The Land Crew's Irish Vacation

My order to the family to catch up on the blog has been a little slow but we have also been travelling for the past 11 days which makes working on the computer a little difficult (for seasick me). We have been backtracking, North Sea, Caledonian Canal, Scotland west coast, Irish Sea and around the bend to Cork Harbour. We arrived yesterday, back at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the Bobs’ original arrival point back in June, amidst their annual regatta. There were two races happening just outside the harbor and we were thrilled to see the colorful spinnakers and zippy little boats with a backdrop of farms, fields and forts. I have also looked back to see where the holes are in our postings. The trip to Ireland with the kids and Grandma while waiting for the Bobs was a great five day excursion.



Grandma and the kids at Bunratty Castle

We arrived at Shannon Airport to the odor of farm which, like Grampa, made us feel at home right away. I had booked a room at a nearby Bed and Breakfast the night before we left and we were able to take a short cab ride there and were greeted like family. After collecting the rental car in downtown Limerick at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon AND driving the stickshift back through rushhour traffic on the left side (yikes!) we had a great evening at the local pub. We visited the local Bunratty castle on Saturday and stumbled upon the circus.

We left Bunratty after breakfast on a Sunday and headed north on the only four lane highway we would see for the entire Ireland trip and quickly made it to the west coast. The weather was cool and rainy. We were aiming for the Cliffs of Moher and the Ailwe Caves in the Burren, a raised limestone area on the west coast. We had seen the weather and knew that day one of the three-day trip to the west coast would not be the day for a ferry ride or cliff tour. Before we arrived at the cave we came across a Stone Age fort CaerConnell, and rattled over the cattle guard gate into the car park. We got out of the car in the misty rain and headed up the path to the visitor center. The kids were very excited to see the small Holstein calves penned in the stone paddocks along the path. Funny how the simple things amuse.  We had a great tour of the cave, visited an ancient standing stone burial site and remarked on the similarities of the limestone terrain to the Bahamas.



Waiting for the Ferry to see the Cliffs of Moher and to visit the Aran Islands, (Innisheer) we spotted a dolphin. We whistled and amazingly enough it came over to say hello!

A visit to the dentist office the day we departed (For Finn) had allowed me a few minutes to pick up a magazine in the lobby which had a great little travel log of the west coast of Ireland. Apparently the author had been at the Cliffs of Moher for three days before he actually got to see them due to fog and rain. We had been watching the weather closely and had booked a room in Doolin, near the ferry departure point, so that we would have several opportunities. Lucky for us Doolin was the site of the West Coast Music Festival and we were able to catch some great traditional music over dinner our first night. We were already quite accustomed to watching the weather …so I was prepared when it looked like our middle day in Doolin would allow us to see the Cliffs. We headed out on the Aran Islands Ferry to see the Cliffs of Moher and to visit the closest of the Aran Islands, Innisheer.   Finn was on the boat talking excitedly about the ‘muffins’ (puffins); it was obvious which riders were the English speakers, they were the ones chuckling. We did see puffins!

 



Finn on Innisheer. He is pretty proud of himself for driving the horse but now he is keen to RIDE a horse.

The tourist travel mode on Innisheer is by horse and cart and we had a wonderful little tour of the island and lunch at a pub. On our way back to the ferry we came across a stone carver, complete in kilt and Crocs, selling small stone amulets with ancient writing. Anna had 10 Euros burning a hole in her pocket and the fellow was kind enough to carve her name on it, interrupted by a cell phone of course.



The Cliffs of Moher

After our west coast visit we started the long trek south to Cork to be ready to meet the Bobs as they came in. I wanted to take a little side trip to see the Ring of Kerry but was struck down by a case of Irish Revenge (bad food perhaps?) so we skipped it and headed directly to Crosshaven, home of the oldest yacht club in the world, The Royal Cork Yacht Club and our reunion with Midwatch.