Leaving Clonmel for Inis Mor, Galway and Cork

10/04/2011
The morning we were meant to leave Clonmel for Aran via Galway the O’dwyers offered to take me by St Patricks Well. It’s a beautiful little Natural Spring with a well and what remains of an old church building.  When we arrived we hurried down by the well, and a man offered me his stainless steel mug to drink from the well so I did. Had to get in there and have the complete authentic experience didn’t I. it was lovely and fresh water. While we sat a little longer and soaked up surroundings we watched locals come and collect some water, and a group of four girls sit in the spring water to relieve their muscle pain – we asked (because they looked funny), and they had played their hurling final the day before and we’re set to back it up for another comp today.


Man at St Patricks Spring, Ready to Give Me a Drink

  

St Patricks Spring.



The girls 'Chilling' their sore legs



Jeanette haveing her drink too

Just in time we rushed back to collect Gemma then off to the bus farewells weren’t long as we were going to be back in a couple of days.

The bus was heading to Galway where we caught another bus to the dock where the ferry was waiting to take us to Inis Mor` which is part of the Aran islands.

Gemma asleep on the bus

Again getting off the ferry walking to our hostel, Gemma had stated that she knew exactly where we were going. And again I questioned her navigation yet she managed to get us there.  The Mainistir house. Which is the only place Gemma has ever stayed when visiting Aran (she’s been 3 times now) and this hostel had a grand reputation for dinners. The amount of times Gemma had mentioned the magnificent ‘slightly vegetarian’ dinner (Full Chicken Roast) she had been served last time; it was like I had already been there. When she would talk up the chef I would often comment saying that she is raising my expectations and knowing our luck there is prob* a new chef and it’s not going to be quite the same. Our luck indeed… although it was the same chef working at the hostel, dinner was not being served on Sunday night. Unfortunately, as we were only staying there for the one night I have not experienced this Impeccable slightly vegetarian dinner. I guess that’s just an excuse to return. In the hunt for food we swiftly made our way down the road to the local pub where I managed to eat an entire beef burger, chips and half of Gemma’s pasta dish – Later realising that that was enough food to technically feed At least 6 of me’s ( using the ‘servings should be the size of your fist’ rule). To use Jason’s words… it was the biggest itis ever!  we were lucky to be again entertained by some locals playing music in the pub. Defiantly something we enjoy!

11/04/2011
In the morning we woke and had breakfast with a wonderful view across the water. Homemade muesli, a range of toast and Jam and a pot of tea for gem, a pot of coffee for me.  After breakfast we strolled back into town to hire bikes for the day. You know how to ride a bike Gemma would ask me… yes I know how to ride a bike I would tell her. Picking up lunch and snacks for the day we headed for Dún Aonghasa. We soon discovered that although I can ride a bike… riding a bike up slight hills doesn’t last long and it tends to kill me. It was a lot of fun to ride around the island though, seeing the country side and the beach and all the sweet old houses. Soon after us, a group of tourists arrived at Dún Aonghasa, so we lagged behind trying to avoid their crowd. As Gemma likes to quote “I am a discerning traveller, you are visitors; and they are Tourist” (side note: don’t call yourself a traveller when you’re in Ireland, you don’t want people to think you’re a gypsy).

After Dún Aonghasa, we followed our bike map towards a different rock cliff. This route was marked by small painted arrows and little ‘man walking’ pictures. We managed to find this hidden landscape of waves crashing and rock cliffs and took a moment to soak up the sun and capture the waves crashing. With an hour or so left before our ferry back to Galway, we rode back to town, collecting our bags before popping in to a few of the souvenir stores. I was on the lookout for an Aran original knit in some form; but I was on a budget and very picky.

In Galway we stayed in Nimmos Hostel which is the north end of town. This hostel was not like the others we had been in… upon arrival, after telling the attendant that we had a booking for 2, he had me write my name in a book and then just showed us our room. (Nice modern booking system they had) this room had 11 beds yet we were the only ones in it, which is something we seem to be blessed with often (means we are able to steal other beds blankets or matrasses like Gemma did this time), yet was especially lucky this time (or pointless?) as the rooms did not have locks. Most wouldn’t be comfortable with this but we just pad locked our bags to the bed and went and got dinner. From our room we could hear music playing… as we rather like Irish pub music if you haven’t yet noticed; so we followed the sound to the building next door. Jukebox gypsies, a band of 5 playing as we arrived, followed by an individual artist – Bill Coleman. We really enjoyed both as they played their own songs and were greatly enthusiastic.

Sleeping Well with our extra matrasses and linen we checked out and wondered Galway city. Shop street mostly, although veering off to find quaint boutiques or antique shops. In this vibrant city we enjoyed pausing for a moment to listen and watch buskers draw in a crowd as they play covers. By this point I had made a conclusion that all Irish people could sing well – yet feared that the next time I heard an Irishmen sing I would be disappointed and they would ruin the wonderful image in my mind. Yet to be disappointed – so if your Irish and you can’t sing well don’t let me knowJ, in the interest of national image.

 

12/04/2011

Another bus trip down south to Cork, we stayed with the Fenton-Leogues for two nights. It’s nice Staying with Families like the O’dwyers and the Fenton-Leogues because they make you feel comfortable and very homely; especially with their wonderful cooking!

Exploring Cork City, Emmett took us on a tour of the University of Cork City (it makes you Jealous when you see a school with SOOO much history and old architecture), we then walked to the Cork Tourism information centre to look for things to do, hopefully free! We were in luck because there was a live life learn festival on and everything was Free! There we met up with Ben and Shannon, who had just arrived in cork, fresh off the plane, back packs and all. We decided to go to the Cork Museum which was interesting... they even had a section for Gemma on gypsies/Travelers; we then had lunch in the English Market – Quaint little place that was! ; and returned to the university to participate in an art workshop in the uni Art Gallery (yes that’s right UCC have their own Prestigious Art Gallery); after the gallery Gemma and I fare welled Ben and Shannon and scurried to the other end of town to join in on a cooking demonstration – today we were learning how to make scones and use the same recipe to make a pizza base. The Most exciting part about that part of the day was when the lady said she would “put on a pot of tea and we’ll all sit in the next room and eat our scones”! (WIN FREE FOOD!). We were most excited about our event filled day, being able to do lots of different things and all for FREE! Love Cork!