Day 73 April 28th 2017
Woke up to a perfectly cooked breakfast with our fun, friendly and very busy hosts, Margaret and Gerry, in Michaeleen Manor. Gerry showed us the picture on the wall with his grandfather as an extra in the movie.
After breakfast we headed towards Doolin with a detour to Ballinrobe to get documents printed for reporting our little bump the day before. Leaving Ballinrobe we set Doolin as our destination via The Burren National Park. We had travelled a little out of our way yet the drive was pleasant drive and we could bypass busy Galway. The ruins of many stone buildings, and remains of ancient structures, in all states of disrepair along the way had me thinking about the legacy of our time. Many of these buildings were centuries old and still standing in part – would our buildings of today be the same? My other thought was whether they could be resurrected. Why were so many standing strong, derelict, and unused.
We intended to stop for lunch at Kinvara, an old fishing village. As we walked through the town looking for the usual – a) toilet and b) place to eat. We stumbled across a small but busy farmers market. Decided stop one was to find a toilet and step two return to pick up something at the market. Toilet – tick – it is incredible how much of travelling life is spent looking for a toilet. We decided on a lunch selection of sushi from the market and on we went.
It was a slower more difficult drive through The Burrens along narrow winding roads with poor visibility and little passing opportunity. These were the ‘L’ roads – does it mean little! Luckily the lanes we drove had very little traffic and much to see. The Burren landscape was like a barren moonscape rising behind pasture, trees and green. Across the moonscape in many places were miles and miles of stone fences.
“In 1651 a Cromwellian Army Officer named Ludlow remarked, “of this barony it is said that it is a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury them. This last is so scarce that the inhabitants steal it from one another and yet their cattle are very fat. The grass grows in tufts of earth of two or three foot square which lies between the limestone rocks and is very sweet and nourishing.” www.burrennationalpark.ie
Travelling through the park we came upon a small pull off where we stopped for lunch with the Burren park on one side and a group of nosey horses on the other. Then on and on more endless L roads through the amazing countryside.
We took another detour via Lisdoonarna. I knew it well from the Christy Moore song of that name and had heard about the folk festival that was once held there for many years. I am not sure what I was expecting. A lovely looking town just not as I had imagined – was I thinking there would be wandering troubadors in the main street! Instead we found an older man pulling out of a parking space in front of us in a tractor.
And on to Doolin for the Cliffs of Moher. We had booked a boat trip with O’Briens along the Cliffs of Moher today and planned a walk along the top of the cliffs in the morning. Reconnaissance was to become our custom wherever possible so we drove till we found the office we were to report to for the tour. I could not find the tickets so went in to see if they could help. The woman serving us was a gem sympathising with my lack of control over my phone, and suggesting we were fine, more than that we could go on the next tour if we wanted to. Yes Please.
Down to the harbour we went and found a little office for O’Briens Cliffs of Moher boat trip – we were welcomed by a young Irish man who had lived in WA and Darwin for a number of years. Stood out in the sun waiting for the boat and having wide ranging chats with this lovely young man. A social day indeed – once we boarded the boat we chatted with a woman from Ireland who had just met her FaceBook friend of many years for the first time and both were doing the tour.
After the boat trip we found our bed for the night at the Rainbow hostel and given it was still early we decided to go on to the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre and walk the cliff tops.
After the boat and cliff walk we had still not seen a Puffin though I pretended to myself a few times. We had seen the tall sheer cliffs from above and below.
That night it was a choice of two pubs both with live music. We chose McGanns Pub a crowded, character filled pub. The particularly memorable part of the meal were the most delicious chips in the world – yes in the world. They were like potato skins with a bit more flesh on. They were crisp, not oily and perfect.
The music was provided by three musicians who appeared to be separate musos playing together and playing extremely well. A young man with banjo, a woman singing and playing a variety of wind instruments and a man on guitar and singing. Wow! The tin whistle was a stand out – such energy.
