Connemara to Giant's Causeway & down to Belfast

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Oh the beauty! We left Galway in our rented Ford Focus (driving a stick shift on the wrong side of the road!) & headed north to Connemara. It is SCARY driving on these narrow, windy, stone wall enclosed roads. I think I gave Ashely a heart attack when I accidentally clipped a parked car's side view mirror (our only incident with the car). Good thing we got extra insurance! :P

Our first day in Connemara, we decided to hike on Diamond Hill in the Connemara National Park. We made it 3/4 of the way up before we we got soaked by a thunderstorm. We were even warned by a couple coming down that they had heard thunder & encountered some rain, but we decided to brave on. We obviously didn't learn our lesson from Killarney & where drenched by the time we got back to the car. We had to change our clothes in the parking lot before moving on...

Our Hostel (Sleepzone Connemara) was right on the Fjord & we had 3 wonderful nights of the most amazing sunsets over the water & between the mountains. We only have pictures of the last sunset (10:30 PM) because we didn't think ahead to bring our camera the first two nights. The second night we even got a free pint of beer when I (Laura) won 5 euros playing my first game of Irish Billards.

Our last day in Connemara we visited Scubawest Beach & it was beautiful. The sand was so white & soft & the water was an amazing aqua green color. We weren't brave enough to get in, but we did enjoy the views. We actually liked it so much we went back later in the day on our way back to the Hostel. The beach was so different the second time through because it was low tide & we were able to walk out onto a small island that wasn't accesible our first visit there.

On our way to Belfast, we visited Giant's Causeway & the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Both are very big tourist attractions so there were people everywhere, but it's still worth a trip. I actually didn't think Ashley was going to cross the rope bridge because of her adversion to heights, but she surprised me by moving ahead with only a little bit of pushing on my part. The rope bridge is 66 feet long, 3 feet wide & 99 feet above the water connecting the mainland to a small island used for salmon fishing. The smell from the birds will be hard to forget... :P

Now we are in Belfast & will ferry over to Scotland tomorrow. Ireland has been a wonderful start to our trip & we will miss it... Can't post pictures now because the computer doesn't allow it, check back later for some shots to go along with this post. Miss you all!!!

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Comments

[mom]

Sounds terrific!
I can't wait to see your pictures! We are going to the Folklife Festival on the Mall this afternoon and one of the features this year is Northern Ireland so we'll get a little taste. Of course being there is soooo....... much better. Love, Mom

[Eva]

Hi
I've got a "long" vacation coming up soon (3 weeks). I wish I also could take 9 months off. Have a great time, I will be reading your blog. Rgds, Eva Jönsson

[Catherine]

keep the updates coming
We're all living the trip vicariously over here. Keep the updates coming. I went to Ireland when I was around 11 years old. I saw the Cliffs of Moher, but I had forgotten them until I saw your pics. Thanks. I hope things have gone well for you in Scotland given the recent events. It must be a difficult time to travel in Britain. Ashley, I'm sure you are dying to know how things are going at ADSK, let me just say that we changed the name ESD to EF and all is well. SOE was put off to November. I know I know, you don't care anymore. Good luck. Have lots more fun.

[Aunt Marsha]

Thanks
You all brought back so many memories and made me excited about going back to visit all the places we missed. Thanks