Ireland 2

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
As Mark told you, we arrived in Dublin and headed for our rental. We then sat in the car for, oh, half an hour getting comfortable, checking out maps and having a little lunch before we hit the highway. I think Mark was just psyching himself up for driving on the left.

We made our way out of the city and headed for a scenic drive through the Wicklow Mountains. It was beautiful if a bit scary. The roads continued to grow more narrow as we made our way. We entered a small village and due to our lack of sleep the previous night and the drizzle we decided that we'd secure some accommodation for the night. We decided to divide and conquer. Mark went to the nice looking restaurant with an attached B&B and I went across the street and inquired with the elderly gentleman clipping his hedge. When I asked if he had any rooms free he replied, "Yes, go check with the girl in the house." So, I left him to his work and headed to the house and as I opened the door to ring the bell the "girl" approached me. She was the man's wife and was a long time away from being a girl. She was pleasant and showed me a big room with tea and biscuits (which were welcome after our drizzly start - we had gotten pretty sunburnt bicycling in France). We relaxed before heading to the Glendalough Monastic Site. It is a magnificent 16th century village centered around a monastery begun by Saint Kevin. It's in the middle of the mountains and has a huge tower so pilgrims who would come for prayer and refuge would be able to locate it.

We were both immediately overwhelmed by the green of Ireland, the beauty. We made our way back to our room and hit the hay early. The next morning we had our first Irish breakfast: cereal and yogurt with soda bread, next came fried eggs, cooked tomato halves, bacon AND sausage, toast, and tea. We were more than satisfied and had nice conversation with the couple following our meal. Just before departing the mister smiled and asked us if we needed baths while he pressure washed his horse just outside our room.

We jumped back in the car and headed south to Kilkenny where we chose a cheap sleep in a hostel. We secured our (free) tickets to the Smithwick's brewery "tour" - they don't actually do a tour, you watch a 20 minute video that was made in 1980 on a 19-inch TV screen. Basically it took you through how they make their beer. Then, free samples. We assumed this meant a pint apiece. No. Others imbibed quite a bit while Mark tried the Kilkenny and I had a Smithwick's. We then shared a "small" glass of Guinness...Mark asked for a sample and got 8 ounces! We were asked numerous times if we'd like more but seeing how it was 4pm and we still needed to figure out dinner we didn't think it wise. We headed out (albeit a little tipsy) to the grocery store which was a bit of a super-fillintheblank Mart type place. We both checked out clothing as Ireland was proving to be much colder than we anticipated and packed for. Because we are both frugal, we ended up only buying a small umbrella. We also bought some groceries and prepared a wonderful dinner.

As throughout most of our travels, we have done little in the way of planning. We have a general skeleton and go from there. We are thankful to have a good friend who is originally from Killarney. We asked him for ideas on what to do and his recommendations have been very helpful. Thanks, Pio! We have only made a few reservations for sleeping (Paris, Dublin, London). For us, this has worked out...you just have to be willing to be turned down and stick to your price. This has been a little tougher in Ireland as it is quite pricey. When we landed in Spain we thought that 40 Euros for a place to sleep was really high...in Ireland, at a B&B you can easily spend 40 per person! This does include breakfast but still! This has led us to sprinkle hostels in between our B&B stays (we have found some hostels with private rooms which end up being 40 total).

From MARK:
With my head looking down and slowly turning from side to side, "Yesterday, it happened." I was driving along a smaller-than-normal tiny country road and we were looking for our turn around each bend in the road. It all happened rather quickly, but I drove past our left fork while reading the small sign and realizing I'd need to make a U-turn ASAP. The roads are so narrow you simply can't turn around and without shoulders, the thick tall-as-trees brush create a virtual wall that flies by at less than an inch from your passenger mirror (and that's at the wide points). The speed-limit on these ludicrous roads is posted at 100 kph, which some people actually reach (despite one sign we saw indicating 42 recent deaths).

The next ninety-degree right-bend in the road revealed several driveways that looked promising. I picked the second entry on the left and pulled in the length of the car. I looked both ways for traffic, tossed the car in reverse, and easily backed out into my lane. I glanced in the rearview mirror and noted that the road behind us was clear. We entered the previous tight curve (also recalling to myself that I needed to take the next right) with a comfortable yet moderate speed when I noticed a large, white, road construction truck (think large delivery truck size) that seemed to be taking his turn really wide and FAST... so much so that he was invading my entire lane! WHAT was he thinking and why was he in my path? Perhaps there was a pedestrian just out of sight or maybe some sheep meandered on the road? I quickly slowed to a stop as he did the same and at twenty paces apart our bumpers faced each other like a an old western movie show-down. My heart raced and I then wondered when he'd realize his mistake and return to the inside lane when Dani blurted out "You're in the wrong lane!" I was still in mild disbelief but knew she was right and thus chose to take her word and rev the car into the left lane. My mind uttered some unmentionable words as we passed the now-stopped construction truck with white-knuckles and rapid breathing. By the time we could see his back in our rearview mirror he actually gave us a "honk" for good measure perhaps.

Both realizing we were alive, Dani laughed hysterically at his delayed beep, my rampant driving, and to relieve a good bit of built up stress. I too had a hardy chuckle mixed with after-shock and proceeded to "laugh it off" since I was now driving down the correct road (on the correct side) which had even larger hedge rows creating a tunnel like path. With tears of glee now in my eyes, I at some point apparently quit watching the road and allowed the car to mindlessly drift into the left hedge, at which point Dani levitated out of the passenger seat to the middle of the car in order to avoid being impaled by branches and the such. Realizing the scraping-on-the-side-of-the-car sound wasn't normal, I compensated by arching the steering wheel right, returning the car to the middle of the road. Luckily, no oncoming traffic was present and we continued the de-stressing laughter while maintaining a safer driving path. Dani drove to dinner that evening.