Episode #6: 2006 Trip to Ireland Part 1

I wrote this note to Carol and the boys in one of the few sandy beaches we came across during my adventure trip to the Emerald Isle of Ireland

After talking about a hiking trip in Ireland for a long time, I can mark this long-awaited adventure off my bucket list. It was without a doubt a beautiful place to travel and visit, and also the folks there are very friendly and I am glad I went and I would love to return one day to see some of the things I missed on this trip.

Ireland has postcard-perfect landscape beauty, a very diverse lifestyle and I loved every minute of it, but it simply cannot compete head-to-head with the fairy tale beauty of New Zealand. With that being said Ireland does have its advantage over the more beautiful New Zealand. Primarily because of their centuries long battles and bloody history here, everywhere; every town, village and person I spoke with has a direct clan connection to this long and pugnacious past of Ireland.

For the trip I signed up for was to be spent in Ireland for only for 8 days and this itinerary was confined to the Dingle Peninsula area of the island on the south west tip, but everything I hear says that this is the prettiest area to hike and bike in Ireland, so I am convinced I am in the right place to see the best Ireland has to offer and I want to see more of Ireland than just that peninsula, so I scheduled a couple of extra days to explore on my own.

I land around 11:30 am in New York on Friday morning after a three and half hour flight from DFW International in Dallas. Since this international flight is scheduled as an over-night trip I have a seven-hour layover which is not really enough time to do any sightseeing due to the location of JFK airport and the traffic plus knowing I must be back to the airport at least two hours prior to the flight.

So I choose to stay in the airport and walk around this relatively small airport (compared to DFW) for hours and watch people as they travel. Some of these people are stressed out and in a hurry. Some have kids with them like on a family vacation scurrying around like they are trying herd cats. Then some are like me, and are leisurely walking and looking around. People are curious and fun to watch no doubt. Finally, the time comes and I board for the next leg of my trip and fortunately I have a nice smooth six-hour flight to Shannon Ireland.

Upon our arrival and after I clear customs, I find my way to baggage claim. Once this task is complete, my next order of business was to grab some breakfast. I find a restaurant that has an open table and decide on the full Irish breakfast, which will be my first.

All of my life I had eaten pudding and know it to be a snack or desert however it is a completely different food here. As I placed my order, I was asked if I wanted black or white pudding, which I supposed to mean vanilla or chocolate, that was an incorrect supposition.

Pudding here is a blood sausage and is available black or white. Once I found that out, I went down the middle and ordered 1 of each. As I ate my scrambled eggs and potato, I suddenly found myself repeating something I did as a kid before taking a bite of the pudding offerings, I smelled it first. They had a bit of a pungent smell and taste, but figured since these folks eat it all the time it shouldn't make me sick. Even so, I just took a bite of each just so I could say I did. They tasted like they smelled, about half soured and I left the rest on my plate.

After breakfast is over, I move on to my next challenge which was land transportation. I had decided early on that I would not be renting a car. For one reason, they drive on the wrong side of the road here, and I read that they have a substantial bus line and network throughout the island nation. Another reason was that I would not be back to Shannon until my trip concludes about nine days later and I would have no need for a car for the duration of the cycling trip I had signed up for. With all of this, I decide I will have the experience of the Irish transit system via their national bus line.

My main concern is that I find out that buses do not run very late in the evening and some of the connections are just a spot in the road. It takes many hours to get here as the bus stops at almost every village and hamlet along the way. Although I have no accommodations for the night, I do not want to be left out in the middle of nowhere. All goes well, a nice experience was had at the Cliffs even though it is nearing sunset when I arrive.  I catch the last bus out and decide to find someplace to sleep in the town of Limerick.

The morning I left for this trip I was up by 4:30 am and went to the office for a couple of hours prior to heading to the airport, and only caught a little nap here and there during the flight from New York to Shannon. By the time I get to Limerick, find a hotel, grab a shower then a late supper and hit the sack it is after 10:30 pm local time and I have only catnapped here and there for the past 36 hours and I am extremely tired!

I am scheduled to meet with the others in my group by 6:00 pm in the town of Dingle, so today is a free day for me as well. I walk from the hotel to the bus station to check the schedule to Dingle and find out that it is only about 45 miles from Limerick, but it will still take over 4 hours to get there. I buy my bus transfers and head to King John's Castle which is a short hike through Limerick from the bus station. I want to be sure I don't spend valuable time wandering around the town, so I ask this 'lad' I see sitting out side on the steps of the terminal building. Although he is speaking English I can just barely understand what he is saying to me and apparently the same is with him. Finally we talk long enough and I find out he is waiting there for someone and has 30-40 minutes so he says he will 'just walk me there'. I am thankful for his kindness and I take him up on his offer. So we walk and he 'talks' a lot and I mean a lot, rather, he mumbles a lot! I cannot understand one word this dude telling me. After several times of not understanding him and asking him to repeat, I simply nod my head and smile. When he asks a question and I do not answer, he would look up from his friendly muttering with a questioned look on his face, I knew then he had asked a question and then I simply reply with yet another 'I'm sorry, what was that again?'

I get to the castle just before 9:00 am and find out that is does not open until 9:30, so I walk around and take pictures of the area and landscape for a while. When it does open, I pay the ten Euros admission and just then begin to understand some of the detailed and troubled history of the Irish people. It is so interesting and more often than not Ireland was a warring, starving, and depressed nation yet I am strangely drawn to hear and take in as much as I can. I could sit and listen to these tales of history (told through video presentations as well as people that work in this castle/museum dressed in character) and their struggle for freedom and independence all day. The only problem is my bus leaves in just over two hours. One of the many things I learned of the castle era, was the trebuchet similar to the one in the picture below was the wartime tool that brought the previously indestructible castles to an end.

There is still so much to see and hear but I am out of time and I reluctantly leave the castle to get back to the hotel, check out and get my bags and hike back to the bus station before 11:30. I catch the Limerick bus, finally I make it to Tralee, change buses again then get to Dingle. I drag my bag and backpack down Main St looking for Upper Main. After a short hike I find out that Main and Upper Main are not the same. I go back where I started at the bus stop, hike up the hill to Upper Main (I guess it all makes sense now). I find the B&B where I am to meet the group, get checked in and thankfully I arrive on time.

As it turns out, the tour guide was on the same bus that I had been on from Limerick. We met at the B&B and recognized each other and chat for a bit. After I get checked in I came back to the lobby and Thierry is visiting with a lady named Sharon from Australia who is on the trip as well. Immediately I get the impression this gal is out of place for a trip like the one that lies ahead. She apparently is wealthy and thinks she knows everything about everything. She tells us later that when she booked this trip, she was drunk and has no idea why she is here as she cannot ride a bike and has no plans for the hikes that are scheduled. She ends up leaving the group to head home the first day. I find out that there are two more young girls from Australia that have not yet arrived, plus a guy from Wisconsin named Jim who is already there and checked in. We plan on meeting at 7:00 pm then on to supper. 

We meet at a nearby restaurant and shortly Alice and Nicole from Australia arrive. We meet and visit then discuss our plans for the next day and the rest of the week. After we eat and visit, Thierry and I visit several pubs and I really enjoy the variety of local music. The pubs that offer entertainment have music are absolutely packed with locals from 9:30 until 11:30 each evening. At the end of the evening I go back to the room, and hit the sack and prepare for a scheduled 12 mile hike tomorrow morning, when the scheduled adventure actually begins.

See Part 2 in a separate post for details and pictures of this trip

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