Pat's Circumnavigation

I flew from Glasgow to Dublin, after a near disaster of nearly ending up at the wrong airport (didn't know that Dublin had two airports) I finally got to the right one and it was a good thing that I left planty of time to get there.

The flight itself was very quick and we actually got in early which is a nice change.  I'd hired a car and went to pick him up - he is a blue Chevvy Kalos and I named him Pat.  Pat and I had an interesting time aquainting with each other.  He was upset that I insisted on turning on the windscreen wipers every time I went to go around a corner.  I was upset that he just would not go into reverse (stupid pull-up lever)  and of course there was no manual in the car to help us.  Despite this we managed to cirvumnavigate the country.  I must say that Pat and Jake Jnr were not much help with the navigating.  Fancy JJ didn't know one bark for left, two barks for right and also the signs here are very very hard to follow.  There were a number of times that I stopped just to ask which town I was in.

The answers were somewhat confusing.  I passed through Rathdowney, Tipperarry, Killarney, Moriarty and a host of other places.

The very first afternoon Ireland gave me a rainbow and we tried to chase down the pot of gold at the end of it - but alas the little Leprechuns would not relinquish their gold - didn't seem fair to me.

From Tipperarry I headed south to Cork and the Blarney castle (didn't kiss the Blarney stone though I think I can talk well enough).  Then on to Killarney to stay the night.  Spent it in an old 18th century building on a lakeside that's been converted into a youth hostel.

Next morning I went on a horseride around Killarney National Park and lake  and through the mountains.  Very pituresque and the sun was shining at this stage.  From there I headed up to the DIngle Pennisula (near Ring of Kerry) and the cliffs here were my first real taste of Ireland.  The wind was blowing and has kept blowing ever since.  I drove back through a mountain pass and caught a ferry over to the north side of the Pennisula and drove up to Liscannon which is where the Cliffs of Moher are, this is where I collapsed in a B&B for the second night.

Well it was St Pattie's day today and in true Ireland style the weather turned on its worst front.  It was wet, cold and very very windy.  I headed to the Cliffs of Moher and nearly got blown off.  I couldn't get any photos as it was pouring with rain so I didn't stay long and headed up to Galway for the St Patricks day Festival.

Galway was a nice little town but again pouring rain and windy.  The parade was fun but more for kids than anything else.  I drove north again up to Donegal (Donnie-gall) and stayed there the night.  On the way I took a bit of a detour to Glen Lake and this is probably my favourtie spot so far.  It was breathtakinly beautiful, with lakes and waterfalls and lots and lots of green surrounded by mountains of all colours.  It reminded me of my valley in Canungra but even more beautiful.

That night in Donegal there was some big parties and lots of Guinness consumed.  I must say Guinness over here is much better than Aussie Guinness.

The next day | kept heading North, through sleet and snow up to Portsrush and the Giants Causway.    I had to stop a couple of times, the longest time at Derry for the snow storms to pass.  Giants Causeway is basically massive rocks like stepping stones, surrounded by cliffs and wild wild seas.  The foam from the ocean was whipped up so much that it looked like snow.  Which was better than the hail and gale that was coming from the sky.  I spent most of the day here with two American Girls (Becky and Jennifer, hi guys) and hot chocolate was one of the highlights of the day - it was very very very cold.  After the gaints causeway I headed to the rope bridge (forgotten the name will look it up) and after freeazing and getting hailed on ended up spending the night at Ballycastle.

This morning I took the scenic route south along the sea and drove again through plently of snow.  The whole country seems to be covered in snow.  Very strange to see snow by the ocean.  I'm got back yo Dublin which is where I am now, in an internet cafe, sheltering from the hail yet again.  Hopefully the sun will be out soon.

Fly out to Germany really early tomorrow.