Movin' on up to the East Side

We finally ventured east on the green Isle. We had a four day journey planned with a multitude of stops along the way. The most exciting part was that we DIDN’T TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! Although he hadn’t driven stick shift in over 4 years, Mike got us from Galway to the East, Southeast and home, safely and without a scratch on the car. It takes a special Irish gene to be able to drive stick on windy narrow roads, of which you may have to dodge sheep, other cars and be able to not freak out when you can’t see around the myriad of curves because the bushes have grown about 10 feet high. Well, Mike’s Irish genes were shining brightly this weekend for sure! Although he was a great driver, managing the automatic windows was another thing. I was in stitches as he tried to crack his window a bit, but didn’t quite have the light touch to avoid the window going either completely up or down. It must have opened and closed at least a hundred times on the trip when all he wanted was a couple inches of air! I guess he’s been riding a bike too long now.


We had free tickets to the European Open at the K Club in Kildare about 20 min. west of Dublin. We stayed in a posh B&B, as it was the only one left, besides the Jacuzzi tub was certainly a draw. It looked over the country club and from the 2nd floor window we could watch the golfers on the 17th hole. We walked over to the club on Thursday morning as the first and only bit of sun was desperately peeking through the cloud laden sky. As soon as we got to the first hole the rain began and didn’t stop until evening. Despite the horrendous weather, chill, and the muddiest shoes you could imagine, we had a great time. Out motto became the deep thought by Jack Handy, “as the cool soft mud squished between my toes I thought, man, these aren’t very good shoes”. However, being within spitting distance of multiple golfers was so fun. Padraig Harrington, the Irish favourite, was one we tried to follow… as did EVERYONE else. We also kept tight on the trail of Nic Fasth, as a matter of fact, Mike had a lovely conversation with the bloke, and it went a little something like this: Mike-“Hey, nice putt” Nic- “Thanks”. Then about 7 holes later we saw him sneak into the woods for some relief… if you know what I mean. We even got a smile from David Frost! The tourney was fun, but we were disappointed that we never got a chance to see the eventual winner- ‘Monty’, the Scot, but Mike’s new friend Nic came in 2nd so we were proud of him for that.


That evening we drove to the Wicklow Mountains, known as “The Garden of Ireland”. The stunning landscape, cute little towns and breathtaking mountain scenery explains that name quite clearly. We made it to B&B #2 and collapsed on our bed after showering the mud off our shoes. Friday, after Michael’s 9 mile run for his marathon training, we explored Glendalough, which means Glen of two lakes. It is nestled between the greenest of mountains covered in grassiness and evergreen trees. Hiking around the place gives you a peace and a real “I love the outdoors” feeling. The history of the monastery located between the 2 lakes was fascinating, it was founded in the 9th century; those monks couldn’t have picked a more beautiful spot. We then hiked up to Poulanass Waterfall which rushes through many levels of the forest and shoots out like a waterslide at its first fall. We could have gazed at the view of the lake and mountains all day, but there was more exploration to do. We found a gorgeous exotic garden and walked about enjoying the variety of plants and colors. Mikes poor legs had enough by then after a 9 mile start and we just about fell asleep on a bench at one of the most scenic spots as we rested and took in the view.



We rambled south to Waterford next. The drive was so entertaining and my navigational skills were really challenged. Ireland rarely uses road names or road numbers except for on major roads, and as we looked at the map there are absolutely NO major roads from Wicklow to Waterford unless we were to go way out of our way. Following signs from town to town was our only means of knowing where to go. The drive never lacked amusement as we passed through towns with names like “Oola”, “Kilmacow” or “Mooncoin” I thought we were magically transported back to rural Georgia with the sounds of these places! Waterford was a nice city, fairly industrial though. The Crystal factory was more impressive than we expected. The process of making one piece is so laborious and calls for such skill that master crystal etchers go through more training than I did as an OT! We saw the whole process of glass blowing, cutting, carving and etching the glass. My appreciation of the pieces grew 10 fold after all that, and we wound up leaving with a bit less money than we started with.

Our final destination was Rock of Cashel- now here is a place with history! It began as a castle for kings starting around 360 AD and is said to be the place where St. Patrick plucked a shamrock to explain the Trinity and relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is also to have baptized and converted King Aenghus here. Oliver Cromwell did serious damage to this place, but there are still very well preserved ruins here, and even bits of the fresco in the chapel. The 800 year old stone roof of the chapel was very impressive to see; especially when we learned that is has yet to leak!

Our adventures were exciting and it was hard to leave them as we drove home. But we did manage a grocery run before bringing the car back to save Mike one less trek to the store on his bike and home again with his backpack full of produce!