Day Twenty-three – Monday (bank holiday) 4 June, 2012

Castlegregory – Doolin

Accommodation – Churchfield B&B, Doolin

Weather – bright sunshine giving way to overcast in the later afternoon

Temperature – 16 degrees

What a difference a day makes in Irish weather.  We drew back the curtains and the village was ablaze in sunshine – the first Irish sunny day….so we quickly decided to go over Conor Gap again as we didn’t see a thing yesterday.

Worth the second visit!

The sun makes an enormous difference!

The air was clear and the mountains pristine.  At the top we could see forever and I could see where I took the photo of the sheep yesterday with so much cloud…..it now looked so green.  We drove down through pretty little Dingle making our way up to Tralee and then to Tarbert to catch the vehicular ferry to Killimer. 

We arrived in time to catch the ferry but it was already full so we wandered around the area, made some more plans for the next couple of days and the time passed quickly.  The ferry ride took just twenty minutes and we saw more Harley Davidson bikies on board.  We’d first encountered huge numbers of bikies in Killarney as it is their annual festival.  They obviously are taking rides around the countryside as part of their visit.

We passed through seaside towns enjoying the sudden burst of sunshine which was very timely on the bank holiday.  At Kilkee there is a long wide beach and there were scores of people in the water or sitting enjoying the sun.  Miltown Malbay a little up the road has a large beach and looked a lovely area for summer tourists.

Just a short distance up the road and passed a links golf course lies the Cliffs of Moher perhaps one of Ireland’s most iconic natural attractions.  It was teeming with people but it is very well organised.  Entry is 6 euro per person and vehicles are directed to a large parking area armed with a leaflet for the viewing.  There is an information centre and shops all built into the slope of the grassed cliff which certainly preserves the lovely flowing green areas above the cliffs.

You can't get much better than this!

With hundreds and hundreds of tourists spewing out of cars and buses we gawked at this beautiful site – made all the more wonderful with the great weather.  The sun wasn’t perfectly behaved but we did get some great photos.  There is bird life in abundance however I didn’t see any puffins as they apparently like mornings up till midday.

We arrived at our B&B around 5pm and was met by Maeve who was recommended by Maureen our last B&B host.  She has organised a dinner date for us at McGann’s pub just down the road and she chose there as ‘Blackie’ is performing tonight and he comes highly recommended.  Dingle is known for its great pubs and singing scene although very few people live here.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go and see one of the Aran Islands and cruise below the Cliffs of Moher…..that next stage of our holiday will rely on the weather!

PS:  More photos to be added later as the connections is very slow.