May 6th

We set off from our Campsite at Adare, just south of Limerick, after breakfast around 9’ish.

We were off to The Cliffs of Moher , a very popular tourist site between Limerick and Galway on the west coast. The site gets over 1.5 million visitors every year. Guy had visited 45 years ago when it was quieter and there was just the cliffs and very little infrastructure. The night before, I quizzed him to see if he really wanted to go again. I’m scared of heights so could have easily passed on it. But he thought we would regret not going so we went as planned.

It was a beautiful drive through the countryside on a very good road that gradually gained altitude up to the cliffs. At the top, there was a massive parking lot packed with cars and campers and tour buses. The place was teeming with people, probably 2,000 there all at once and this was early May.

It’s a large site however and people were spread out across the cliffs on the protected walkways and in the interpretative centre so it didn’t feel overwhelmingly crowded. The views of the cliffs were indeed spectacular, especially in the sunshine.

The Cliffs of Moher stand at their highest 700 ft. The faces of these cliffs are shear down to the water. The day we were there, the ocean was calm so there was no substantial wave action and the accompanying sound of waves hitting the cliffs at their base. Without the chatter of all the tourists there that day, the cliffs would have been quiet apart from the cries of the seabirds.

Walking the cliffs, the hairs stood on the back of my neck when I looked down, but I still looked. Back in the day, Guy said there was no barrier to the main area of the cliffs so one had to be sure footed. It’s very safe for a large part of the area now with four to five foot high great slabs of limestone, edge to edge, as a barrier. Weirdly, I took comfort in all the people around as I negotiated the walkway and my fear of the cliffs.

And the view…….a picture says a thousand words.

After a couple of hours at the cliffs including time in the interpretive centre and a coffee break, we headed along the coastal route (aka The Wild Atlantic Way) to Kinvarra where we would be staying for the night. The road goes through the Burren, a landscape that gives you the feeling you might have landed on Mars. The landscape is carpeted with limestone rock from the hills, peppered with the fluffy white hawthorne trees that you see everywhere in this part of Ireland. The whole scene is framed by ribbons of limestone rocks walls and dotted with old farmhouses where there never seems to be anybody home.

The Burren is world famous for its landscapes and for the wildflowers that grow there both Mediterranean and sub-arctic wildflowers coexist. The Burren is somewhere I would spend more time next time in Ireland. (https://www.nationalparks.ie/burren/)

Just a note. My pictures truly don’t do this landscape justice. It is more beautiful than I could capture flying along in the van.

Once in Kinvarra, we checked into our guesthouse. We were having a break from the van for two mights. After dinner, we had a walk around the harbour. Dunguaire Castle graces the harbour.

May 7th

We got up and took the one hour bus into Galway. Apparently it’s tough to find parking there so we left the van at the guesthouse. Galway city is in County Galway. It has a lively downtown area with pubs and restaurants and shops and cafes and public squares. It’s a university town and as the term was wrapping up and exams were almost finished, the town was pulsating with young people energy. It was great to see them all kicking back along the canal in the sunshine enjoying time with friends with cell phones mostly tucked away. I had a tinge of envy, remembering those days, the feeling of completion when school was done and the anticipation of the fun summer that lay ahead.

We started out our visit to Galway with a visit to the museum to learn about the area’s history. Then we just walked around taking it all including a nice lunch, a long walk in the harbour, and a visit to an art shop where Guy bought more green paint in different shades. We are in Ireland after all , “this green and pleasant land”. It was another enjoyable city day.

May 8th

We made the drive out to Clifden in the region of Connemara, County Galway, in the morning and beelined for a Kylemore Abbey where we spent a few hours wandering the estate and trails and gardens. The setting was absolutely stunning.

Kylemore Abbey is a monastery with an interesting history. Set on 1000 acres, it was built in 1868 as a family home. Over time, the property switched ownership until finally it was bought by the Benedictine Nuns. They fled Ypres Belgium in WW1 and ended up in England until 1920. Since then, the estate has been a monastery and nuns have maintained the house and gardens and provided a girl’s private school up until the early 2000’s when demand was down and they had to close. It is still a monastery but now reaches out more to the general community with spiritual and educational programs and has plans to expand its retreat aspect. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylemore_Abbey)

At the end of the day, we got a coffee and were sitting near the entrance of the parking lot and a priest walked by. I said to Guy, “there’s a priest”. He acknowledge that indeed it was a priest. Then I told him the story, again, about the priest I met walking from the train station into Pamplona for the Camino. He helped me with directions and walked with me towards my hostel. Before he left me, he blessed me in the street.

As we were leaving Kylemore Abbey, we saw the priest again and this time we said hello. He greeted us back and asked if we had heard the news. “What news?”, we asked. And he told us the Pope had been chosen and that’s the reason why the church bells had rang earlier.

When I was getting my coffee earlier, the church bells started ringing loud and long. I had asked the server at the coffee stand why the bells had rung and he said to signal it was 5:15 pm. But in actuality, it had meant that a Pope had been chosen, an American Pope, we found out later. I laughed a little wondering how T- man was going to botch any form of relationship with the new Pope.

May 9th

We spent a few hours at Connemara National Park and got on some of the trails there. Another amazing landscape with stupendous (looking for more adjectives so I’m not repeating myself) views. We hiked up to the base of Diamond Hill and Guy continued up on his own. I made my way back down and then along other lower level trails.

Afterwards, we went to a beach nearby and Guy had a nap while I looked out to the bay. Then we did a little shop and headed back to the campsite.