Ireland

The Cottage In Achill Island

The weather here lately has been “very Irish”. Tom and I have found ourselves chilled to the bone despite the temperature being moderate because the air is so damp. The only difference is the rain. The way the rain falls here is strangely hard to explain, but I’ll try my best. Here it can come down hard and only get you in a few places and you’re not really wet when you come inside. And you can leave your clothes on and you’ll dry soon enough. In Ireland the rain is more like a drizzle or a light spray but every time you end up soaked. And there’s no way you can leave your clothes on because you’ll feel damp all night long.

Last year around this time we were finishing up our last week in Ireland by staying in a beautiful little cottage at the very tip of Achill Island. We spent the first week visiting Tom’s family and during the second Tom took me around to see all the places I wanted to see, and then in the last week we had some time to relax and be there. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. I woke to the sound of sheep grazing outside my window and the smell of the ocean just down the street and fell asleep to the sound of the rain. When you left the cottage, you could go right just a little ways down the road to reach the edge of the island where huge cliffs waited to be climbed and abandoned ruins to be explored. If you went straight you’d find a long stretch of beach where you could sit and watch the ocean. I enjoy the autumn months here. The leaves that change, the crisp air, the rainy hot cocoa nights… but today, Ireland, I’m thinking of you.

   

   

   
 



 

Dream of Another Shore

   



Boots drying, wet from hill climbing to the edge of the island. It was worth every second, and every shot.

The Beehive

After driving an hour south (and out of the way) from Doolin to Shannon to visit Bunratty, Tom and I headed up north to Galway and beyond. Our goal was Achill Island, and right at the end of the island too. It ended up being my favorite part of the vacation, if I’m allowed to have favorites. A family member of Tom’s graciously offered a chance to stay at a relative’s cottage for a few days. (I am actually still in shock over how that happened. The word “family” really means something in Ireland! And when you’re family, boy they really welcome you with open arms. I just wish it wasn’t so hard (expensive) to go and visit or we’d be heading over there more often. Everyone I met from Tom’s family was so caring and generous, it was unbelievable.

On Achill Island there was a lovely cafe called “The Beehive”. It was a cafe and shop, believe it or not, and you ate right in the store. It sounds weird, but it was actually quite quaint.

A Journey In Time (Bunratty Folk Park)

I had no idea the folk park was so big and so extensive. It was probably my favorite part of Bunratty. There were 17th century hut style homes decked out completely the way people actually lived and the further you walked along the path, the further in time you went. Of course I loved the late 18th century doctor’s kit and the 19th century farm homes, but the whole experience was really something else. I only wish we’d had more time to really explore everything. There was so much here we missed.

   


   

   

Photos 8,9,10, & 15 taken by Tom

Spelunking in Doolin Cave

Well I hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s! (Thank you, Riley & Derek for the best Valentine Tom and I have received in years.) And thank you to everyone who responded so positively to the last post! I didn’t expect that at all, and it was quite a delightful surprise! (Would I be pushing my luck if I included more of Tom and I on a regular basis? Probably.) So, what did we do for Valentine’s? Well, hold on to your hats because it just might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard. Vegan Japanese Take Away (Take Out, Take Home, whatever!), couch, and sweat pants. Oooh yeaaah. The funny thing was, we were dressed up, ready to go dine out when we just looked at each other and realized that as much fun as it is to go out for dinner, we really just wanted to be together with good food we didn’t have to make ourselves with our cats and a roaring fireplace. Sometimes I think it’s easy to become caught up in “what we’re supposed to be doing” and forget what it is that we want to be doing. To relate this to Ireland, we promised ourselves that we would do whatever we wanted, and that was all. If we didn’t want to go see the “must see” touristy thing, we wouldn’t. If we did, who cares if it’s touristy, we did it anyway. That is actually how we ended up seeing the biggest stalactite in the world that is open to the public. Quite by accident.

Notes: Please excuse the ridiculous face I am making in the first shot of me. I have no idea what I was doing with my arms.
Spelunking sounds like a dirty word.
I’ve included some photo info on the last shot so you can see roughly what it takes to shoot in zero to little light.
I thought it would be funny to take a video of my ascension up the stairs afterward- but it wasn’t. It was dark and really long and you think it’s never going to end and eventually I get out of breath near the top. Why did I think that would be cool?

   


   
   
   



Doolin Cave Co. Clare, Ireland. 50mm f/1.8 1/80 ISO 800

The tour was advertised as forty five minutes (it was probably half that) and it was expensive and touristy and there isn’t much to see other than the stalactite, but it is a wonder to behold in real life, despite that a lot of us are probably spoiled by programs such as Planet Earth when it comes to seeing wonders of the world. If you like that sort of thing and you’re in the area, why not. It was a spontaneous thing for us and we loved it. And, and, AND – upon exciting the back of the cave I saw a herd of wild horses. I wouldn’t have seen them had I not gone.