Ireland

It's been two weeks since I posted an entry; we have been so busy that there was no time! I wrote last from Keswick, England the night before we were to go to Birkenhead to take the ferry to Dublin. Birkenhead is across the Mersey River from Liverpool and it was at the John Lennon airport that we had to return our rental car. (Next to the name on the signs for the airport it says "above us only sky" - from the song "Imagine".) Happily, we were able to return the car without having damaged it or anyone/thing else. It was fun to drive through that city that I had spent several teenage years imagining and to hear our cab driver talk about going to the Cavern and meeting "the boys".

The ferry to Dublin was comfortable and we had our books and sudokus to keep us busy. There was a movie theatre and we watched a Bruce Willis movie to help pass the time. It was a 7 hour trip. The Irish Sea can be turbulent, but happily was quite calm for our trip.

Dublin is a big city that has grown up on both sides of the Liffey river. We stayed in the Temple Bar area and had a comfortable room that overlooked the river. We stayed there for four nights. We toured the Guinness plant, took a day long tour into the Wicklow Mountains, went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells and went through the National Museum which covers the archeology and history of Ireland, and did the "hop on, hop off" bus tour. Then we picked up our next rental car and began driving west.

The Dingle peninsula in the southwest, was our first stop. We stayed in the town of Tralee which was a perfect place from which to explore the area. We spent a day driving to the little town of Dingle where we had lunch and did some shopping and then going on the loop road along the edge of the peninsula. Sometimes the roads were VERY narrow and it could be quite exciting. Irish drivers are careful and polite and so things always worked out! What a beautiful spot! Pastural, dramatic scenery! It was a cool sunny day and we drove past miles of ocean waves, high cliffs, and craggy rocks! We saw lots of sheep in pastures, some with new baby lambs - too cute! This same scenery was to be repeated with variations for the rest of our time in Ireland.

After Dingle, we went north along the Atlantic coast to the small town of Renvyle. This area has snow covered mountains, lakes and rivers, and was breathtaking. We spent two nights here. One day we drove a loop out to the coast and then east to a loop around a lake. We had a great lunch at a pub in the small town of Leename where we met a few "colorful" characters! Nice, all!

We had been told that the Donegal region was not to be missed, so we drove from Renvyle to Letterkenny and used it as our base to explore. Wow. We could see why people would be so proud of this area. It was the Dingle area, taken to the extreme! We saw the highest sea cliffs in Europe, the center of the wool and weaving culture, and a glorious national park. Again, we were blessed with beautiful weather, cool but sunny.

The drive to Bushmills in Northern Ireland completed our trip across the north coast. We stayed two nights there and spent the day in between at the Giant's Causeway and the Rope Bridge. The Giant's Causeway is a volcanic rock area that is unique and majestic. The giant Finn McCool, according to legend, made the causeway to take him and his giant rival from Scotland back and forth between the two countries. The formations resemble a cobbled street that starts out into the water. We hiked a couple of miles to get an up close look at all the fascinating geology. The Rope Bridge is located a few miles further east on the coast and really is a rope suspension bridge between the main land and an island. It is about 70 feet long and the plunge is 100 feet straight down into the water. Jon walked across; I did not. I took pictures of him - that was my role!

After leaving Bushmills we drove south through Belfast and on to Dublin where we turned in our car yesterday. Again, no serious injury done to man or beast or vehicle. Thankfully we don't have a rental car again now for months, and when we do, we will be driving on the right (correct) side of the road!

Pictures: from the top: I actually drank some Guinness - not bad!, momma sheep and two little babies, Jon and his newfound friend Tom in the pub, Jon on the Rope Bridge ("I can't look down, I can't look down..."), and snow on the mountain above the valley.