Jan. 25-26 Trip to Bunratty

Jan. 25- 26 Trip to Clonmacnois, Bunratty Castle, and Cliffs of Moher

We woke up at 6:15 am for our 7:15 departure. Haven’t been up this early all year! Everyone is on time (actually early) for the bus so off we go. We witness a beautiful sunrise growing from behind the mountains. The student who said they never knew it would be cold inside the cottages (previous posting), remarked as she saw the sunrise “this was worth being cold for 3 weeks.”

A note about the students after the 1^st 3 weeks. I am enjoying getting to know each of them with their unique personalities. All pretty typical young 20’s. It’s more difficult to get to know the guys. Each cottage has their own dynamics. And some of my first impressions of who would be leaders, etc., have not proven to be the case. A great majority of them are group oriented, and as one student pointed out, there are many “floaters.” This means that there aren’t cliques that only stick with themselves. Most students hang out with different people at different times. This helps for cohesiveness among all of them. We aren’t trying to be their friends or their parents (been there, done that). But there have been times I’ve had to give a hug to a crying, homesick student (female J) and given advice on how to approach “the professors” with a question. So far, so good.

Back to our day. Once the daylight finally appeared, we could see the heavy frost. Even late into the afternoon with continuous sunshine, the frost remained in the shadows. It glistened and sparkled off the low-lying bushes and pine needles. When the sheep were lying in the pasture, they were surrounded by white except for the green halo they created by their body heat. The countryside takes on a different look when it is frosted. Ice formed on the small pools of water in the fields. I could have been looking at Michigan in November. Cars needed to be scraped before driving. Even the black shrink-wrapped silage maintained a white topping for most of the day.

We pass through Galway, a city with more large cranes than even Grand Rapids. We were told all of Ireland is growing so quickly (I believe Galway may be the fastest growing European city). But with this growth, there may be a loss of some of the charm of Ireland.

We pass over the flooded Shannon River – the longest river in Ireland and currently at its highest level in 50 years. It is spilling out of its banks on all sides. We see the tops of fences half under water.

We arrive at Clonmacnois, and I’ll let those who are interested in these ruins Google it. We then went on to Shannon and arrived at the Clare Inn for a couple hours to relax prior to going to our medieval dinner at Bunratty Castle. I took a long hot bath! It was great. There was a pool and Jacuzzi which some of the students took advantage of. But all enjoyed the warmth of the hotel – as basic as it may have been.

We all dressed up a bit for the dinner. It was an old castle, so we had to consider the clothing selection for warmth. The entertainment was very good; great singing and a wonderful violinist who we met latter at the pub. He said he studied at Julliard. He looked a little sad, so maybe this was not what he had hoped for with his talents. The production is very tourist oriented, but the students loved it. And there was plenty of food to eat – without the use of spoons or forks. We did have a dagger (knife) to help us spear some of the food. Michael B and Sarah F were chosen as the king and queen for the evening.

Afterwards, as tradition would have it, we stopped by Durty Nellie’s for a pint. Some students may have had a bit too much mead and wine at the banquet, but when we got back to the hotel we made sure everyone was “hydrating” so the next day they would be feeling ok.

Jan. 26

The next morning we returned to Bunratty Castle for a tour of the castle as well as the grounds. It somewhat reminded me of Greenfield Village – houses set up to recreate different occupations – baker, blacksmith, etc. Of course, at a much earlier period of time. The castle provided some extraordinary sites of the flooded Shannon River as we climbed to the highest tower.

We headed out for the Cliffs of Moher – my most dreaded stop, as I dislike cliffs very much. I don’t mind heights, so it is a little bizarre. We could see the clouds were breaking up, so decided to skip lunch and go straight to the Cliffs. The timing was perfect as when we arrived it was sunny and bright. Important to see the Aaron Islands. I was surprised at the set up of the Cliffs – there is clearly a natural barrier to keep people from going to the edge. And there was a noticeable presence of rangers to encourage visitors to enjoy the Cliffs safely. I think the rangers were increased due to another death of someone falling off the Cliffs late last year. Probably 4-5 rangers walking around. A new visitors center is in construction. Once again you see that Ireland is progressive in their energy consumption as the new center has many solar panels. I forgot to mention that as we drove to Clonmacnois, we saw many wind turbines on top of hills/mountains. We also saw one of the peat burning power stations – but these are being phased out for obvious reasons.

So, happily we left the Cliffs with all 24 people on board the bus. I then discovered the “jump seat” in front of the bus – the seat right beside the driver. It gave me a great view as we traveled to through The Burrens and to the Poulnabrone Dolmen, the megalithic tomb. Again, we met a ranger at the dolman as there has been vandalism lately. He said he once saw (or maybe heard) about someone standing on top of the stone hitting a golf ball. (I’ll make no comments about golfers) We passed many old castles and round forts.

Stopped in Galway for a bite to eat and some quick grocery shopping and made it back to Tullycross by 9 pm.

Great time, great weather, safe travels. Owen, our bus driver or more accurately our tour guide, made this trip and every moment of it enjoyable. Without him we would not have been able to have such a worthwhile adventure.