of retribution against anyone who might chose to destroy it. Pretty rocks.

Then off to Galway via Kinvarra and the Dunguaire Castle. More pretty rocks stacked on top of each other.

 

Once in Galway, we were pleasantly surprised. What an adorable little city center. Music and pubs and people everywhere enjoying the break in the weather and the long daylight hours. Strolling and drinking. Why DOES Guinness taste so much better in Ireland than in the U.S.? And how adorable that they serve gin and tonic by pouring the gin over ice in a big, round bowl of a wine glass topped with cucumber and then handing you the bottle of tonic to be added (or not) at your own discretion? Lovely.

Dinner in a tiny little place where a Bulgarian waitress served us Shepherd’s Pie and Bangers and Mash with enough potatoes (multiple mounds of them) to keep a small village alive through the next (heaven forbid) famine.

All in all, a really wonderful day.