We loaded up the Rover and left Glengariff behind. We couldn't hear Darren over the microphone, so we had no idea where we were headed, but we didn't really care. Everywhere we ended up was beautiful, so why sweat the details?
We drove through the green hills and along the coast. Down in the water we could see buoys, hundreds of them, which Darren explained was an oyster farm. I didn't even know you could farm oysters!
Eventually, we stopped in a quaint little village to buy picnic lunches.
We scrambled out of the car, and Darren told us to be back in 20 minutes. I knew this group wouldn't return for at least 45 minutes--I'd describe them as fun and happy, but not necessarily punctual.
We poured into the tiny little grocery store, all loud Americans running in 10 different directions but still crashing into each other. We raced down the snug aisles, marvelling at all the Irish products. (The cheese aisle--oh man, I could've died happily snacking there!) Somehow, the whole group congregated in front of the deli counter, where Linda was pointing at some filled-bread item and asking the counter lady, "What is that? I don't want it, but what is it?"
Amber and I ran up each aisle like we were on a game show. (It was pure excitement--not like the tour was gonna leave without us!) After perusing every shelf, we finally filled our little basket with salami, jam, chips, water, fruit and cookies. We were almost done, until we saw the racks of fresh bread and pastries. Big round loaves, long skinny baguettes, fat little sandwich rolls. Amber and I squealed over all of it, and in our excitement, I accidentally knocked a roll onto the floor.
I picked it up, but there was nowhere to put it.
"I'll bring it to the cashier," I told Amber. Surely she'd know what to do with it.
We met up with the group at the check out line. Everyone had huge baskets of good stuff, but Linda--not so much. She dumped her items onto the belt, and Amber scoffed.
"Linda!" she chided. "Are you seriously just buying candy and soda??"
"Margie bought the sandwich stuff," Linda said, pointing at her sister-in-law. Amber and I just looked at each other, and made a mental note to feed Linda something sugar-free.
I handed over my fallen roll, explaining to the cashier that I didn't know what to do with it. I thought she'd throw it away, but later, at lunch, I realized she'd rung it up and put it in the bag with the other rolls. Amber and I just shrugged and took our chances--hopefully, we chose rolls that hadn't hit the floor.
Once everyone returned, we headed for our next stop, Dunboey Castle. We turned off the main road, and 4-wheeled it through a forest, down a bumpy dirt road. There was a giant fancy castle on our right, but apparently, that wasn't the one we were looking for. Instead, we drove past it, stopping only when the road ran out in front of the forest.
We climbed out and admired the view. There was a lake directly below us, which was gorgeous. And we were even more thrilled that for the first time in Ireland, we got out to hike and it did NOT rain on us!
Darren led us over a rocky path toward a crumbling building, explaining that this was the actual castle. I was somewhat confused, but whatever--castle ruins are more fun than a real castle anyway. We immediately clambered up the hills, over the rocks, and explored the area.
Darren gave us a brief history of the castle, and I felt a little sorry for him. He was like a college history professor trying to educate a bunch of squirrelly kindergartners who were climbing on the castle and pretending to shoot arrows like Katniss Everdeen.
He finally gave up and pointed us toward a hiking path. He said we should start and he'd meet up with us in a bit.
That caught our attention! We were used to Bébhinn taking charge--she always led us. (Or maybe, she didn't trust us not to get lost or fall off a cliff--whatever, we still felt better being with a fearless leader who actually knew the land.)
But we followed Darren's directions, and set out on the "coastal walk" around the castle grounds.
It was beautiful--soon enough, we were smack in the middle of the forest.
We hiked out of the trees, and along the path toward the bay. I love this photo, because it's what I'll always think of when I recall my favorites memories of Ireland--hiking some beautiful trail with all my wonderful new friends. Friendship and beauty, that's what this picture says to me, and it's the best thing I brought home from Ireland.
The forest opened up to the bay, where it was obviously low-tide. I just loved all the greenery--so very different from the dry, golden landscapes back home.
We hiked through more trees. The forest was quiet, except for the gravel crunching beneath our shoes, and beautiful. It really was a magical place.
And then, at the end of the hike, another surprise--a shipwreck! I'm not even sure how that boat got in there, but it must've been a higher tide than this.
After our hike through the forest, we climbed back in to the Vagatron and continued on along the Beara Peninsula, still unsure of where, exactly, we were going, but certainly enjoying the ride.
We drove through little towns, which gave way to the occasional house, and then, after a while, nothing but rolling green hills and super twisty little roads. The roads--heck, the whole peninsula!--seemed completely empty. Every once in a while, a little car would come whipping around the corner, but our car was much bigger, so they always gave way. The roads were too small for tour buses, so it was really cool to be out in the middle of nowhere with no one else around.
While coming out of one little valley, we saw a group of brightly-colored homes off in the distance. We scrambled to take terrible photos (the car was bumping along and the houses were far away), not realizing we were heading directly to the village.
The town was just adorable--we passed a real-life cobbler's house to get to it! (Seriously, a COBBLER!) The colors were even brighter up close, and we were all panting to get out and look around. But Darren drove on, and we all sat back down in our seats.
About five minutes later, Darren suddenly stopped the car in the middle of the road, and motioned for us to get out. We were totally confused, but we got out, and brought our lunches with us. Darren pointed to a small gate, and said he'd meet us on the hike after he parked the car.
No one was really sure where to go, but we passed through the gate, and along the path. Once again, Brian and Margie held out their hands and helped us all cross over a small creek, reminding me why I loved them. They are just such good, kind people!
We followed the path, past colorful flowering bushes, up and over boulders, and eventually into this beautiful clearing. It was just so spectacular that we all stopped, gasped at the beauty and declared this our picnic spot. It was the most beautiful lunch location of our whole trip!
Darren caught up to us, a bit surprised we'd stopped where we did.
"There are some pretty sea arches just up a bit," he said, but we'd already unpacked and started in on the lunches. We were totally happy where we were.
After lunch, we did go exploring, though. Ashley, Mary, and George headed up the hill to see the arches, while Brian and Ben went down toward the water, finding a cave below. We knew they found a cave because we could no longer hear them scrambling about and laughing, which made us a little nervous. Then, suddenly, we heard a giant "WOOOOOOOO!" echoing through the rocks, and they yelled, "We found a caaaaaaaaave!"
They howled again, and the next thing I knew, here comes Ashley, running down the hill at breakneck speed.
"Where are they?" she asked, excitedly. "I wanna go, I wanna go!" And then she ran down the hill to find them.
I was cracking up--she heard them calling, and came running. Ashley didn't want to be left out of anything, let alone something as exciting as a cave!
Amber and I walked up to the hill in search of the arches. We weren't sure what to expect, really, so when we saw it, it took our breath away.
The sea arch! We were standing on the very edge of it (see where those flowers end? Sharp drop below into the ocean!), which was scary and exhilarating all at once. It was gorgeous! And BIG, much bigger than this photo gives it credit. Here's the view from that arch to the first arch we were standing on...look how little Margie and Mary are!
We spent a lot of time up there. We realized this is probably where Darren intended us to have lunch, if our group hadn't stubbornly staked their claim below. But we were here now, and we reveled in feeling like we were on top of the world. We could see the Skellig Islands far out in the ocean, and the various group members scattered all over. I don't know what it was about that day--the gorgeous hikes, the beautiful views, the comradery of being cooped up together in a Land Rover for a week, but it all came together that day, and I just felt good. Like everything was as it should be--I was here with my new family, in a place that far exceeded my hopeful expectations, and I was just happy. Everything was right in the world, and my heart was bursting. It was an amazing feeling.
Eventually, we had to move on. Darren pulled the Land Rover into the middle of the road again, we hopped in and off we went.
We were thrilled when Darren pulled back into the colorful little town of Alihies again. This time, he stopped and let us out--ostensibly, to use the bathrooms, but hey, the Craic Pack doesn't pass up a chance to scout around.
There were public restrooms, but they were tiny, and our group was not.
"I saw a pub over there," Linda whispered to me. "Let's go there."
I nodded, and we ran off. I could hear part of the group calling out to us to return, but I said, "Don't look back" to Linda and we ran off to the bright blue pub.
Eventually, we had to move on. Darren pulled the Land Rover into the middle of the road again, we hopped in and off we went.
We were thrilled when Darren pulled back into the colorful little town of Alihies again. This time, he stopped and let us out--ostensibly, to use the bathrooms, but hey, the Craic Pack doesn't pass up a chance to scout around.
There were public restrooms, but they were tiny, and our group was not.
"I saw a pub over there," Linda whispered to me. "Let's go there."
I nodded, and we ran off. I could hear part of the group calling out to us to return, but I said, "Don't look back" to Linda and we ran off to the bright blue pub.
Upon exiting the pub, Linda asked me the name of the town. I had no idea, but she remembered seeing a sign on our way into town.
"Yeah, but that was kinda far away," I said.
"I'm going for it," she said, looking around. I could see Darren peering over the Land Rover, looking for us, so I told Linda, "Be quick. And don't make eye contact with anyone!" She took off running, camera in hand.
A few minutes later, I accidentally caught Darren's eye, and he waved me over. I looked nervously to the left, but couldn't see Linda returning yet. So I nodded, pretended to tie my shoe, then slooooooowly wandered toward the car. I was hoping the group was not waiting on just me, but when I looked over toward the village basketball court, I saw Brian and Ben shooting hoops. That slowed my step considerably--it'd take more effort to get them off the court than it would take Linda to get back.
The funniest part was that as I waited for Linda, I looked around--and saw this on the public restroom wall!
It was a map with the name of the town--the very thing Linda ran off to find!
Suddenly, Linda came running up to me, waving her camera triumphantly.
"I got it!" she said. "The name of the town is--"
"Allihies?" I finished. She looked at me, I pointed to the sign on the wall, and we both collapsed into laughter.
Poor Darren finally rounded us all up again. "I have a surprise for you," he said, turning the Land Rover onto a narrow dirt road.
"Off roading!" we all screamed in delight. "We're going off roading!"
And indeed we were. Darren explained that these hills were old copper mines, now defunct. But the road was still there, so we took it, bumping over rocks and clinging to steep cliffs. For one scary minute, it seemed we might not make it up the mountain--the Land Rover whined helplessly and rolled back a bit. But Darren gunned it, the engine kicked in and we made it through the narrow pass.
This was our reward for making it over the pass--a sweeping view of the peninsula!
We also passed lots of sheep in the hills--some so close, you could reach out and grab them. (A suggestion I repeatedly made to Amber, sitting in the window seat, who only gave it a half-hearted effort.)
Eventually, we ran out of unpaved path, and Darren headed back to the winding main road. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we still had a couple more stops.
The first stop was the Uragh stone circle. Built thousands of years ago, the circle was ceremonial, sacred, a place for people to worship and leave offerings or prayers.
The stone circle was far off the road, on private farm land, which was gorgeous. We parked by a lake, and crossed over a little bridge. We walked up a hill, and then, from the top, we spotted the circle, with another lake and a series of waterfalls behind it.
We learned about the circle, admired the view and waterfalls, and then, of course, it started to rain on us, so we hiked back to the car. The view, overlooking a lake, was just as spectacular heading back.
We'd seen a lot, but now it was time to head to our final destination for the day--the lovely lakefront hotel in Gougane Barra. I'd been looking forward to visiting here, and it certainly didn't disappoint.
Due to our late arrival at the hotel, we only had 30 minutes to wander around before dinner. Amber and I were exhausted, and not thrilled to see the steep flight of stairs we had to carry our heavy suitcases up. But before we'd walked five steps, the proprietor, Neil, stepped up, grabbed our bags, and ran upstairs with them.
"What room?" he asked, and we told him 12. He was off in a flash!
We followed the hallway maze, turning left, then right. We walked down a long hallway, through a doorway, and then, to our surprise, saw our bags in front of our room--no Neil in sight!
We were literally two minutes behind him, but somehow, in those two minutes, Neil managed to dump our bags and completely disappear. Amber and I exchanged a look of amazement, surprise, and a little bit of fear. (Seriously...where'd he go???)
Before we could even unload our bags, Ashley was in our doorway, and she was not happy.
"My bed overlooks a GRAVEYARD!" she said. "I am NOT sleeping there tonight!"
We piled into her room, across the hallway from ours. She was right, there was a tiny graveyard with creepy tilted old headstones jutting out of the ground. It was your textbook haunted graveyard, and I was suddenly very grateful for our view of the lake.
I'm telling you, I am not a superstitious person (OK, yes, I totally am!), but that hotel, cute as it was, gave me the shivers. I'm convinced it is haunted, and it kinda freaked me out.
Due to our late arrival at the hotel, we only had 30 minutes to wander around before dinner. Amber and I were exhausted, and not thrilled to see the steep flight of stairs we had to carry our heavy suitcases up. But before we'd walked five steps, the proprietor, Neil, stepped up, grabbed our bags, and ran upstairs with them.
"What room?" he asked, and we told him 12. He was off in a flash!
We followed the hallway maze, turning left, then right. We walked down a long hallway, through a doorway, and then, to our surprise, saw our bags in front of our room--no Neil in sight!
We were literally two minutes behind him, but somehow, in those two minutes, Neil managed to dump our bags and completely disappear. Amber and I exchanged a look of amazement, surprise, and a little bit of fear. (Seriously...where'd he go???)
Before we could even unload our bags, Ashley was in our doorway, and she was not happy.
"My bed overlooks a GRAVEYARD!" she said. "I am NOT sleeping there tonight!"
We piled into her room, across the hallway from ours. She was right, there was a tiny graveyard with creepy tilted old headstones jutting out of the ground. It was your textbook haunted graveyard, and I was suddenly very grateful for our view of the lake.
I'm telling you, I am not a superstitious person (OK, yes, I totally am!), but that hotel, cute as it was, gave me the shivers. I'm convinced it is haunted, and it kinda freaked me out.
Amber and I ditched the unpacking in favor of exploring the grounds. We walked by the lake, stopping to ooh and ahh over the sweet little chapel on the lake:
We wandered past a small sports field occupied by a dad, his son, and a couple sheep. We hurried past the creepy graveyard, and ended up over by the chapel. We looked at the old crosses, and finally ended up along the river, where we tried to take a selfie.
Ashley was across the yard from us, and when she saw us in selfie-mode, she sighed loudly. Poor girl watched us try to master the selfie and fail miserable all week. (I'm sorry, this is just not a skill anyone over 30 years old has.) Silently, Ashley walked over to us, and put out her hand, motioning for my smartphone. I handed it over, she aimed it at us, and took this picture.
Then, after giggling at herself, she actually took our photo, too. (But I like Ashley's mischievous prank picture better!)
Amber and took a few more photos, including the inside and outside of the chapel, and a lake monster before heading back to dinner.
Amber and took a few more photos, including the inside and outside of the chapel, and a lake monster before heading back to dinner.
The hotel was booked solid, and had only one restaurant, which is why we had to make it to dinner on time. The restaurant was nice, fancier than most of the places we'd eaten (save for the castle), but the menu looked amazing, if a bit complicated.
Neil returned, and tried to explain the menu to us. It was a complicated series of if > then>price combinations--if you order an entree, then the price is this much. If you order an entree but no appetizer and an entree and wine, it's this much. If you don't want an appetizer, but you do want wine and an entree with dessert, it's this much. I finally gave up and just told Neil what I wanted--I really didn't care how much it cost!
The dinner, however, was FABULOUS. Turns out Neil's wife is a well-known and very talented chef, and the food really showed that. The desserts were equally beautiful, although Ashley opted to eat the solid chunks of crystallized brown sugar directly from the sugar bowl. (Amber and I tried them too--they tasted like rock candy.)
Someone commented on how dark it was outside, and George joked that we should start a rumor about a ghost woman who appeared lakeside every evening. He was joking around, but Neil gave him a very serious look, then quickly moved away. It freaked us all out, because in our version, the ghost was purely fictional. We were really looking for Neil to laugh and tell us how outrageous that was, but his silence told us something far scarier!
Everybody was a little melancholy after dinner. It was our last night on tour together, and the whole group was really sad about it. We hated to say goodbye, to each other and to Ireland.
So we didn't, just yet. Instead, we convened in the lounge just outside the tiny pub. Amber and I ordered a round of beer from an adorable but seriously young barkeep. (I may or may not have questioned whether he was old enough to serve alcohol.) He filled our Guinness glasses, let them rest, then topped them off and set them on the bar.
My glass immediately slid away! I am not even joking, he set it down, and it moved a good foot away from me.
"Did you see that?" I said to Amber, who simply nodded, equally shocked.
I moved the beer back, and it slid away again! And then for a third time!
"I'm telling you, this place is HAUNTED!" I told Amber, and she said, "I know!"
We moved the chairs into a circle in the lounge, and went around the group, re-living our favorite memories from the trip. Ashley took some panoramic pictures, trying to get the whole circle in, when Brian declared that he wanted to be in the photo twice--once at the beginning and once at the end.
And so he was. He sat with me on the left side, then ran behind Ashley as she panned to the right. She got to Nate, the last person on the right, and suddenly, there was Brian again. We were cracking up and encouraging Brian, so he decided he wanted to be in the photo THREE times.
He started with me again, ran behind chairs to the middle of the photo, and then froze, realizing there were no chairs to hide behind as he raced to the last place. So instead, he dropped to the floor, crawled across the carpet like a giant toddler, and then bounced up into the chair just as Ashley finished panning. I thought we were all gonna bust a gut, we were laughing so hard and so loudly.
But he did it--here is King Brian defying the laws of time, space, and photography.
Neil returned, and tried to explain the menu to us. It was a complicated series of if > then>price combinations--if you order an entree, then the price is this much. If you order an entree but no appetizer and an entree and wine, it's this much. If you don't want an appetizer, but you do want wine and an entree with dessert, it's this much. I finally gave up and just told Neil what I wanted--I really didn't care how much it cost!
The dinner, however, was FABULOUS. Turns out Neil's wife is a well-known and very talented chef, and the food really showed that. The desserts were equally beautiful, although Ashley opted to eat the solid chunks of crystallized brown sugar directly from the sugar bowl. (Amber and I tried them too--they tasted like rock candy.)
Someone commented on how dark it was outside, and George joked that we should start a rumor about a ghost woman who appeared lakeside every evening. He was joking around, but Neil gave him a very serious look, then quickly moved away. It freaked us all out, because in our version, the ghost was purely fictional. We were really looking for Neil to laugh and tell us how outrageous that was, but his silence told us something far scarier!
Everybody was a little melancholy after dinner. It was our last night on tour together, and the whole group was really sad about it. We hated to say goodbye, to each other and to Ireland.
So we didn't, just yet. Instead, we convened in the lounge just outside the tiny pub. Amber and I ordered a round of beer from an adorable but seriously young barkeep. (I may or may not have questioned whether he was old enough to serve alcohol.) He filled our Guinness glasses, let them rest, then topped them off and set them on the bar.
My glass immediately slid away! I am not even joking, he set it down, and it moved a good foot away from me.
"Did you see that?" I said to Amber, who simply nodded, equally shocked.
I moved the beer back, and it slid away again! And then for a third time!
"I'm telling you, this place is HAUNTED!" I told Amber, and she said, "I know!"
We moved the chairs into a circle in the lounge, and went around the group, re-living our favorite memories from the trip. Ashley took some panoramic pictures, trying to get the whole circle in, when Brian declared that he wanted to be in the photo twice--once at the beginning and once at the end.
And so he was. He sat with me on the left side, then ran behind Ashley as she panned to the right. She got to Nate, the last person on the right, and suddenly, there was Brian again. We were cracking up and encouraging Brian, so he decided he wanted to be in the photo THREE times.
He started with me again, ran behind chairs to the middle of the photo, and then froze, realizing there were no chairs to hide behind as he raced to the last place. So instead, he dropped to the floor, crawled across the carpet like a giant toddler, and then bounced up into the chair just as Ashley finished panning. I thought we were all gonna bust a gut, we were laughing so hard and so loudly.
But he did it--here is King Brian defying the laws of time, space, and photography.
However, turns out not everyone appreciates our group as much as we do. The young woman who'd checked us into the hotel entered the lounge and very quietly closed one of the pub doors on us.
We immediately stopped laughing, glanced around at each other, and then burst into hushed, uncontrollable giggles. We felt like school kids getting busted by the teacher.
A few minutes later, we realized why they shut it. We heard voices, angelic voices, rising up from behind the door, and it silenced us immediately. We looked at each other, puzzled, and then crept over to the door to see the angels singing.
We were surprised to see the singers--the front desk clerk, our dinner waitress, and the young bartender! Two held instruments, a guitar and a ukulele, which they strummed.
They were fantastic, and we were mesmerized. They finished their song, and we applauded them, then stood in the doorway for the next 15 minutes as they continued their hootenanny.
"Have you played together for very long?" we asked from the doorway, and they smiled.
"We're siblings," one girl told us. "This is my brother and sister."
"Ooooooh!" we said, and suddenly it all made sense, how Neil proudly kept telling us this was a family-run business.
We immediately stopped laughing, glanced around at each other, and then burst into hushed, uncontrollable giggles. We felt like school kids getting busted by the teacher.
A few minutes later, we realized why they shut it. We heard voices, angelic voices, rising up from behind the door, and it silenced us immediately. We looked at each other, puzzled, and then crept over to the door to see the angels singing.
We were surprised to see the singers--the front desk clerk, our dinner waitress, and the young bartender! Two held instruments, a guitar and a ukulele, which they strummed.
They were fantastic, and we were mesmerized. They finished their song, and we applauded them, then stood in the doorway for the next 15 minutes as they continued their hootenanny.
"Have you played together for very long?" we asked from the doorway, and they smiled.
"We're siblings," one girl told us. "This is my brother and sister."
"Ooooooh!" we said, and suddenly it all made sense, how Neil proudly kept telling us this was a family-run business.
They played a few more ballads--sad Irish tunes, of course, and then the more upbeat "Riptide" by Vance Joy on ukulele. We clapped after every song, and gushed about how wonderful they were. Purely by accident, we'd stumbled onto another Irish gem of a music session.
"Can we open the door now?" we asked after a while. "We promise we'll behave." They nodded shyly--we'd convinced them we weren't always raucous tourists.
We stayed another half hour or so, but then I scooted off to our room. Mark had returned home from summer camp that day, and I was eager to call him. I really missed that crazy kid.
However, the haunted hotel had other plans. My phone was dying, and I didn't want to disturb Amber, so I brought the phone and charger into to the library just outside our room. I tried to call a couple times with no luck, before realizing the hotel was really out in the middle of nowhere, and there was no chance I was gonna get a signal. I was about to try one last time, when I noticed a book right next to the phone charger--it was titled "Seances."
And that did it for me! I wasn't about to be caught alone in an empty library at midnight, haunted by ghosts I was convinced lived there. I grabbed up my phone and charger, and booked it back to the safety of my room. I've never been so glad to see Amber in my life!!!
Luckily, Amber was still awake and happy to recap our glorious day. By the time we finished re-telling it, I was no longer scared. We both drifted off to sleep on an Irish high (best vacation EVER!) and a simultaneous low (goodbye, Craic Pack!), but we slept soundly, and happily.
"Can we open the door now?" we asked after a while. "We promise we'll behave." They nodded shyly--we'd convinced them we weren't always raucous tourists.
We stayed another half hour or so, but then I scooted off to our room. Mark had returned home from summer camp that day, and I was eager to call him. I really missed that crazy kid.
However, the haunted hotel had other plans. My phone was dying, and I didn't want to disturb Amber, so I brought the phone and charger into to the library just outside our room. I tried to call a couple times with no luck, before realizing the hotel was really out in the middle of nowhere, and there was no chance I was gonna get a signal. I was about to try one last time, when I noticed a book right next to the phone charger--it was titled "Seances."
And that did it for me! I wasn't about to be caught alone in an empty library at midnight, haunted by ghosts I was convinced lived there. I grabbed up my phone and charger, and booked it back to the safety of my room. I've never been so glad to see Amber in my life!!!
Luckily, Amber was still awake and happy to recap our glorious day. By the time we finished re-telling it, I was no longer scared. We both drifted off to sleep on an Irish high (best vacation EVER!) and a simultaneous low (goodbye, Craic Pack!), but we slept soundly, and happily.
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