We awakened to a new day. We had a most wonderful breakfast, packed our bags, loaded the car and headed out to the church where we were scheduled to meet Shane at 9:00 am. Our concept of him was that of an older, semi retired individual who had local lore oozing out of his bones. At 9:00 a nifty little grey SUV pulled into the parking lot and we got out of the car. A young fellow (maybe 30ish) walked over to us and gave us a good looking over. He examined our gear and especially our boots. He was fully equipped with rain gear and completely ready for rain ... did I say rain. We had sturdy raincoats and water proof boots. Our trousers were simply bluejeans ... why would'nt the gentile rains simply drip off our sturdy raincoats and fall to the ground? Anyway, after some genteel greetings and introductions, Shane explained to us where we would be going and we both mounted our respective travelling steeds. We headed directly west from Ballyvaughan around Black Head, travelling right next to the coastline. Very, very beautiful.
After a beautiful drive of maybe 20 minutes, we parked alongside the road, trying not to leave our vehicle stick too far out in traffic, being that there was no shoulder. We exited the cars and Shane provided us with hiking sticks from the back of his SUV. Shane was amazing. His knowledge of the flaura and fauna was marvelous. His knowledge of geology wasn't too shabby either. We hiked for small distances and we would stop and he would have a small geology lesson. We hiked in an upwards direction, crossing stone walls and more of the flat stoney surface of The Burren. Tucked into the crevices of the stones were all kinds of plant life. He showed us an old prehistoric village with evidences of shelters and a spring that was still flowing.
We kept looking westward over the ocean. The clouds were dark and ominous looking. Then a rainbow appeared and we commented and stopped to take a picture. Shane told us that if we stopped to take pictures of rainbows every time we saw one, we wouldn't get very far.
The rainbow appeared to be moving closer and the entire inside was very, very dark. Soon the wind picked up. Immediately there was an enormous cloudburst. Shane had adjusted his raingear to cover his backpack and he pointed himself 180 degrees away from the wind and rain. He didn't move. We followed suit. We learned a lesson that day. When your back is to the wind and it's raining like the devil, your trousers immediately begin to soak up water and sooner than later, the water starts to make it's descent down into the insides of your boots. It doesn't matter if your boots are waterproof if you fill them from the top. The storm lasted about 5 minutes. We continued our trek, albeit we were really soaked to the bone with wet jeans and water in our boots. Well Shane stated ... "Now you know what it's like to feel a rainbow."We made it to the top. Shane removed his back pack and a bottle of Jamieson's appeared. He told Marlene it was the best pneumonia prevention recipe. We continued on. We saw goats, birds, and other animals that Shane was readily able to identify for us. We spotted some donkeys, a heard, and asked Shane what people used them for ... farming, wagon pulling ... he told us that they we mostly peoples pets.
We had spent three hours with Shane on The Burren. Now the bill. Fifteen a piece. $30.
The fun part of the day over, we hopped back into the car and headed south, a bit damp but eager to see more beautiful things. Marlene was able to perform a complete wardrobe change on our trip south. It was good to get dry clothing and socks and shoes back on. I simply turned the heat up and dried out over a period of time. Marlene did not wear her waterproof boots for two days.
Before our trip we talked to David Mollinari about his visit and he recommended Doolin. This town seems to be the Irish music mecca. Doolin was a quaint little town on the ocean. We made our way down to the area where ferries were launched to the Aran Islands. The sea was very rough so there was not much activity. We parked the car and walked towards the shoreline. If you notice on the second picture above, the ground consisted of those familiar flat stones sort of lodged together. Notice the stones and also notice the Cliffs of Moher in the distance.
Back in the car. Back to Doolin. We stopped for lunch in a very beautiful pub. We sat as close to the fire as possible to aid my drying out. Gus O'Connors Pub was the place we stopped. Good lunch. Warm hearth and very good service.
Back into the car headed for the Cliffs of Moher. These look very much like the Cliffs of Despair in the film, Princess Bride. Maybe it was filmed here. These are a very popular tourist destination. Lots, and I mean lots of parking available. Paved paths to the overlooks. It wasn't too bad today, must be off season. Took lots of pictures and headed out.
We headed for Poulnadaree where we could load our car onto a ferry and cross the River Shannon and avoid a big traffic snarl in the City of Shannon. We crossed and landed in Tarbert. Ask Marlene the story of our landing and the embarrasement we encountered. Our destination was Tralee and a place to stay for the night. We passed through Tralee and continued on the N86 headed south and the Dingle Peninsula. Tomorrow we would make the crossing of Conner Pass. Tonight we would stay in a more modern place where we could also order food in the restaurant downstairs.
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