Aug 05, 2012

Snippets / Memories / Photos of the day:



Bunratty Castle.

• Waking to leaden skies but no rain until late in the day and then only a little so no wet weather gear until then.
• Enjoyed our stroll around the Bunratty Folk Park and getting a snapshot view of village life from times gone by.
• Enjoyed the smell of peat burning and seeing soda bread being made and hearing snippets of ancient lives.
• Our walk through Bunratty Castle gave us an idea of how the castle shell we explored yesterday should have looked. Very impressively restored.



The Cliffs of Moher.

• Winding through farming communities and up and down hills.
• Seeing lots of new build houses still (mainly around villages).
• Also seeing a good number of abandoned projects partly built apartment buildings and houses as well as many empty shops / factory buildings. Very sad.



Street view in Doolin, enjoyed some yummy soup at O’Connor’s Pub.

• Incredibly dramatic outlook along the Cliffs of Moher. Wouldn’t have had to worry about being invaded from there!
• HUGE visitor centre at the Cliffs.
• Incredibly inhospitable farmland with large amounts of rock strewn about and yet huge numbers of little cottages and larger houses dotted all over the hilly surrounds.



The Poulnabrone Dolmen Portal Tomb (Needless to say from ancient times)

• From here on we came across more and more fields of limestone!
• Miles and miles of stony fields separated by stone walls and practically no grass within them the higher the attitude.
• Disbelief that people would claim such land! Must have been / be a tough existence.
• Surprisingly substantial homes lower down the ‘bald’ hills.
• Enjoyable walk through the Ailwee Limestone Caves.



Limestone fields looking across to a limestone hill and the contrast to farmland as we get lower.

Bits and Bobs:

Since we have been in Ireland we have been aware of a great absence of trucks on roads, and I’m not referring to little country lanes then the day before yesterday we spotted a truck yard / depot with big numbers of curtain sided trailers parked up. A reflection of the economy perhaps.

Irish communities give the appearance of being very self-sufficient. Most either have or are close to an active fishing village and all the restaurants / cafes proudly boast they serve local produce only. Some large hotel chains advertise they have their own market gardens. Possibly historically something they have had to be.

The town of Tralee we rode through yesterday was interesting. It had architecture examples from the ancient to modern and everything in between but it seemed to work.

Last nights’ Accommodation:

Bunratty Castle Hotel, Bunratty, Ireland

Beautiful and spacious room in a beautifully decorated and maintained building. Gracious public spaces and grounds. Staff very obliging food delicious. A spa on site also so catering for all sorts of tastes. Would be happy to come back here again.



Bunratty Castle Hotel (well part of it – 145 rooms and conference spaces for up to 300 as well).