IRELAND and SCOTLAND - Days 1 and 2 - October 1-2, 2023

IRELAND and SCOTLAND, finally! - Day 1 - October 1, 2023

Back in early 2019, our good friends, Laura and Paul, began planning with Karen for our three week automobile tour of Ireland and Scotland. In early 2020, the plans were complete and we were scheduled to begin our trip in April of 2020. When the world shut down for the pandemic, our travel plans went on hiatus.

After painstakingly reconstructing the travel planning earlier this year, Laura and Karen got us on track to try again. 

We landed in Dublin, Ireland this morning at 4:30am local time a little bleary-eyed from the 12 hours of airline travel. 

The first order of business was to figure out whether we could really fit all our luggage into the rental vehicle we’d reserved online. Our rental agent took a look at what we had and immediately recommended an upgrade to a larger car. We spent some time going back and forth about insurance and other optional add-on’s (up charges) and finally loaded up for the drive to our hotel.

On the surface, operating a right-hand-drive vehicle and driving on the left-hand side of the road seems pretty straightforward. Settling into the driver’s seat and getting your 55+ years of driving muscle memory to perform in a mirror image environment is, however, a different matter. Speaking of mirrors, for some reason the hardest thing for me to do was to look up to the left to see the windshield rear view mirror - it just doesn’t seem natural. Doing my training drive in the pre-dawn darkness of a major city only served to complicate matters. Luckily, it was Sunday morning and there was very little traffic as we wove our way through the urban maze of foreign motorways, roundabouts, leafy neighborhood streets and downtown avenues. Karen was able to google some helpful solutions for understanding the confusing array of road and street signage (much of which is well camouflaged to the untrained eye), while Paul gave out GPS instructions (we learned at dinner tonight that Laura was actually nodding off to sleep during the drive, while the rest of us were operating on an extra dose of adrenaline) and we somehow made it to our hotel.

It was, obviously, too early to check in but we were able to park at the hotel. The old town section of Dublin was only a 20 minute walk, so we set off to see some sights. The sun was still below the eastern horizon as we walked up Mount Street past Merrion Square, the Oscar Wilde memorial, the National Gallery and Trinity College. The streets were virtually deserted as the sky gradually brightened. It turned out to be a very pleasant and dry day in the city. By the time we got to the River Liffey and the Ha’Penny Bridge, the city was beginning to wake up.

We checked out the touristy Temple Bar district, which was still sleeping off the previous Saturday night. Most businesses were either closed or just preparing to open up. We took in the sights in the ‘cathedral district’, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, and St. Audden’s Cathedral. Coming from California, where something from the early to mid 20th century is considered ‘old’, it’s pretty striking to see city sites that have been around for many hundreds of years.

Working our way back to our hotel, we found a little cafe for a quick breakfast (or, was it lunch? or dinner?). It was easy to get in a nap once we checked into our room. We met in the hotel bar for a couple of drinks and a bite to eat later this evening and turned in early to rest up for tomorrow.

NEXT: South to the Copper Coast, Waterford Greenway, Comeragh Mountains.

I TOLD EWE SO!, WHERE THE FLOCK ARE WE?, PUB JAM - Day 2 - October 2, 2023

 Monday morning in the business district (starting a block away from our hotel) is the polar opposite of a lazy Sunday. When we went out to load up the car, the streets, sidewalks, and bike lanes were filled with commuters and students. Getting out of the city was a little more challenging than yesterday. Our plan was to hit the motorway and head south to the coastal town of Dungarvan to connect with the Comeragh Mountain Road loop.

The M9 motorway is pretty much a multi-lane freeway, except for the periodic roundabouts that pop up every so often. Coming up on one of these after cruising along at 120kph requires an increased level of attention. 

It was good to get out into the countryside and soon the landscape turned into lush green pastures divided by stone walls and hedgerows. We hit a few rain squalls along the way, but we’ve really been lucky to have mostly dry weather with mild temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s.

Dungarvan is a quaint little seaside town that served as the starting point for our trip into the Comeragh Mountains. These are really more like hills (at least compared to our California mountains), but they are quite scenic. Much of the lower elevation is covered with ferns, which at this time of the year are dying out to a golden or reddish brown color.

We quickly went from multi-lane roads to single lane roads with tall hedgerows on either side. It was like driving in a winding trench. Visibility up ahead was essentially non-existent. Occasional oncoming traffic kept me on high alert. Beyond the hedgerows and stone walls, we could see hundreds of sheep and cattle grazing in green pastures.

As we gained elevation, the hedgerows disappeared and we entered open grazing areas covered with ferns. For miles around you could see the white figures of sheep wandering around among the dense fern growth. It wasn’t long before we encountered sheep on the road and it was up to us to yield the right of way to them. Laura became our official sheep photographer today. She was so caught up in it that she vowed to photograph at least one sheep each day for the remainder of our trip. There was even talk of a 2024 calendar featuring these photos.

There’s no way we could have ever found our way up these mountains without GPS. Paul was doing a great job as navigator. However, I continued to be challenged by following directions. The main goal of today’s drive was to see Mahon Falls. We came to a fork in the road and I made a wrong turn and before long we were going in circles. The bad news was that we used up some extra time. The good news was that Laura got some extra sheep photos! Karen knowingly nodded to Paul - she had seen this movie before…

Mahon Falls comes down steeply out of the mountains into a stream that empties into a valley heading in the general direction of the nearby coast. The rugged hills surrounding it were dotted with grazing sheep. We shared the 4km walking trail to the falls with the sheep. We snapped a few photos and by then it was after 4pm. The sky was darkening and we decided to work our way back up north to the village of Mullinavat, where we plan to stay for the next two nights.

It was close to 6pm when we pulled into the Garrandarragh Inn. While on our drive, we did an internet search for the best pubs in town. It turns out that one of them is the Rising Sun, which is part of the inn. According to Richard, our host and proprietor, the main building, including the pub, dates to the mid-1600’s.

We had a great dinner and drinks in the pub. On the way back to our room, I ran into Richard. He is around the same age as us and has a successful engineering company with operations in both Europe and the U.S. He said he lived in Chicago for over 20 years and that one of his sons is now a U.S. citizen. He operates the inn as a labor of love. 

I noticed a few guitars leaning on a stairway in the lobby and asked Richard if he played. He said he played a little bit and when he found out that I played, he said I needed to experience the true flavor of local pub life by coming back down to the bar later in the evening to play some music. He said that one of the more colorful locals was there and had his penny whistle ready to play.

Colorful does not begin to describe this local man. His name is Jimmy Moffat (see photo below of a painting of him in his earlier years). He had obviously had more than a few drams of whiskey, and was feeling no pain. His grizzled looks and mostly unintelligible speech completed the picture of what many might consider the stereotypical bar ‘regular’. Everyone knew him and some of his friends could even (some of the time) understand what he was saying. 

After stirring his penny whistle in his whiskey glass (to get a better tone?), he started playing some Irish airs and I joined in the best I could. We had a great time playing for the small gathering, who requested and sang along to various tunes by Kris Kristofferson, Elvis, Marty Robbins and others. Karen came downstairs in time to sit down beside the 500 year old fireplace and see some of this. She and I were offered drinks by the locals, but it was getting late, and we have to get up early tomorrow, so we graciously declined. 

Next: E-bike ride on Waterford Greenway