Ireland
Monday 3rd November 2014 – Cliffs of Moher & Bunratty Castle
& Tuesday 4th November 2014 – Travel day
Hitching rail for the horses
Up and at ’em early in the morning again and it was a little bit of a sad morning, knowing that it would be our last full day together before some of us went home the next morning (or back to England in my case). Knowing we were going on a ferry again today I had a light breakfast and then decided to have a little explore of Killarney in the daylight why I still had the chance. The weather was very much like it was in England and so sure enough it rained a little on and off, but at least I did get to see a little more of Killarney before we left. It is indeed a very nice small town with some interesting things around, such as a sign stating the European towns Killarney is in connection with (including one in Bavaria!). I made it back with plenty of time to get back on the bus without anyone having to worry (although I am sure Mary was still worried about me regardless).
Twinned towns
Statues in Killarney
Killarney Pub
Killarney (photo courtesy of Carrie)
Ireland
It was then back on the bus driving through Ireland with the lovely green countryside and rainbows David explained that the rock walls that you could see through are called ‘laze walls’ and the only thing holding them together are rocks. They have them so the cattle can see through them to the other side and realise the grass is just as greener where they are and also so the wind can blow straight through them. We had a few minutes waiting for the ferry but it certainly wasn’t long of a wait. We drove onto the ferry to cross the River Shannon but this time we all stayed on the bus as it was raining outside (open top ferry) and it was a shorter trip. But of course I moved around the bus and got to talk to the couples from Virginia and learn a little bit more about Virginia and ‘The South’.
Waiting for the ferry
Waiting for the ferry
Ferry wasn’t far away and onto the bus again we went
Irish beach
Irish beach & excavator
Surfs up (too cold for my liking though)
We arrived at the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher (a spectacular wall of sandstone that reaches 700ft above the Atlantic Ocean) and got in a few good photos before the rain started. The path has been made a little safer back from the edge with a fence, however that didn’t stop a few people from climbing over to try to get that better photograph. As Bill, Mary and I started to head back down a tourist (who looked about my age) stepped aside and waited for us to pass instead of pushing through as most would and as she kept eye contact with me (rare in England but not Ireland) I said “Thank you!”, she then replied “You’re welcome!” and this had me intrigued. Firstly a lot of tourists aren’t this polite and second her accent was very familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. I think my face must have given everything away as she replied to my surprised look “Australian?”, as I answered in the affirmative she explained that she was from Western Australia and was travelling around by herself (Although I think she was with a tour group). It was nice to hear her accent as it reminded me of the beach, the Australian sun and surfers. I’m not familiar with the WA accent at all really so once she explained that she lived a few hours out of Perth I realised why her accent sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. It’s a small world as I didn’t have to explain where Charters Towers was (West of Townsville is usually the best answer as most people know Townsville and the Great Barrier Reef) because she has cousins in Ipswich and in turn knows Queensland fairly well. We didn’t stop and talk long but it was nice to finally come across another Australian and another solo traveller at that. We got some photos of O’Brien’s tower (a.k.a. The Last Erection) but then it started to rain quite heavily so we decided to go inside to the coffee-house, watch the movie (which wasn’t all that interesting or informative) and check out the gift shop before our time was up and it was back on the bus again. Later Kevin explained that the Cliffs of Moher are in the movie ‘The Princess Bride’ as The Cliffs of Insanity. I had never heard or seen the movie before so it didn’t mean much to me at the time but I have since seen it and loved it. Apparently the actor came out early before the shooting and climbed the Cliffs to prove that he could (before he would have to do it carrying two people) but then the director explained that they could shoot it all in the studio and that he would never have to actually climb the cliffs (I am sure that information would have been nicer to know before). If you watch the movie you can definitely tell which ones are real shots of the cliffs and which shots were filmed in the studio but either way it is quite impressive that he did manage to scale those steep, jagged cliffs!
O’Brien’s Tower
Cliffs of Moher & O’Brien’s Tower iPhone pano
Old track and rain
Looking information telescope (first language was Gaelic)
Bill & Mary with the Cliffs of Moher trying to get the best photo of the castle
Cliffs of Moher
Panorama courtesy of Jeremy
On the bus again
Still a bit of flooding
It wasn’t long before we were checking into the Bunratty Castle Motel (no not the actual castle) with a little free time in the afternoon. We went down and explored the Bunratty Mills and Mary managed to do some last-minute shopping that she wanted to do. A lot of places offer shipping to different places so you don’t have to fit it into your suitcase to take it home (although I recommend Australians ensure they have room as it is not cheap at all to send to Australia but the US was a pretty reasonable price).
Bunratty Castle Motel
Inside Bunratty Castle Motel
It was then off to the Bunratty Castle for a memorable medieval-style feast where lords and ladies serenaded us with song and harp and fiddle music from the Medieval Ages and put on quite a good show. We started in one room and were given honey mead (just as nice in Ireland as it was in Germany). It was explained that the term ‘honeymoon’ came from the tradition that on their honeymoon newly weds were supposed to drink honey mead for a full moon month. It is said to help fertility and virility (working like Viagra). Along with the mead we were served bread with salt, a lot of people didn’t realise it was salt and in turn put quite a lot of it on their bread thinking it was a dip. It really didn’t go well with mead at all (both not bad on their own) however we were told it was a sign of friendship to eat bread and salt together. We also learned a little bit about the castle that started as a wooden structure in 1251 and was burned, rebuilt and burned again. Then they finally built a the stone castle in 1425 for the O’Brien seat. The lords and ladies explained that we were going to be in a bit of a fantasy (all pretend to be a part of the act) and they were very clever and added good humour along the way. They ensured there were no enemies among us as they would have been put in the murder hole and had boiling water poured upon them (safe to say there were no enemies among us). We learned the castle toast which means good health and long life (I have the video tape of us repeating it but I still can’t remember exactly how to say it). Our Earl and his lady were chosen from our group as the honeymooning couple from New York and they played into the act very well. We moved into the dining hall and the tables were quite impressive. Our whole group could fit on one table, with others, and we learned that because we were in medieval times there was no cutlery and we were to eat with our hands (obviously I didn’t think this was quite a problem, it is pretty common to have food you eat with your hands at an Australian BBQ and if you have ever worked on a property especially out mustering cutlery is the last thing you think of when you are eating what’s in your saddle bag). We started with bread and soup and it was quite easy to drink out of the smooth wooden bowls. Ribs was the next thing they served and they even provided us with knives which made it easy enough. We were allowed finger washing bowls and napkins and as we ate and drank the wine (one end of the table was enjoying the endless jugs of wine a little too much). The Earl had to give his approval of the food however the butler did have to try it first and did put on a good act of being poisoned to only inform us that it was a trifle hot. We did have someone in the castle who had to be sent to the dungeon, Patrick who the butler described as “too young and…bald to go to the dungeon”, because he had been trifling with the ladies of the castle! Of course our gracious Earl sent him straight to the dungeon however he did let him come back out and he had to sing to entertain us as punishment. The butler of course didn’t let this go on too long as it was meant to be a punishment for the prisoner and not for us ladies and lords. 😉 The ladies and lords of the castle in costume sang some beautiful traditional songs and played beautiful music with the harp and violin. We were served a desert called ‘Lovers’ kisses’ and you were supposed to spoon-feed (yep they slipped up again and gave us spoons) all of it to your partner (thankfully not everyone did this or did it the whole way). We had a great night singing, listening and thumping on the tables as applause.
Bunratty Castle
Harp & Violin
Honey Mead
Fantasy
Our Earl and his lady
Singing
Eating with our hands
Long tables
Other end of table
Listening to the singing
Kevin & Carrie clapping to the music
Me & Mary (photo from Carrie)
Long tables
The bus then went the short trip back to the hotel with some however there were a few of us who decided to go to the 400 year old pub and have a last drink with each other. It was here that we met up with a few others from our castle feast including more Canadians and I met another Australian Tina from Wagga Wagga and we both had to explain that Wagga Wagga is indeed the name of a town in New South Wales. Tina was travelling by herself having hired a car (she would have been in her late thirties I think) and was staying at hostels in Ireland and I was surprised at how cheap her trip was. It made sense then if Ireland is a lot cheaper than I had thought then that could have been why my trip was such good value for money and I think travelling Ireland by car would be a nice way to see it to be able to stop whenever you want and go at your own pace. Now I had no choice in whether I was drinking or not as I was handed a hot whiskey with Audra (or a hot toddie as the English call it) and I can say now I would rather drink it straight, but at least it was warm. We all continued talking and I realised that I was perhaps way too sober for the conversation with the others having been drinking wine all night but we managed to make a travel plan. 2016 I’ll make my way and travel through Canada and America (in Summer of course) and then whoever wants to will come back with me for a trip to Australia (in our Winter). There is a plan to do a road trip from Melbourne to Perth across the bottom of Australia so we will see when we will all manage to make these trips happen and I informed them they will always be welcome to stay at home – as long as Dad got to put them to work of course. Eric was one of the main travel planners however communication has to be limited to snail mail or through the other couple from Virginia (poor Will had a bad tooth ache for the last of the trip and didn’t come out that night and Rebecca went back to join him instead of coming to the pub) as in his opinion “The internet is just a fad.” It was a great night talking, planning and dreaming about more travel before we had even officially finished our current trip.
400 year old Pub
Inside the pub
Audra & Me with our hot whiskeys
Me, Eric & Audra
Inside the smaller room of the pub
Making travel plans
As you can imagine it was quite a stumble back to the hotel as I tried to keep us off the road but eventually gave up as we walked in the middle of the road back to the motel. It was when I got back to the motel I realised I had to be completely packed up ready to leave on the shuttle bus to the airport before some (including Bill and Mary) would even be awake for breakfast and I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye properly to them as they didn’t come to the pub. So I sat down and wrote a letter, we had already exchanged details but it was nice to say goodbye and as Mary later said it was a much easier way to say goodbye (or more goodbye until I get the chance to get over to Boston and visit). Therefore early in the morning a few of us left for the airport and said goodbye however luckily Audra, Jeremy and I worked out we were on the exact same flight so we stuck together at the airport and I got to talk and learn a little bit more about them which was really nice. When we got to London the fog was still too thick so we couldn’t land and had to fly around in circles until it cleared and it seemed we weren’t the only planes having to do this (Classic London, the fog was only over the airport. The more time I spend in England the less I like it. However due to the fog only mainly being over the airport and I had a window seat I did finally get to see a lot of London from the sky). When we finally landed in London I lost Audra and Jeremy when I had to get my bag so I didn’t get to say goodbye properly but I am hoping it won’t be too long and I will get to see them both again soon, and thankfully Facebook keeps most of us connected now. I grabbed my bags and then realised I needed to catch a train in the airport to get to the right place to catch my bus. Being half asleep and not registering in my brain that the train at the platform was not the train that was on the sign leaving in 2 minutes time (or more arriving) I of course got on the wrong train (had to happen sooner or later didn’t it!). Thankfully it wasn’t too much of a big deal as the exact same train went back the opposite direction and then became the train that I needed (so technically it was the right train but the train staff were a little amazed and confused as to how I was already on before the doors had been opened from their security check). So being tired and annoyed of solo travel already I then realised just how big the airport was and how easy I had it the other times I had flown out of or into that airport. I had to wait a little while for the bus but then at least I knew my way back to Oxford. I arrived late in the afternoon, exhausted and hoping I wouldn’t get called into teach the next day (thankfully I didn’t).
Last morning in Ireland
Flying over Ireland
Flying over Ireland
Flying over London
Flying over London
Well sadly this is my last travel blog. My next trip, which starts in a week, is a Europe Contiki Tour where my friend Danielle will join me and we will explore 13 European countries in 23 days before flying home to Australia in early January. I won’t have time on Contiki to blog and when I get back I will have to start preparing for full-time teaching so I won’t have the free time that I have had doing supply teaching in England. Thank you all for reading and commenting and I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I have and I promise to still post Facebook updates about my travels through Europe.
Coll's Travels 