One Month Later

My gawd, time flies.

Ireland Part II
After our car mishap, we drove north to the town of Bushmills in County Antrim. We found our B&B just before dark. Since we hadn’t eaten, our host recommended a great restaurant in town. Hunger won out over my desire not to drive my rental wreck around in the dark in unfamiliar places. At the restaurant we waited so long for our table that they ended up giving us a nice bottle of wine and desserts on the house. And the meal turned out to be one of the best I had in Ireland.

While we were waiting, we drank and made friends with a couple in the bar. Very, very nice, friendly people. They visit the US two or three times a year to watch their son play golf. I owe his mum an email along with the photos I took of us.

The next day we saw the Giant’s Causeway. Fantastic, amazing natural wonder. I took the bus down the cliff road to the shore to view the site. Mel and her sister took the long hike from the top. I’d fallen on my knee (for the second time in two weeks) in Dublin and was saving myself for the clutch since I was the only one driving. After, we went to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Mel and T took the 2 mile hike out to the bridge and went across while I snoozed in the car. Iwas exhausted from having tossed and turned all night before. I’d even missed breakfast to try to get in a few hours sleep.

We stopped at Dunluce Castle before heading west to Balleybofey area in County Donegal. Beautiful castle. Then, after a 3 hour drive, we arrived at our B&B. I begged to stay in for the evening instead of going out for dinner. It had a nice sitting room and the proprietess had offered sandwiches. Mel was determined that I get some sleep before the long drive south the next day. I get constipated while traveling too. So between that, the sore knee and lack of sleep, I was a mess. I shit you not. 😉

Some drunken asshole woke me up at 3am as he stood in the hall outside my door (his room was across from mine) and yelled down the hallway at his friend. So much for uninterrupted, quality sleep.

The next morning it was pouring as we ate breakfast. We were planning to go up the road to see Beltany stone circle. After breakfast we sort of puttered around and took our time getting our stuff back into the car. The downpour continued. Not a bad thing really, as I was gripped with a bout of diarrhea after breakfast and took small catnaps between trips to the bathroom. I am now starting day four of inadequate rest, intestinal distress, a fucked-up knee and general driving stress.

The rain started to abate so we set off. By the time we parked and hiked up the access road to the stone circle, the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. The stone circle was situated on the top of a hill in a sheep pasture. The view was breathtaking and the place was so magical, so full of spirit. We could have spent all day up there. To be in the Beltany stone circle on May day was the biggest highlight of the trip for us.