We said goodbye to Dingle this morning. The weather was partly cloudy and cold. The rain that fell overnight left the road wet and the fields sparkling. We drove north through Tralee and caught the Tarbert-Killimer Ferry. This cut off a long drive via Limerick. We stopped in Lahinch for lunch at the Shamrock Hotel. It wasn’t very good but it was fuel. Another few kilometers took us to The Cliffs Of Moher.
This is a real professional tourist stop. There was ample parking and when we paid our fee, it included entrance to the cliff area. Since nobody checked our tickets, I suspect that hikers and cyclists could enter without paying. We walked through the visitors’ center, past the large cafeteria and then out to the cliffs. There were lots of people there, but not as many as I expected.
The weather turned blustery with strong gusts of wind and short showers with some light hail. This is just what I expected in Ireland. We had on double layers of jackets with our rain jackets on top. The views of the cliffs were spectacular. We walked along the edge as I took lots of photos.
Back at the car, we turned on the heat to warm up as we continued north and then east to drive through The Burren. This is a desolate, rocky area of Ireland that is an extreme contrast to the green fields in the rest of the country. There were places to stop to see ring forts and other interesting things to the Irish and geologists, but we were getting tired of driving and wanted to make tracks to Galway.
The narrow roads and the heavy traffic getting into Galway made the rest of our drive tense. We sort of got lost coming into town, but we circled the area and finally asked directions. We were then very close to our B&B. We checked in at the Asgard Guest House, cleaned up and took a short rest.
We walked a few blocks to dinner at Sonny's and The Front Door Pub. It is located on a pedestrian mall in the old town. Galway is a college town and there were lots of lively people out on Friday night. The pub was filled with soccer fans watching the match between Ireland and Sweden. Seating was at a premium. We were lucky to get a table in the crook of a stairwell. Sitting on high stools, Ann had cider and a lamb burger. I had a pint of Smithwick’s Irish ale and a huge plate of roast pork loin.
Our walk back to our B&B helped settle our stomachs.
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