To Dingle and Beyond

Dingle, Ireland

We arrived in the little town of Dingle after nearly four hours of driving. We were quite tired of sitting and I might say, growing rather silly as well. The narrow, winding road into town was so incredibly picturesque though that it help make the ride pass more quickly. We stayed at a little B&B outside of town. It wasn’t fancy but we had a private room, free wifi and a full Irish breakfast in the morning. Those are three things we’ve become quite thankful for in the last weeks of travel!

After our delicious breakfast we headed off to town to find some bikes and hit the road! Our plans were to bike the one road around the peninsula, a distance of approximately 26 miles. There was a marathon going the same day so we would pass runners along the way. It was a huge blessing because most motor traffic was blocked off, plus we had their mile markers to help us gauge our distance.

One of the many, many perfect rainbows we saw. This of course meant that we had to endure some rain as well but we had raincoats and a little later the sun came out again and our clothes dried nicely once more.

The first ten miles of our trip probably went the slowest because we had to stop and take photos like every half mile. Honestly, this scenery just took your breath away. I only wanted to stand and stare in awe.

Yes, I admit, we did climb a fence into some farmers’ field for this shot but it was totally worth it!

Quaint cottages dotted the hills to our right along with overgrown stone walls between the fields of sheep, cattle or horses.

We came around one bend and this popped into view. This coastline possesses such a wild, perfect beauty that I almost hate showing you photos. They just don’t do justice.

And then many long, hard, sweaty miles later we arrived! Mile twenty-two was definitely the most difficult, but as reward for that most of the rest of the trip was downhill.

We wandered around town a while until we found Murphy’s. We decided we deserved a little treat. Also, that’s my cone Mary is holding, she didn’t get to have two. 🙂

And then we hit the road again, heading east this time. We drove on the famous Ring of Kerry for just a tiny bit on our way through here. Navigation was pretty easy as long as we had these trusty signs to confirm that we were on the right track.

We drove through a bunch of these damp little towns on our way to Midleton for the night. They are so cute and the building colors in such sharp contrast to the dreary sky.

Dunmore East, Ireland

We drove to Dunmore East on Sunday morning to worship with the congregation at Dunmore East Christian Fellowship. It was such a good Sunday and felt good to worship with them. After fellowship lunch, a hymn sing and more chatting we were off for a little cliff walk.

We were shown where to catch the trail going along the cliff. As we rounded a corner near the beginning there was the most adorable little cove! Of course many photographs were necessary here.

There were lovely rocks, the dashing sea and even some hairy looking seaweed if you cared for it.

These flowers are blooming everywhere yet but I can’t imagine what the fields would look like in full bloom.

Wexford, Ireland

After some yummy Sunday afternoon popcorn, brownies & tea with a few of the single staff girls from there we headed out again. We had reserved a room in Wexford to be close to the ferry port where we had to drop our car on Monday morning. Our room ended up being a cozy little B&B. Nothing fancy and it was in a rather noisy part of town but we had our own room!

The way they grown hydrangeas in Ireland is just phenomenal! These were growing like a hedge around someone’s little front lawn. So pretty and so perfect looking!

After dropping off the car we walked around the Rosslare area then until we found this beautiful beach and decided to chill there for a few hours until our bus left for Wexford.

Along the way though we found some DEElicious blackberries growing wild along the path.

Teneika & I picked and ate to our heart’s content. They were so juicy and good!

And when we did arrived at the beach I promptly kicked off my shoes and socks and buried my toes in the sand. It was nice and warm and wonderful. There was still a good breeze blowing but the sun kept us warm. The ocean is so beautiful and ever-changing, I think I could have taken photos for hours.

After many photos I found a nice quiet spot to read and be refreshed. And then of course, I remembered the nibbles I had bought. Oh so good. 🙂

Fish ‘n Chips: as fresh as they get! We spent several hours exploring Wexford on Monday afternoon, rather unsuccessfully I might add.

We thought we should really have some authentic Fish ‘n Chips along the coast so decided its now or never! They were “Oh-so-greasy but still rather good!”

And after more walking (to get rid of all that grease) we decided to do a quick photo shoot at the bay. So many memories and I want to hang on to every one as tightly as I can!

And then we said good night to Wexford and headed to our B&B to pack up for departure the next morning. Ireland was wonderful and I think it will remain a favorite point for all of us!

Our First Taste of the Emerald Isle

Galway, Ireland

After welcoming Teneika to a genuine backpacker’s life we arrived in Galway safe and sound. And by backpacker’s life I mean we got on a bus from the airport that took us to the train station where we sat around like hobos with a hodgepodge of bags piled around us until our train was scheduled to leave. But hey, life is an adventure why not embrace it? 🙂

After spending some time walking here and there we found a nice hostel with open rooms for the night. We settled our bags and headed out to explore town! Galway is a charming little town, complete with bustling walking streets and many musicians playing the night away.

We happened upon this restaurant and thought it would be wonderful to have something hot in our stomachs. It might not be authentically Irish but the food sure was yummy!

Here’s Mary being all pensive as we wait for our dinner. Our table was right inside a window that overlooked the street two stories below.

Super delicious spring rolls for starters.

The others got steamed rice but I decided to go with chow mien. It was so good and hot and steamy! We were the only people in the restaurant at first so everything was hot and fresh.

And tea. Always tea. And such wisdom as their sugar packages had for us. Thankfully, we are all tea drinkers and actually ended up purchasing a package of 50 bags just so we always have some on hand!

We roamed the streets then and found such charming little places to visit. Their sweet shops are just the most darling places!

Such cute nostalgic rows of every sweet imaginable.

And then the next morning we were off! Teneika was our designated driver and I took the co-pilot/chief navigator position. We worked together pretty well and had great fun figuring out the roads!

We got out of the city without too much trouble and were off to the Cliffs of Moher! The scenery just kept getting more and more beautiful and when we saw this tower we just had to pull off the road and go exploring!

It was a perfectly sunshiny day. The weather much more beautiful than I expected Ireland to be.

We kept climbing higher and higher and then pulled off for a look at the beauty of the countryside. Its just hard to communicate the beauty of this place with these few weak photos. There’s something about the wild glory of it all that captures one’s heart.

And then we arrived at the mighty Cliffs of Moher! Oh they were glorious! Just as wild and amazing as I expected but it was truly incredible to get to see them with my own eyes. The sun was shining for a little while after we got there but then a mist moved in from over the sea and everything looked quite grey and chilly.

We were quite hungry so we quickly found a little spot in the sunshine to spread out our simple little picnic.

Baguettes, Cheese and Fruit. We all love simple foods and its so much fun to take your own instead of buying every meal.

The view across the way at the other cliffs was just as wild and breathtaking.

Of course it was quite necessary to walk above the fenced path on the old trail without boundaries. Because who likes to feel hampered and closed in when one can walk along the edge, wild and free? Don’t worry, we were quite safe!

And besides, its more fun out here! 🙂

We were accompanied by some beautiful bovine along the way as well. These are some authentic Irish cattle I can assure you.

The wind was biting and the misty rain chilled our bones but what delights to experience these places with this lovely girl. So very thankful for her!

And then we headed south once more. Our destination was the little town of Dingle situated on a little peninsula along the western shore of Ireland. It was much farther than we had thought it to be but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Mountains and valleys. So many fields sprinkled with sheep or cattle and separated by lovely stone walls all overgrown with greenery. The sun played games with the clouds and it could be shining brightly when suddenly the sky grew grey and it began to rain. There may be patches of perfectly blue sky while at the same time its raining hard. But as a result we saw lots of pretty rainbows! This country just seems to contain a surreal sort of wild beauty. We definitely enjoyed our day but the best was yet to come…

Goodbye England. Hello Ireland.

Yes, we had to leave the beautiful England behind. But even though our time there was wonderful and all, we were definitively looking forward to Ireland!

We left Stratford on the morning of September fourth. Our taxi was scheduled to take us from our hostel to the train station in plenty of time for our 7:22 train. Alas, our ride did not show up at the appointed time and after some rather anxious waiting and phone calls another taxi showed up to drop someone else off and ‘bing!’ we had a ride to the station. We arrived five minutes before our train was to leave and had we missed it, well, it could have caused some other anxious moments, that’s for sure. God has been so very good in directing our steps and taking care of all those minute details along the way! No, its not all fun and games but there is so much more that could have gone wrong and hasn’t! He is faithful!

We had two train switches from Stratford to Holyhead where we needed to catch the ferry to cross to Dublin. Shrewsbury was a cute little place and it wasn’t hard to pass an hour waiting here.

Random beauty abounds if you open your eyes to see it.

We traveled up through Wales and officially decided that Welsh is the strangest language we’ve ever seen. Yes, this is the name of a town that we stopped at. Anyone want to attempt a pronunciation? Also, the countryside up here was very pretty. It actually reminded us a lot of Holmes County. 🙂

We arrived in Holyhead in perfect time to check in for our ferry and then go aboard. It was just a tad windy on the upper deck but we just had to get some sea wind in our lungs. 🙂

The three hour ride went by quite quickly. There were nice couches to lounge on, a café if you fancied some food and plenty of entertainment if you needed something to do. I had my nose deep in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and couldn’t look about much until I’d finished it up.

And then we arrived in Dublin! After some asking around and exchanging enough British Pounds to Euro for a bus fare we arrived in City Center. Our hostel was just around the corner from the bus drop off which was quite a lovely treat after having to walk many miles to our rooms the last few nights.

We checked in and then headed out to explore a bit before dark. We found the River Liffey and ate our authentic Subway food along the promenade and had some fun with photography before heading back in to attempt some communication with folks back home and get packed up to head out in the morning.

The River Liffey is beautiful at night with the city lights reflecting off it. And to top it off, we were blessed with some amazing Ireland clouds.

Really, if you have the chance sometime, do stay in a hostel. It is quite interesting what a different atmosphere is there. Like a small world of its own. And most of the people that stay there are of a type of their own too. 🙂 Its been a good experience for the most part, one just needs to be prepared to get kicked out of their comfort zone at times. 🙂

We headed to the airpot on Thursday morning to meet the dear and wonderful third part of our party. Teneika arrived safe and sound. T’was so very good to see her and its been grand to have her with us! We headed straight from the airport to the train station. None of us were very anxious to spend extra time in Dublin. The small towns are so much more genial and to our liking.

And thus began a wonderful adventure in Ireland! I’ll tell you about it soon. 🙂