Day 3

---

Wednesday, October 6: We sat in the Balinsheen solarium this morning, watching it rain outside the back window but not rain outside the front window. The weather really keeps you on your toes. After a great Irish breakfast we left horses playing in the field next to our B&B and headed south to Kilfenora, a small village sitting at the gateway to The Burren. After a quick stop at the visitor's center, we made a false start out of town, started over and encountered a 15th century castle ruin and later a stone fort ruin, Caherconnell, a stone ring fort that was common for farm families in medieval times. On to Poulnabrone Dolman, a portal tomb--a druid's altar and grave chamber from 4000 years ago. We were fortunate enough to just miss a tour bus group that was leaving, but it began pouring on us just as we got to the tomb. Fortunately we have learned to keep our raincoats handy--I'm wearing mine well I type this--you can never be too careful. On to Ballyvaughan via a narrow and winding road. Ed is getting the knack for driving on these roads and successfully avoided oncoming tour buses and trucks. In Ballyvaughan we caught a pint at The Monk, located across the street from the bay and then we continued on to Kinvarra. We spent some time in this village, where we found our first rainbow (sorry Mike but we didn't find the leprechaun--we're still looking though). We saw the castle, Dunguaire, across the bay. We ate lunch and moved on towards Galway, arriving successfully at our home for the next two nights, Asgard B&B. After checking in, we strolled to the city centre for dinner and night life. We found music at An Pucan and Tig Coili. We ate at Kings Head--a delicious dinner of fried hake hash with chorizo--yummy! We met a couple from Nova Scotia, Kim and Harry, who had driven down from Northern Ireland that day and a couple from Mississippi--a retired school administrator and teacher, Pete and Mary. Ed promised Mary he would share his homemade Kelly's Creme recipe so we'll be waiting to hear from her. We also checked out The Skef on the square at Brian Cooney's recommendation. It was a gorgeous old pub but Ed was mostly impressed with the table taps setups. You can pour your own pints right at your table with a credit card and a minimum of six pints. Guinness and Carlsberg right at your fingertips. Wouldn't the Friday afternoon Cooney's crowd be impressed? We wandered through the town centre listening to street musicians and checking out pubs. The rain left us alone for the evening and Thursday promises to be a nice, sunny day.

---