11:00 am Sometimes the best parts of a trip are unplanned. We just notice on the map that we are going right by Ballintubber Abbey. We don’t know what this is, but it is a landmark, so we pull off the road. The very nice “curators?” show us a short video on the history of the abbey. It is known as the “abbey that will not die”. The British and their anti-Catholic policies tried to put it to an end and so did weather. For a few hundred years it even went without a roof. There are pictures of people kneeling as snow falls around them. And we get too lazy to go to an air-conditioned building. There was going to be a wedding there that day, so that was pretty cool. Apparently there is a route that is like 40 miles to walk from this abbey to croagh Patrick. After a long debate we decide against the hike and set out to drive to croagh Patrick.
We have lovely weather for this part of the trip
12:30 Before Crough Patrick and due to the hideous weather, we hit the Museum of Country Living. It was actually pretty neat. Many people in Ireland burn peat which is hacked out of the bogs (think mud from swamp). They do this because back in the day the goofy Irish thought it a good idea to cut down all the trees without reseeding anywhere. Hey, they were cold and not real worried about the future. So now they use peat logs since there are no wood logs to use. Other weird stuff is the old tradition of wearing these straw masks to “crash” weddings. Sometimes they would even steal the bride. I love the movie wedding crashers, so I found this to be pretty funny.
The Gymnastics Team of Clare-Galway2:00 We are running quickly out of Euros. We keep trying to find places that give a good deal, but each place we go to wants to rip us off more than the last. We finally suck it up and just take it on the chin. Every dollar is like half a euro. What can you do? After getting some Euros we buy some tea in a nice café in Westport. It’s a town that is a little charming, but I don’t like it that much. It has a ton of traffic and not all that much worth seeing. But we do walk around and of course look at another church.
We are a little thirsty4:00 pm We then go to Croagh Patrick. We weren’t sure how far we would go and you always run the risk of major weather coming down on you in an instant. We only go up a fourth of the way, but even then you get some pretty views. We then go to a little open air chapel at the bottom. After having a loud conversation with my sister the other sister points out a large sign that says, “NO TALKING.” I guess they prefer if people stay quiet in their beautiful serene chapel that looks out over the mountain.
5:00 pm After the trip up the mountain, I decided we should take a shortcut through a neighborhood. It was great idea until the exit to this neighborhood involved an interesting exit. This exit involved a pretty good view to the left, but a giant rock wall was to the right. No big deal, all the cars in Ireland are small and it’s a little country road so no one is going faster than 30 mph or so. So, we look left and creep out. Out of nowhere a car comes from our left so we can’t stay there and make sure the right lane is clear. So we gun it, but there is a GIANT TOUR BUS barreling down the highway. Kate screams for her life since she is on the side of the car braced for impact. It’s one of those tour buses where the whole front is a giant window. So there is one row next to the driver that has a great view out the front. This seat has one white haired woman who literally has her mouth wide open and arms in the air. I couldn’t hear her, but it definitely looked like she was screaming pretty loudly, “OH SH@%!!. So the bus slams on brakes, we gun it and survive. That ladies face was priceless.
It's a workout. Cold enough for a jacket but then you get HOT!!
This is the area I ignored "The please be quiet sign"7:00 pm We drive out to the Achyll islands. Holy crap! The view from this area is incredible. It’s as nice a view as the Cliffs of Mohr, but you can just drive up near the edge. If you had more guts than me you could even walk to the edge. Or if you had as much guts as the sheep you would just jump off the edge. They are insane. They just hop off the cliffs and as best as we can tell live to tell about it. We didn’t see any balls of wool floating in the ocean, so it does appear they are just really good at bouncing around jagged and steep rocky terrain. We had a thought of joining them, but the wind alone was enough to make you feel like you would be blown off the edge. We opened the door one time down wind and it was no exaggeration really close to blowing off. Shutting it took all of the strong of my father and me. So then we notice that half the sheep have red paint and half have blue paint. They even seem to travel by color. At one point exactly 11 of the blues squared up against 11 of the reds. I believe the blues were in eye formation with trips left. The reds matched up with a 3-4 and were looking to blitz the inexperienced blue lamb QB.
No Dad did not gain that much weight on the trip, it is THAT windy
Here are some stragglers from the Blue Team9:00 pm We are starving. If you are astutely paying attention to the times, we only had light tea and snacks a long while ago. So we stop at a town and the first two pubs we stop at don’t serve food this late. So we go into town a little more and there is a cover band playing out of the back of a U-Haul size truck. I am still amazed at how things work over there. Everybody knows everyone, so kids are just running around while their parents drink themselves silly. The band played a ton of good songs and they played a great version of Kings of Leon “Use Somebody.” That band is huge in Europe right now!! So we ate burgers and fries and enjoyed live music. Another amazing day in Ireland.
Nothing beats a live band out of the side of a tractor trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment