On the Paddywagon–Part 3

14th Dec  - Well we mustn't have done anything much on the 3rd day of the tour – between mum and I, we have a grand total of FIVE pictures! I asked around on facebook, cos I was trying to figure out what we actually did. It was mostly a driving day. We had a stop at a peat bog, which was an interesting experience. If someone jumped you could feel the ground move. They weren’t much to look at – just a large expanse of dark brown/black nothingness… That night we we in Galway, in the most awesome hostel. It was so clean, and had hot showers, and was awesome

After dinner that night a group of us (mum went to bed) went to a pub where I met up with Benoit, who I had met in France when I got my diving licence. He also knew another person on the tour – Michele (Michael), a Swissman. Small world hey! You could make some sort of multicultural joke about us - An Aussie, a French and a Swiss in an Irish Bar…

15th December – day 4. Our first stop of the day was at Dunguaire castle, dating from the 16th century. We continued on to a lookout where you can see back out to Galway Bay.

The next stop on the coastal scenic route that we took was to the Cliffs of Moher. And they were pretty spectacular! It was WINDY that day – so windy that there was a waterrise (like a waterfall, but instead of the water falling it, well, rises). The Cliffs of Moher is where puffins comes to breed – it would have been awesome to see some puffins, but it wasn’t the right season for them I won’t say much about the cliffs of Moher, but leave it to the pictures…

The waterrise 

And again - but look how green it is!

These pics show it from the other side

 

We visited Blarney Castle (1210AD) after the Cliffs of Moher, in the late afternoon. This was where we got to kiss the Blarney stone (or stone of eloquence, which supposedly gives you the ‘gift of the gab’). And yes, we did bend backwards over a whole in the floor to kiss a rock, that countless other people have kissed. We were also the last people in our group to kiss the stone as I was exploring a ‘secret passageway’ under the castle. Mum told me to hurry up, so we went off and kissed the stone (and of course by the time we headed back to the passage it was locked up ).

After kissing the stone we had a walk around the gardens and saw the Druid’s Circle, Witches Kitchen, and Wishing Steps. On the way back we taking photos of the castle at night with Kevin, who was also on the tour, and mum got a picture of his soul being taken (presumably by the witch). We managed to escaped unharmed, only to find out that we were the last people left in the castles grounds, and we were locked in! Oh no, the witch will surely get us now!! After trying to find a way to escape for about 5 minutes (and contemplating climbing the fence – which hard sharp pointy bits on it)  we found the one way exit… on the other side of the ticket office. The good news is though, that we got out safely and with all our souls still intact

Walking up to the castle

Above the windows is where the Blarney stone is

Don't look down!!

View from the top

In the floor above the entrance is a 'murder hole' to pour
boiling liquids, etc on your enemies

The wishing steps - you're supposed to walk
up them backwards with your eyes closed
and think of a wish

The witch is stealing Kevin's soul :(

The castle at night

 That night we stayed somewhere… Killarney I think (They didn’t stick to the itinerary as it is posted on the web, so I’m not 100% sure where we stayed that night) I have posted on fb for answers, so stay tuned for part 4…