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Published: September 21st 2008
Cliffs of Moher
Taken from Nags Head.When we landed in Dublin i was shocked to find that all of the signs were written in english. Conversations going on nearby were in english. my native language was so familiar but its ubiquity was out of place. we arrived after midnight and were promptly herded to the city buses. even though the hostel was right across the street from the main bus station, there were no buses going anywhere near the hostel. we walked 15-20min down dimly lit dublin streets. we slept in bunks with a family of four from utah. we stored our packs in a cage in the basement of the old hostel while we explored. as we left the hostel a taxi driver dropping off a customer, said,"...but i wouldnt walk down this street at night." We bought tickets to Ennis where our Wwoof host agreed to pick us up later that evening. then we headed across the river toward Trinity College and Grafton Street. We stopped for some coffee at a small tucked away cafe and walked to stephen's green. After dry and dusty Spain, we were amazed by the lush, deciduous green of ireland. the chill and the green felt like home. Morgan declared
First Proper Guiness
In a very cool Dublin pub. The bearded man's mouth is a fireplace. that she was in love with Ireland and that she would live there. We had lunch in a pub where the stairwell was held up by a tree and almost an entire wall was the face of a bearded man whose agape mouth served as a fireplace. Morgan had her first proper Guiness there. We made our way to the bus station and rode from east coast nearly to the west coast across the relatively small country. Robin, a carpenter and beekeeper, picked us up from the bus station in a blue flatbed truck. he drove us to the top of a mountain within sight of the burren where he and mirriam, a knitwear designer, lived. The old house was surrounded by gardens and fields.
We were shown to our quarters, and Mirriam made us dinner including her homemade bread and honey from Robin's bees. after weeding for several hours the next day Robin and mirriam took us along with their dogs, one an irish wolfhound, to Doolin, famous for its music, and then to the dark pacific, where the Burren met the sea and both the cliffs of Moher and the aran islands could be seen. Robin, who is
Where the Burren Meets the Sea
Such a strange rock formation and weathering pattern. an experienced caver, took me into a narrow fissure in the limestone that dropped down into the ocean. we examined wildflowers in the fields along the coast separated by dry stone walls built during the potato famine. Morgan found what may have been an axe head from hundreds of years ago when there was an stone axehead factory nearby.
our first few days were spent weeding, but eventually we moved on to more satisfying tasks. morgan did alot of work in the greenhouse and i spent alot of time helping Robin with beekeeping and with rebuilding stonewalls. we all had breakfast together each morning before work. there was always a tea break between meals. sometimes we made a small lunch for ourselves, and sometimes we would eat together. there was more tea after work and dinner was always great. we had tea 5 times a day, but we tried for coffee when we could. Mirriam made bread twice a week, and one night, i actually made the same bread that i had made for the bistro.
The floor of the kitchen was paved with large flagstones that had once been the roof of a pig barn. the kitchen
Stone Fences
We walked through these pastures on our way to Nag's Head over the cliffs of Moher. was cozy with a large wooden table and a stove and oven that were fueled by turf and also heated the water and the house. Turf is dug from the bottom of bogs where plant and animal matter gather over time and compress. the kitchen was adorned with objects and images from nepal where Robin was a trekking guide for many years. Mirriams shop for knitwear was in the house, although Robin was building a rock structure for her to knit and to have classes someday. Robin had a shop for his carpentry and for his beekeeping outside the house. There was a gazebo overlooking the valley with a horse pasture beside it where Robin took his morning tea to read.
i got to do most of the beekeeping because i was very interested. morgan and another american wwoofer helped one day with the beekeeping. a bee got into morgans hood and she began taking it off with thousands of angry bees swarming around her. she stopped though and only got stung on the face by a bee that had found its way into the hood. i got stung too but only when i tried to take pictures of
morgan and robin without having a suit of my own.
Robin is an experienced caver. he knows the area very well. he was invited to an archeological dig. he took me along. he took one of the archeologists deep down into the cave to where there was so much sediment that you are forced to crawl on your stomach to reach some of the rooms. there was only equipment for two so i stayed to watch the archeologists dig.
one day mirriam took morgan, the other wwoofer, and i into the burren so that we could hike. it was like being on a different planet. it is like the entire area hills and all were paved in limestone and cut in straight angular lines. plants grown in between the crevasses. the area is known for its interesting and rare flora and fauna. tropical and arctic plants grow side by side. and there are 28 different species of butterfly living on the burren. it is a magical place where prehistoric men erected wedge tombs, huge flat rocks balancing on top of other tall rocks. holy wells are scattered about. there are clooties, pieces of cloth left as an offering
Double Rainbows
Double rainbows over the farm in County Claire Ireland. for a blessing from the well's patron, and coins and pictures left by pilgrims to the wells. i didnt see one but i was told that there were vanishing lakes called turloughs that could be full of water one day and empty the next as they were fed by underground caves cut through the limestone. morgan and i climbed to the top of the hill, found a place sheltered by the strong wind, and laid in the grass to be warmed by the sun. we went down the big limestone hill and found the other wwoofer and walked the roads to be picked up by mirriam. i saw a road that i had recognized from a map and left the girls to see a holy well that was nearby. i missed the holy well and walked into the burren for half an hour. by the time i retraced my steps, mirriam had picked the girls up and returned to the farm. i walked hoping i could remember the way through the foreign hills. luckily i made it back before everyone left for the coast. robin and mirriam had to go to a wedding and offered to drop us off at
Yeah Leeches in Ireland
Morgan found some leeches on the farm. a pub with live music. morgan played 'talk to guys for free guiness' until the music started later that evening. i was left with the other wwoofer. after a short talk, i excused myself and walked the shore and listened to the waves. i returned as robin and mirriam arrived from the wedding. we caught the tail end of the music, mostly rocknroll covers.
we left a couple days early to coordinate our ride to the bus station with the other wwoofers departure. this early departure allowed us to stay in Galway for a couple days.
Galway, also known as the city of the tribes because it was once run by 14 'tribes,' is a port town with the river Corrib running through it. Corrib is reportedly the shortest river in europe. the port of galway was the most important through the middle ages for france and spain. the popular Claddagh ring was created here distinguished by its two hands heart and crown over the heart. "With my hands I give you my heart, and crown it with my love." we spent a couple days in galway as tourists. we explored the city, drank coffee at cafes, walked
Folded Mountain
The Burren is limestone land. to the beach, and listened to live irish music at pubs. morgan found 100 euros that a man dropped and ran to return it to him. the french chef bought us drinks at the place where we were eating.
we took a bus across the country to Dublin. we spent a little more time in Dublin and took a bus to the Dublin airport to catch our one cent flight to Frankfurt, Germany. We soon found out that what Ryanair considers Frankfurt was actually an hour and a half bus ride away from the actual Frankfurt International Airport. it was ok though because our flight wasnt until the morning. morgan slept on a bench under an escalator and i slept on the floor. we flew back to the states starting in the morning and reached akron in the afternoon where my mother picked us up. we separated as soon as we reached wooster, our first time apart in over nine months, and havent come back together yet.
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