Day 7: Dark Hedges, Giant’s Causeway, and Carrick-a-Rede Bridge

by Mary Middlebrook | Jun 29, 2018 | Ireland

Ah, buses. Especially the kind filled with tourists. But a necessity for a girl who isn’t interesting in driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time while trying to navigate and look at the scenery all by herself! So here I was, on yet another bus tour. This time a full day tour of Dark Hedges, Giant’s Causeway, and the Carrick-a-Rede death trap bridge. I chose to go with Finn McCools tours. Mainly because it was only 20 pounds out of Belfast and they were one of the few companies that didn’t have Game of Thrones splattered all over the description. I don’t watch it, and didn’t want to listen to someone blather on for hours about references to some TV show that I would never understand. Also, important to note: If you want to do this tour, do it out of Belfast like I did. If you do it out of Dublin you’ve added FOUR FREAKING HOURS to your bus ride and about 40 pounds.

I walked the little over a mile to the bus stop and boarded at 9:30. The Dublin passengers were already on board, but there was a free row! Yay!! Free row all to myself! No wifi or usb charging port, though. #firstworldproblems  We headed out into the Irish countryside, passing sheep and cows and rolling green hills. And then, we stopped. Right on the road, because there was no shoulder. And the driver turned the key, and the bus went “rrr, rrr, rrr” and nothing. He did that a few more times. Nothing. He and the guide got out, were gone for like 15 minutes. Came back and said there was an electrical problem and they were trying to work with headquarters to get us a replacement. We sat on the bus another 10 minutes or so. It was pretty hot outside (Ireland is in the middle of a massive heat wave- worst in decades), and the bus was soon getting really warm and stuffy. The guide came on and said we all needed to get off the bus in case someone hit us from behind. So we all pile off, and walk in the weeds down the side of the road (at least we didn’t have to worry about snakes! 😛 ) to a driveway. The bus driver knocks on the door, no one is home. So we all sat in this person’s driveway, in the heat and full sun (there was NO shade) for over an hour. Not fun. Our replacement buses arrived- two small buses instead of one big one. We piled in and headed off for our first planned stop….dark hedges.

Irish flares. 😉

Now that we were on 2 smaller buses, there weren’t as many seats. So I lost my comfy, cozy row for 1. I was now sharing my row with a fellow female solo traveler. I figured she was pretty cool, because she had two long braids down either side that were dyed mermaid greenish/blue! 😍 We got to talking a bit, discussed our past and present travels (she travels a lot, too). Her name is Leilani. I should win a prize or something, because I sat next to the one girl on the bus for FIVE days in Scotland and never even knew her name! Reached dark hedges, and went our separate ways. We had 20 minutes here, which wasn’t quite enough. Really needed 30 to get all the way to the end and back. So what is dark hedges? It’s these AMAZING beech trees that were planted in 1775 along the drive leading up to some rich guy’s brand new house. Game of Thrones (last time I mention it!), filmed something here, and the place became an instant tourist attraction. Of course, with tourists come idiots, and they’ve been carving shit on the trees and are destroying them. 150 of them were planted, a little less than 90 still remain. Traffic along the road has been banned to try to help preserve them, but these trees are already about 250 years old…they won’t be around forever. 🙁  They are gorgeous!! Not very dark today, as the sun was shining as bright as it possibly could, but still beautiful and very peaceful- even with the tourist hordes walking around.

ANOTHER bus met us at Dark Hedges. This time, we all piled on one big bus. I ended up toward the back (which I hate, especially on winding roads) with some guy sitting next to me. Soon we were pulling in to the Giant’s Causeway. And the story about how it got its name is a really fun one! So there were two giants, Fionn from Ireland (you may remember him from our story yesterday about the Salmon of Knowledge) and Benandonner from Scotland. There’s a few different versions of how this went down (it’s a popular story here, I’ve heard it a few times already, each with a different twist!). I’ll go with a simple one. So the giants see each other across the water, and decide that there isn’t enough room in the world for 2 giants. They each start building a bridge (causeway) so they can reach each other. As Fionn starts to get closer, he realizes that Benandonner is MUCH larger than he is!! He goes back home and tells his wife. She’s super smart and devises a plan. She dresses Fionn up like a baby and puts him in a huge crib. Benandonner finishes building his side of the causeway, reaches Ireland, and beats on the door of Fionn’s house, demanding to fight him. Fionn’s wife answers, and says that he isn’t home right now, but Benandonner can come inside. There, she introduces him to her and Fionn’s “baby”. Benandonner can’t believe the size of the baby!! If Fionn’s baby is this large, how huge must Fionn be?! Benandonner skeedaddles it back to Scotland, destroying the causeway as he went- to make sure that the monstrous Fionn couldn’t come across and get him! 🙂 And yes, this same type of formation is on the Scottish side! Super cool! So that’s the legend. Now for the science. These are columns of basalt that formed about 50 million years ago during a volcanic eruption. They are very similar to what I saw at Reynisfjara beach in Iceland. The weird thing about them, is that they all have basically the same shape- hexagonal. Why? Well, they are basically crystals of basalt that are formed with the lava cools. The molecular structure of crystals for certain substances is a set pattern. For basalt, it’s hexagonal. Pretty cool!

We were going to change buses AGAIN when we were done here, so everyone who had luggage had to haul it with them! It seriously was ridiculous. You have the guide sit with people’s bags or something- not have passengers haul their stuff on a hike over uneven rocks! Christ. Anyway, I met up with Leilani again and she was struggling with her two bags. I offered to take one, and we took off down the hill together. We had a really nice talk, and it was cool to actually get pictures of myself in a place that weren’t some dopey ass selfie!!

Hey! It’s a sign of my travel itinerary for the past month!! 🙂

As you can see, it was stunningly gorgeous. There is talk about closing it so tourists can’t walk on the rocks and damage them. Seriously, it’s pretty dicey to walk in places. I was wondering how many people slipped and fell off these things every year. The rocks are worn smooth from all the walking, making them super slick- even in the hot, dry conditions we had. I can’t imagine trying to navigate them in the rain!! What comes down, must go up. And that meant we had a hill ahead of us with all the bags. There was a little tram picking up people, but we thought it was part of what you got when you paid money to go into the visitor center (which the guide said was a total waste of money- don’t do it). We walked a little closer to investigate, and for 1 pound or 1.20 euros, we could ride the tram up!! I would have paid 5… Now that we were back at the top, we looked for our new bus, with the goal being to get a front seat! Please- two savvy solo female travelers on a mission? The rest of the passengers didn’t have a chance! 😉 The bus wasn’t there. We had to wait 20 minutes for it, which really pissed me off because I definitely could have spent more time at Giant’s Causeway- we had an hour and a half and needed at least another hour. 🙁  Bus finally arrived, and true to form, we got the front seat. #girlpower We headed along the Antrim Coast to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The views from the bus window were spectacular!

I swear. It doesn’t matter where I go. There is ALWAYS a creepy, high, walking bridge!! Sigh. I am scared of heights, and have actually done a decent job overcoming some of that fear as long as the bridge is steady. I pushed myself a little too far in Borneo last summer and got out on a shaky ass rope bridge that had me in tears and no way to turn around. So I was pretty sure that when the guide handed me my ticket, it would be for souvenir purposes only! The hike down to the bridge was- and I know I keep using this word- spectacular! The ocean was calm and so blue and clear in places, that it reminded me of the Caribbean. The cliffs and islands were gorgeous. It seriously could not have been a more perfect day. I got down to the bridge, kind of cut in line a bit so I could peek over the edge and take a look. It was high, and swaying with every step someone took. Yeah, not my gig!! Especially since you had to wait in line for it. So I hiked up some more and made a circle.

Um, not no, but HELL no.

As I hiked, I passed an elderly woman who had to be in her very late 70’s or early 80’s. I couldn’t believe she had made this hike! She was kind of hobbling along, slowly, with someone there to hold her arm and help her. I had to stop. I said, “Ma’am, all of my respect goes to you. You are amazing! And today, you are my spirit animal.” She smiled. Another lady in her probably late 60’s was passing at the same time, and we ended up falling in step together and starting a conversation. She’s from Australia. We talked about the bridge, and she said she decided not to go across. I told her I was too scared to! She said she used to be afraid of high bridges, until she when trekking in Nepal and had to get over it! Wow! Trekking in Nepal! Nice!! As we walked, she explained that her husband had recently broken his leg motorbiking in Nepal, and she was too impatient to walk slow- so we might encounter him somewhere on the trail. Ok. This couple officially wins the “Awesome traveling couple of the millennium” award! We did meet up with him on the trail. Had a nice chat as we walked. Lovely people.

The day was so clear, you could see Rathlin Island in the distance. And behind it, those mountains…that’s SCOTLAND!!

I got back to the parking lot about 25 minutes early (because I didn’t waste time standing in line for that death trap!). On the other side of the parking lot, I saw some people on a blindingly white path. Hmmm. Could be interesting! It was down a pretty good hill, so I set my alarm for 10 minutes. I figured 10 minutes down the hill, turn around, 15 minutes back up. The trail actually ended up being shorter than I thought, and you could even get all the way down to the water from there! Unfortunately, my timer went off when I was about 100 feet from the shore, and not ever wanting to be THAT passenger, I headed back so I wouldn’t be late. Which was a bummer, because there was a cave in the cliff down there that I really wanted to explore!

Huffed and puffed back up the hill and found the guide. I told him where I had gone- he said that was the Larrybane Quarry. And apparently Game of Thrones has filmed down there as well. Piled back on the bus and headed out across the glens of Antrim. Just rolling green hills for as far as you could see! And what I really love about the farmland is that all of the fences are little hedges. So there are these dark green lines cutting through the lighter green fields. Just green, green, and more green!

We sang some songs (one of them I already kinda knew from my Fables and Folklore dinner the other night- something about “and it’s no, nay, never” and some clapping. 🙂  Leilana fell asleep, and I just stared out at the country. Soon, we were back in Belfast. And just to prove what a backwards, socially awkward, weirdo I am, I just got up, got off the bus and headed toward the house. I was around a few corners when I realized I didn’t even tell Leilana goodbye!! So if you’re reading this, Leilana, nice meeting you and safe travels! Stay outta the way of them bulls in Pamplona!! 🙂  As I walked back, I passed a store called Iceland. Figured I’d check and see if they had Dr. Pepper. BINGO!! And at a price I can live with!! Ah….

CONTINUE TO DAY 8

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Day 8: Belfast and “The Troubles”

by Mary Middlebrook | Jul 1, 2018 | Ireland

DISCLAIMER: I don’t give a damn if you don’t agree with what I write here. This is MY journal, MY story, MY feelings, MY opinion. MINE. Not yours. I fully admit I do not have the entire story. It would be impossible for me to. It would be impossible for anyone to, because you can never fully understand both sides in an issue such as this. But some of what I do know, the evilness of it can’t be argued. I follow my gut and my instincts, and my gut and instincts are not up for debate. If you have something constructive to say that differs, I am 100% open to that discourse. But if you’re just here to be a keyboard warrior, I’m already bored with you.

I developed a nasty cough last night. I don’t feel sick, but something’s up. I think I’ve just been running too hard. I haven’t had a full down day since Iceland, over 3 weeks ago. Plus, I have a wee bit of sunburn from yesterday (standing outside for an hour with no shade when the bus broke down didn’t help 🙁 ). Dear Ireland, No one told me to pack the sunscreen, sunhat, and sun glasses! Love, Mary. I had planned to do a free Belfast walking tour and then walk around the neighborhood and find murals. I think walking miles and miles is just out for the day. Body is telling me it needs a break, and I have to listen. I still have a month and a half of travel ahead of me. When I’m at home, I seriously do not walk further than from the couch to the refrigerator to the bathroom to the bedroom on most days, because I’m working constantly. When I’m traveling, I’m in hyper walking mode, and average 5 miles a day. Plus, I’m getting about 6 hours of sleep a night when I’m a full 8 hours kind of girl. The sunrise at 4:45am is about to kill me. Enough is enough. I had heard of the Black Cab mural tours and thought maybe having someone drive me around would be a better option. I went to several websites, and none offered “day of” booking. I did find one that said to email them for availability, so I’m sitting in bed at 8am, waiting to hear back from them.

I waited until 9:45am, and no reply. I called Taxi Trax and yes, they do have availability and can be here in 30 minutes to pick me up at my door! Woo-hoo! And in true “things happen to me that are meant to” fashion, I ended up with Michael (Mikey) as a guide/driver friend. I’m about 3 days late writing this- much more behind schedule than I like to get. But I’ve had to let this one marinate in my mind for a while. This one is hard. The hardest post I’ve ever written. Because what I learned on this day is not history. It’s present. It’s real. It’s people lives TODAY. It’s shocking. It’s scary. It’s a part of Belfast that I think few people know or understand if they haven’t lived it. I haven’t lived it. Mikey did and is. See, Mikey is my age. He grew up during what is referred to as “The Troubles”, which is a pretty low key term for daily warfare on the streets of Belfast for decades. Troubles, indeed. Now, you know I love to give a quicky history lesson. But you aren’t going to get that today. I can’t give a summary of this. I just can’t. It’s too personal to people who are still living, who are still living THIS. If you want the background, research it. That’s all I can tell you. What you need to know for this journal is that Ireland isn’t one country. It’s two. The southern part of the country is the country of Ireland. Independent. A member of the EU and not a part of the UK. The northern part, commonly called Northern Ireland, is under the control of the UK and will have to leave the EU when Brexit culminates. In Northern Ireland, you have two main groups: the Unionists are primarily Protestants who identify with Great Britain and want to remain a part of it. The Nationalists are primarily Catholics who identify with Ireland and want to be a part of it again and get out from under the rule of Great Britain. And the power struggle between these two groups are what caused/cause “The Troubles”.

Mikey is a nationalist. Not a practicing Catholic. He, like I, has no use for religion. He wants his 3 children to embrace their IRISH heritage- to speak Gaelic and know that part of themselves. And they do! This wasn’t possible a couple of decades ago. Mikey told me stories. Personal stories. Stories of pain and suffering of family, friends, and himself. Of having friends shot dead in the streets. Of going to prison for 2 years. Stories that are his to share, not mine. I don’t know what happened when I got into Mikey’s cab, but something clicked- I think as soon as I asked, “May I sit in the front seat with you?” and added, “I’m a history teacher. Don’t go easy on me.”. He immediately began pouring history out, filling the cab and my mind with it. (We later discussed how this is so cathartic for him, to be able to speak of it. Many have bottled it up, and have serious mental and social problems because of PTSD.) We sat in the cab talking for a solid 30 minutes before we even got out at the first mural. This was a 90 minute tour. He looked at the clock and said, “Oh! We need to get moving!”. I said, “I will pay extra for extra time. I don’t care what it is. Tell me your story.” He said he didn’t care about the money, that he doesn’t do these tours for the money. He does it to release it from him. He doesn’t do 4 and 5 tours a day like some people. He just so happened to get a last minute call this morning and decided to do this one (thank you, universe). Once he understood that I was listening- not hearing, but listening- and that I got it, and was making the connections, and was engaged…that’s what he wanted. Not some nidget jumping around for instagram worthy shots of murals. To me, the murals were illustrations of Mikey’s story- that’s all. The story was the important part. The murals were decoration that emphasized his topics.

He had picked me up at 10:15, we were supposed to be done at 11:45. He looked at the clock again after I told him that I wanted his story and said, “Ok, let’s start the clock now and we’ll call it at 12:30.” He showed me murals, he explained them. He explained how they fit in with HIS narrative. With HIS childhood. With HIS young adulthood. Those connections- those are priceless to me. He told me of the Potato Famine, and that it was NOT a famine and he would never call it that. The British allowed over 1 million people to starve. I will never again call it a famine either. It is An Gorta Mór- The Great Hunger.
He told me of Bobby Sands and the hunger strikes. How Bobby Sands is someone he looked up to so much as a young boy. And how Bobby’s quote, about “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”…how he couldn’t imagine it when he was a young man. But he sees it coming to fruition now. How his children have never seen armed conflict. And how happy he is of that. But how some people are still so mired in what happened to them and their families, that the conflict is still just as real in them, and they pass that conflict to their children in a vicious cycle…

He told me about solidarity with other peoples around the world in similar situations- Cuba and South Africa. Places I’ve been and could talk to him about- especially Robbin Island in Cape Town where Mandela and his fellow political “terrorists” were held and how similar those men’s stories were to his. See, you’re a terrorist when you’re doing things the government doesn’t like. When progress is made, the terrorists become the heroes. I remember growing up and hearing about the IRA on the television and how they were “terrorists”. If fighting for your rights and beliefs under an oppressive government is terrorism, well, I’d be glad to be called a terrorist.

Mikey said he was supposed to pick his daughter up at noon, but he’d call and see if he could get someone else to do it. I told him to do whatever he needed to do. I would be happy to be along for the ride. We went and picked up his 8 year old daughter and dropped her off. Then, we resumed our tour. When I had seen this mural, it really stuck in my mind. Finally, I had to ask, “I saw something about bring the wall down- was that metaphorical or physical?”.

It IS physical was the answer. Present. Tense. And I was just this side of a state of shock. A wall? In Belfast? In 2018 separating the two groups? Yes, indeed. And wait until you hear its name…the Peace Wall. What fucking wall ever built in history was built out of PEACE??!! And he showed it to me. And he told me about it. Wait…I’m saying “it”. That’s wrong. THEM. Because there are about 100 of them spread around the city!!!! And this fucking gate (and many more like it), IN GOD DAMNED 2018, is locked EVERY NIGHT to separate the two communities!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL???? I just. I just can’t. Walls do NOT solve problems. Ever. Dividing people rather than coming up with compromise and viable long term solutions is a band aid on a broken leg. An easy, temporary “out” for ignorant, lazy people. But a wall never solved anything. Listen up, Trump wall supporters… Do we really want to go down that path? Because where does it stop. Think about the divisiveness in the US right now. Think hard about it. Think about Belfast. Just THINK instead of react.

Here you can see the wall. the houses on this side are Nationalist homes. They had to build cages over their back yards because of all of the things that were thrown at them. My. God.

Mikey held out a marker to me and said I could sign the wall. It was covered. I told him I didn’t want to write over someone else. He pointed out a faded patch and said I could write there. 

Remember- if you don’t understand history, you are doomed to repeat it. LEARN. LISTEN.

I can’t tell you how long we sat at stops, talking, before we ever got out to look at a mural. He had to remind me to take pictures. I was that engrossed in the stories. We visited memorials to the people who lost their lives- many of whom he knew. Many of whom he was friends with.

As we drove past one of the walls, there was this huge, and I mean HUGE stack of wood pallets. Mikey told me those were for the bonfires to celebrate July 12, and that as this was just the end of June, they weren’t even finished building this one yet. It would be FOUR TIMES THIS SIZE by the 12th! This is the date that is to celebrate when William the Orange (Protestant) defeated King James II (Catholic King of England and Ireland), and began the rule of Protestants in Ireland. It’s mainly celebrated in, you guessed it, Northern Ireland. These huge bonfires, and there will be many of them, are not always just peaceful celebrations. They can have very dark and sinister tones to them. And it’s a slap in the face, a punch in the gut, or whatever you want to call it to the Irish Catholics/Nationalists. Why? Because many times the image of the pope is burned in effigy on these bonfires. Or the Irish flag. How in the hell can the UK condone this?? It’s like a damn government approved KKK rally burning the effigy of Martin Luther King, Jr.! Or a Nazi rally, burning the Israeli flag! This is not free speech. It’s hate speech. How in the hell is this in any shape, form, or fashion tolerable? Divisiveness. It’s ugly. Listen up, United States.

These pictures I didn’t take, but I want you to understand what I’m talking about…

Want to know what KAT means? It means “Kill All Taigs”. What’s a Taig? A derogatory term for Roman Catholics. Imagine this saying “Kill All Niggers” (I hate to say it, but I need to shock you- especially Americans- into understanding how serious this situation is. I want the harshness of that word, and all of its connotations, to sink in. It’s the only thing most of you can relate to if you’re in the US.). This is where unreconciled divisiveness gets you. It makes me SICK and ANGRY, and I don’t even have a dog in this fight. I can not even imagine how the Irish nationalists must feel seeing this- literally in their own backyard. Let it sink in, way in. If you think this stuff is in the past, you are sadly mistaken. If you think this stuff can’t happen in the US, you are blind. It’s already germinated, is sprouting, and growing. And it’s going to choke us all if we don’t pay attention to history and allow our ignorance and fear to win out over logic, compromise, and understanding. Shame on you, British Government, for allowing this. And shame on you, US, for allowing the same in a different form.

We then drove through a gate. I shit you not. A GATE. To go to the other side of the wall. The Unionist side. The tone of the murals I saw here was different. Very militaristic and frankly, a little scary. There’s a lot of backstory that I won’t get into here. Mikey is self admittedly biased towards the Nationalist side, and I wasn’t helping that bias as it is mine as well. So I do not feel qualified to tell the story from that point of view.

This was (thankfully) replaced with the women’s mural below. Much better message.

The houses on this side of the gate were all decorated with flags. Ok, I can get that. Nationalists might not like it, but I get it. Because like it or not, this is the UK, not Ireland. But the divisive bonfires? I can’t even fathom how that is allowed. What purpose does it serve other to further incite hatred, decisiveness, and violence?

We stopped and Mikey bought us waters. We talked. Non stop. It was over 3 hours when he dropped me back off, twice the allotted amount, and it was still too soon for me.  I did slip extra cash in with the 35 euros. What he had given me was priceless and in a way, sacred. Because he didn’t give me a tour. It wasn’t some practiced regurgitation of what he had seen and lived through. It was deeply, deeply personal. He said giving tours was cathartic for him. I can’t imagine there are enough tourists in the world to get rid of such a pain. But Mikey has hope,  has purpose, remembers the past but tries not to live in it. You have to live in the present and look forward to the future. Otherwise, you’re doomed. Many are doomed. Mikey isn’t. And for that, I’m glad. He deserves everything wonderful in life, and to watch his children grow up speaking Gaelic, laughing, and embracing their Irish spirits. Because in the end, that is how you win. That, as Bobby Sands said, is the revenge.

CONTINUE TO DAY 9

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Days 9 & 10: Kissing the Blarney Stone and More Titanic

by Mary Middlebrook | Jul 3, 2018 | Ireland

Day 9: After I got home from the Black Cab tour yesterday afternoon, my body crashed. Between having that cough and the emotional wear of the tour, my body said, “Ok, lady, welcome to bedridden…population you.” My eyes were sizzling in their sockets, I was coughing like crazy, and I felt like crap until I went to sleep. I couldn’t even wrap my brain around work, so I gave up and just watched mindless youtube videos. I woke up the next morning and felt a little better, but still coughing. Got my stuff packed and ready to catch the bus to Cork. I highly recommend the AirBNB I stayed at! Since I’m on the mend, I didn’t want to backslide by over doing it, so instead of walking 1.5 miles with the pack, I opted for uber. $5 for a ride in a super nice Mercedes? Done. Guy was really nice. There are two things people talk about here… Politics and alcohol! He asked if I’d had a Guinness or Bushmill whiskey. I said no, I don’t drink. He said in a low voice, “get out”. We laughed and he said I should tell my friends that my driver tried to kick me out for not drinking Guinness…. Oh, little does he know! 😜

And this paragraph begins what shall be forevermore known as, “The Bus Ride From Hell”. Dublin Coach was AWESOME on the Dublin to Belfast trip a few days ago. Right on schedule, super comfortable bus, wifi, usb port- seriously everything you could want in a 2 hour bus ride. The trip from Belfast to Cork- yeah, not so much. So the bus arrives on time, and there was a HUGE line of people. The driver had to make change for pretty much every person who didn’t have a booking (the majority). It took so much time that we left 12 minutes late. They really should have an exact change only policy. Not only that, but two girls at the back of the line who had bookings in hand were turned away because the bus was full!! WHAT?! Shouldn’t the driver ask first for people with bookings and THEN start boarding people without? That made me really nervous for my return trip… This bus wasn’t as nice as the other one. No usb port, so I had to be really careful with my power on my phone- I was going to be on the bus for 5 hours. We pull into Dublin 10 minutes late. My connecting bus was leaving in 5 minutes! I didn’t see another bus parked where we were dropped off. Driver informs me and 2 other ladies who are going to Cork that we have to cross the bridge and turn right. They said, “Will the bus wait for us?!” The driver just shrugged. FUCK! Here I am, with this heavy ass pack, feeling like crap, and now having to full on RUN for a block in the heat. Get to the bus stop, and….no bus!! Did we miss it?! There was a huge line of people. Apparently the 10am bus to Cork didn’t even show up!! So I’m talking to the other 2 ladies that got off the Belfast bus with me, and their ticket says the bus leaves at 11:40. Mine says 11:45. Some other people’s say 12. WTF? At this point, I’m not having a lot of faith in Dublin Coach…. A Dublin Coach shows up- it’s not the Cork bus. I asked the driver when the Cork bus was coming. He said noon. Great. Noon comes and goes. No Dublin Coach. Another bus comes. I ask this driver where’s the Cork bus. He calls someone and says it will be there at 12:20. And it did show up about that time. Again, no usb, but I only had to make it through 3 hours and all would be good. Emailed my AirBNB host to tell him I’d be an hour late.

Now it’s after 3pm, and have made a couple of stops. I ask the girl next to me if she knows how much longer to Cork. She said she’s getting off in Waterford, and doesn’t know, but maybe another 2 hours. WHAT?!! We stop in Waterford, it’s almost 3:30, and one of the ladies from the Belfast bus comes up and asks the driver when we’re getting to Cork. He said a couple more hours. They’re panicking, because they had timed things to attend to in Cork. Their ticket, like my ticket, said we would be arriving about 2:45!! Well, Dublin Coach put the arrival time to Waterford on our tickets- NOT to Cork, even though we bought a ticket to Cork. We’re all completely over this bus at this point. Long story short, 8 hours after we left Belfast, we arrived in Cork. I will never again take Dublin Coach- and I had already paid for my return ticket. I told a few people about this, and they all suggested GoBe, so I booked a new return ticket with them.

8 hours on a bus, not having planned for food, and no stops for any, I was starving and tired and feeling like crap with my cold by the time I got to the AirBNB. I dropped my bags, went and bought some groceries, and crashed. The coughing was getting worse…

Day 10: I woke up feeling awful. Serious cough, exhausted. But I was not going to just lay in bed! I had 2 things planned for today, and I was just going to do them and get back to the bnb to rest. First stop, Blarney Castle! Now, I had heard that the lines can be over an hour to kiss the damn stone. I wanted to do it, but not if I had to stand in line for an hour. So I intended to be there right when it opened, and basically do what I did at Edinburgh Castle- beat the crowds! I was feeling so poorly, and really didn’t have the will or energy to deal with figuring out the bus, so I used the MyTaxi app (no Uber in Cork). I really hate when you don’t know the fare in advance…it ended up being 20 euros!!!!! I almost died right there. Arrived at 8:30 and was 2nd in line behind a girl from Orlando, Florida. We both had the same plan- run to the rock! While we were in line, the buses started coming and dropping off hordes of tourists. Doors opened, paid my money, and with what little energy I had, I did a super fast walk up the hill to the castle. I took time to snap a couple of pics with no tourists in them, but my main focus was getting to that stone! Got to the castle and realized now I had to climb 4 stories of narrow, spiral, uneven rock stairs. My least favorite type of stairs. As I kept going up and up and the stairs were narrower and narrower, I was seriously afraid that my fear of heights was going to be an issue getting back down. Between that, and my coughing fits, I was not enjoying myself.

Reached the top. The girl from Orlando was ahead of me- first to the stone. I was second. And then I saw what you had to do!! You had to lay down, hold on to some rails, and lean backwards into a hole 4 stories above the ground to kiss the stone. Seriously? Can’t they just put in it a nice room somewhere?? Ground level?? My fear of heights was in high gear right now, between being at the top of this castle, worrying about the stairs, and now this. I hesitated and wasn’t sure I could do this. I let the guy who was after me go. He asked if I’d take his picture. Sure. The the staff at the top in charge of helping us maneuver into position to kiss some damn stone were 2 for 2 in not dropping a tourist into the abyss this morning. I decided to take my chances. Asked the guy who went before me to take my picture, kissed the stone, and apparently now I will have the “gift of gab”. Considering how verbose I already am…watch out world! When I finished, I asked the guy where’s the elevator down. 😉 He said the stairs weren’t as steep and narrow going down, and he was right. Whew!

Not the place to be if you are not a fan of heights….

Super flattering!!

View from the top

That little gap at the tippy top- that’s someone kissing the stone! Yikes!

Inside the castle, there really isn’t much to see. It’s just a shell of a castle, really. It’s outside where the action is!! The grounds and gardens of the castle are…hmm…what adjective??? OUTSTANDING. AMAZING. GORGEOUS. PEACEFUL. PERFECT!! There are all of these trails through the woods, along rivers, into secret gardens. I was in heaven! Especially because for the most part, I had the river walk area all to myself because everyone else was in line for the stone! It was so relaxing, and much needed after so much go, go, go over the past few weeks. I took about a zillion pictures, but here are a few of my favorites. Even if you don’t care about the stone, if you love plants and nature, go here!!

These are from the poison garden.

These are from the river walk.

Horse’s graveyard. 🙁

These are from the woodland walk and secret fern garden.

Soon I came into an area where the grounds opened up. There was a pasture with some cows, and then I saw lovely Blarney House!! It’s only open Monday-Saturday though, and I was there on Sunday. So disappointed! 🙁

I made my way back around to the front through some (more!) lovely gardens!

Black cat photo bomb…remember him for later!

And then into the area called the Rock Close, where there were even MORE lovely gardens, and ancient and odd things to look at as well…

There was that cat again!! In a totally different area!!

The witch’s kitchen

The druid’s cave

The witch’s stone

If I had felt better, I literally could have spent 4-5 hours here easily. But after 2.5, it was time to head out to my next destination. As I made my way back to the castle, I was soooooooo happy I got here early when I saw the line at 11:30!! Honestly, I was a little concerned about Blarney Castle when I was doing my planning, and almost took it off my list. A lot of people said it wasn’t that great. I’m SO GLAD I went with my gut and did it anyway!! It’s one of my most favorite things I’ve done in Ireland so far! Of course, I love plants, so this was like a slice of paradise for me. 🙂  If there was just the stone, eh. I mean, you can say you kissed the Blarney Stone, but I wouldn’t pay just to do that. Especially if I had to stand in line! It definitely wasn’t the highlight- the gardens were!!

Now I had to get to Cobh (pronounced Cove). I wasn’t going to spend money on a taxi again, so it was bus time! Caught the bus to Cork, then had to walk (which really sucked because my cough was getting worse) to the train station. On the way, I saw a pharmacy. Usually I try to keep those OFF my “to do” list, but I was needing some assistance. The pharmacist recommended what would be best for my cough, and sent me on my way. I caught the train to Cobh. Roundtrip 10 euros, and 24 minutes one way. Not bad! The reason Cobh was on my list is because it was the last port of call for the Titanic before she sailed off to her fate. Back then, Cobh was called Queenstown.

I had booked a 2:30 tour of the Titanic Experience, and was about an hour early. I walked around town a little, but I didn’t have much energy. 🙁 I really wanted to go into the cathedral, but it was up a really steep hill and I knew I’d never make it. At 2:30, went in for my tour. The building is the actual White Star Line office where everyone boarding Titanic from Queenstown had to go through! Ah, history…. They gave everyone a little boarding card with the name of a real Titanic passenger on it. At the end, you’d get to see if you lived or died. A bit morbidish, but kinda fun, too! I was Hannah Riordan, age 18, sailing 3rd class (yep, sounds like me! Too cheap for anything else! 🙂 )

Inside we had a guide and she would explain things, plus there were videos as well. It kind of took you through the whole experience (which is probably why it’s named Titanic Experience! 😉 ). After you got your boarding pass, you boarded a tender ship. Cobh actually had a deep enough port for Titanic to dock at, but it would have taken about 8 hours to turn her around in the harbor, so the captain decided to anchor off shore. Just like I learned about the Nomadic and the Traffic, there was one tender boat for 1st and 2nd class, and 1 for 3rd class. Titanic couldn’t be seen from the shore, as she was anchored on the other side of these islands. The tender boats would go between these islands, and that’s when passengers would get their first view of the ship. The original dock that the passengers used to board their tender ships is still standing!! Amazing!! A lot of history there…This picture is of Titanic’s captain, Captain Smith (with the beard) taken on the docks here in Cobh. The last picture of him…

After we learned about the tender boats, we “boarded” the Titanic. We got a little tour of the different cabins on board the ship, then we went into another area that played a film about the iceberg, sinking of the ship, and the rescues that followed. All in all, it was a pretty cool little tour that lasted about 30 minutes. After that, you went into the exhibit room where there were different things about Titanic. I was feeling crappy and had seen most of that in Belfast, so I did a really quick walk through. Oh! And Hannah Riordian, who I was for the trip….well, she survived and lived in New York until her death in 1982. 🙂 Me and Hannah- traveling cheap and surviving to tell the tale. 😉

I had another hour until the train back to Cork, so I decided to <insert dramatic music> eat lunch at a restaurant. I thought that maybe it would make me feel better. I had my heart set on the Titanic Bar underneath the White Star office (the one with the tables by the pier in the above picture), but it was full. 🙁  So I walked along and found the Commodore Hotel. Ordered a bacon cheeseburger with chips and it was goooooood…

I walked back toward the train, but had one last stop planned. A visit to a statue of Annie Moore and her two brothers. See, Cobh isn’t just about Titanic. It was where about 3 MILLION Irish immigrants left their homeland in search of a better life- many of them never to see their island home again. On January 1, 1892, 15 year old Annie accompanied her two younger brothers and sailed to the United States to meet their parents. She was the very first person processed through the newly opened Ellis Island in New York, and there is a statue there to commemorate her as well!

I wish I would have had more time to explore Cobh, and had been feeling better. It really is an interesting little town! Maybe another day… I took the train back to Cork and walked back to the bnb. Took another dose of medicine and fell into bed completely exhausted. I had to feel better!! Because tomorrow I had a 12 hour bus tour scheduled!!

CONTINUE TO DAY 11

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Days 11 and 12: Cliffs of Moher and the Last Ireland Journal

by Mary Middlebrook | Jul 5, 2018 | Ireland

For size perspective, look at the tiny seagulls flying around. 🙂

I was in a 100% residential area. Not a tourist in sight. Who says locals don’t drink Dr. Pepper???