Two more victims fall to the awe of stone fences and towering cliffs

Successfully met up with Justin and Nathan this morning. I took the bus down to Shannon to meet them after giving up any hope of being able to give them directions to navigate through Galway to my place. Besides, I figured if they got any sleep at all and would be up for a couple hours of sight-seeing, we could hit the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren on the way back up to Galway, saving some time later in the week.

First stop though, since we were roughly in the area, was Ennistimon, and I bought them their first round of Guinness at Cooley's House. The place was surprisingly busy for 11 in the morning.

Coming out of town, we missed a turn and ended up taking about a 30-40 minute detour down through Miltown Malbay "on our way" to Lahinch, but it gave them a good chance to see what passes for "roads" in northern County Clare were like, along with the rolling farmlands they crossed.

We eventually got back on track and stopped off at the Cliffs of Moher. I remember being surprised at how much more developed the cliffs were as a tourist destination two years ago, versus my first visit there in '94. Well, the development has continued since then, with a large car park (parking lot) across the road. Eight euros it costs now to park a car and wander, with a very nice, well-polished visitor center (an Atlantic Edge exhibit can be taken in for an additional 4 euro per head. We passed on that.) and a covey of little shops dug into the hillside leading up to the cliffs.

Passing a woman on the walkway doing a poor job of playing a concertina, it struck me that had I brought my whistle and wore something other than a U-M T-shirt, I could've sat there and played some tunes, and in the time that Justin and Nathan were exploring the cliffs, have made enough to have covered our parking fee. Hindsight.

Oh, one more thing of note from the Cliffs... I think I can cross one more thing off my list: seeing a puffin. Maybe. To be honest, I have no idea whether the tons of tiny black dots covering Goat Island at the base of the cliffs were puffins or not, but a sign there indicated that they could be seen there today, so I'm guessing they were. Not a very satisfying mark off the list, but a mark nonetheless.

After the cliffs, we headed to Doolin to grab an extremely overpriced lunch at Gus O'Connor's. Sadly, I think Conal's assessment of Doolin is pretty right on. What was once a tiny, quaint, quasi-town and wonderful hub of traditional music has become little more than a glorified tourist trap. Sad.

From Doolin, we made our way north again, through Lisdoonvarna, Kilfenora, and up across The Burren. We stopped off to walk up and take a close look at the Poulnabrone Dolmen, which while I had driven past and admired from the road several times, I'd never ventured up close to. It's yet another site that has been ridiculously over-developed since the first time I saw it, but at least they're not charging admission...yet.

On the road again and just past Kinvarra, we stopped again to have a quick look at Dunguaire Castle. Apparently, like at Bunratty Castle near Shannon, they hold a medieval feast. Had we known in advance, it might've been a fun thing to do, as it was nearing dinner time by the time we got there, and the doors were closed in preparation. We walked the grounds a bit though before getting back on the road and finally getting back into Galway.

It turned out to be a fairly full day for a first day in, as we got back to Galway around 6 o'clock. Justin's taking a nap right now, Nathan, "The Iron Man" just went for a run and is gonna hop in the shower. I'm going to run and pick up an air mattress that I'm borrowing from a friend so that we all have a place to sleep and then going to run to Dunnes to get stuff for breakfast in the morning.

After that, a little dinner, some drinks and a session at the Crane, and we'll call it a night whenever those guys are ready to crash.

Tomorrow will be a pretty full day of touring Connemara and knocking around Galway some more, plus at some point, I need to pack for Scotland.

So, updates may be somewhat sporadic from this point on, but I'll check in when I can.

Photos of Day 1 of Justin and Nathan's visit.