We landed in Dublin on Saturday midday and picked up the car and was on our way to Edenderry which is about an hour west of Dublin. We couldn't believe of how much the road system had changed since we were here 4 yrs ago. Also couldn't believe the ammount of tolls we had to pay! Edenderry is where Ed's uncle has a dairy farm and is a small farming community (which has grown shitloads since we were here last time). We drove around for about 2 hours trying to find their farm and eventually asked the local butcher if he knew and he replied "oh Larry Dempsey, yes I should know where he is, he is my neighbour!" and proceeded to spend the next 15mins telling where to go, where not to go, which tree to pass, which house to look out for etc! Typical Irish directions!
We literally got there just in time before they all headed for working nightshift. Ed's uncle Larry was milking cows and didn't finish till 7pm. His aunty works in a hospital so had a 12 hr shift ahead of her. And Ed's cousin worked in a local pub that night and we as good samariton cousins drove him there (mainly so we could drink beer with him!). Deb actually wanted to check that he was able to pour a decent guiness - he did although he didn't draw a shamrock on top!
Following morning we headed off at about 10am. Tried to visit another uncle who was unfortunately not home. We then headed west to the other side of the country near Galway. As it was raining we didn't bother stopping in Galway to walk around, we just headed straight out to the coast. The drive from Galway to the coast was spectacular. Limestone boulders, mountains, jagged rocks and lakes. We drove round the full peninsular through endless moors and peat bogs (peat is rotted vegetable matter which they dry out and burn in wood fires instead of wood/coal). The moors were spectacular too. At first glimpse the moors looked brown and dull but when you looked closely it was full of colour, burgandy's/reds/yellows/greens all in the plants but so camoflaged. It is quite spectacular rugged and bleak and miles of nothingness. We were heading towards the coast as we had heard on the radio that due to the bad weather and high winds that there was huge 14ft waves all down the west coast and they were warning people not to go out. So us stickybeaks decided to go have a nosy! It was howling with wind and the sea was very rough but we didn't see any of the 14ft waves they were talking about. We wouldn't have wanted to have fallen in though as the sea was pretty fierce. The coastline was beautiful, we were driving up along the cliffline so was looking down on the ocean. We got out a few times to look at the sea and could barely stand so it was almost impossible to get photos.
We stayed Sunday night in a very flash B&B near a place called Westport. This was a pretty rich area from the looks of it. All the shops were fancy boutique type ones and the main town area was covered in glitzy fairy lights. The owner of the B&B told us "we don't like to use the word cheap, we prefer affordable" when we asked about where to grab some cheap dinner...oh pardon me!! Saying that, he was abit posh but we couldn't fault the place. Our room was immaculate with tea and coffee and was like a plush hotel. The service they gave us the next morning at breakfast was unbeatable so we would definitely recommend it. The price was abit exxy though, but worth it and we looked all over the place for something cheaper and it seemed to be the going rate.
The next day we continued driving around the coastline to just north of Sligo where we stopped in another B&B. Again the coast was lovely although not as spectacular as the previous days. The B&B we stayed at this time was the absolute opposite to the night before. It was a dive, dirty and dingy but had a tv and had a bed so we were set. We paid the same price for it as the other one though so were not terribly impressed by that. In fact we really noticed how expensive Ireland was in general. Considering it used to be a lot cheaper in Ireland than the UK it has now turned the tables. Even supermarket products were alot more expensive than the UK. After talking to Ed's aunty we discovered that Ireland is currenlty in a recession which has bumped prices up in everything. Mortgage interest rates over there have soured to 11.5% OUCH that would hurt.
Monday morning was spent driving back down the highway to Dublin, stopping briefly at another one of Ed's aunty's for a quick 10min cuppa tea. It was so nice to see her again and she got abit of a shock to see us as she didn't realise we were over. She was heading off to do some work at her church so we literally only had 10mins and a quick catchup with her but have promised to return next year for a proper visit.
Only 10 more days left of work for us and we are counting down the hours! We then have a week between xmas and new year where we are hiring a car and will blat round the place hopefully doing abit of climbing if the weather permits and then it's off to Spain WOOO HOOO Bring it on!!
