Friday April 22nd: Driving to Galway, Ireland
Bob: After finishing with the ancestors (most of whom were dead, anyway) around County Cork, we decided to start on our sightseeing tour of Ireland.. We had enjoyed our stay with Anne and Seamus (American: James) very much, but we wanted to see more of Ireland's northern regions, so we reluctantly took our leave after a final nice big breakfast and started driving North toward Limerick in a light rain or drizzle. That was the only rain we had experienced in our first week in Ireland and was not a problem except for me because I had to drive in the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, shifting with the wrong hand and controlling the windshield wipers with the turn-signal stalk! I also had to signal with the windshield wiper stalk, which led to a whole lot of unintentional turning on and off of the wipers, not that I'm complaining or anything. Getting through the city of Cork itself was a chore as that involved dueling with oncoming traffic on narrow streets further constricted by the cars haphazardly parked on both sides of the road and sidewalks. The rule seemed to be that if the parked cars were on your side so that you perforce had to drive a bit to the right of the center, then you had to yield to oncoming traffic, whereas if the cars were parked over on their side (the right side) of the roadway and they were forced to edge over onto your side of the road, then they typically (but not always!) would give way to you. That's the kind of down-to-earth, practical advice about the driving customs in foreign countries that I so wish I could get from the guidebooks, but never do. In any case, I found that driving the narrow, twisting, traffic-clogged alleyways of the central city districts in Ireland was the absolute most wearing driving I experienced, so I was glad when we finally exited Cork and headed North toward Mallow. From "In The New World" we had read about a Holmes monument or crypt of some type in the cemetery adjacent to the ruins of Imphrick Church, and since that was on the road between Mallow and Limerick we decided to try to find it. Although we didn't find anything on the first pass, I stopped and asked the oldest guy I could find at the next gas station and sure enough he knew were the ruins were and gave us directions. We return to the aptly named "Church Road" and found the vine-covered ruins of the church looming over the cemetery in a farmer's field adjacent to Church Road and the railroad line. Fortunately the cows, and especially the bull, were in the field closer to the farmhouse that day so that once we had unlocked the gate and gotten through the high-tension electrical shock line designed to keep the cattle in, we could walk about 100 meters through the pasture to the ruins. |
Monika: We were sad to say good bye to our hosts, Anne and Seamus. They had been warm and friendly, and I would recommend this B&B to anyone who wants to spend a few days around Cork, Kinsale, and Covh. But to get to the north we had to brave Cork again. Seamus had given me directions on how to get through Cork easily, but I must have missed a turn again, and poor Bob had to contend again with the narrow streets. But we did finally get through and onto the right road heading North. Our first quest was another family grave. The Holmes monument was supposedly in the Imphrick cemetery. I had almost given up finding it, when Bob asked a local and was referred back a mile to a road I had dismissed. And there, 150 meters off the street in the middle of a pasture, was indeed an old cemetery. |
Bob: From the description in the book that the sarcophagus was visible from the road, we inferred that the sarcophagus that was prominently situated on a the high point of the cemetery was the old Holmes crypt. Unfortunately, the weathering of the capstone had almost completely erased the original inscription, so although we thought we could make out a H O L M E S in the upper left corner, I am really not certain and that might be wishful thinking. Still, the vault looked big enough to have served as a secret hiding place for guns during the Irish revolution 1920s, so I do think we found the right place. |
Monika: The largest mausoleum type stones looked indeed like they could be what we were looking for, but the writing on top was so weathered that we hardly could make out anything. But with enough imagination, the letters Hol.. were (maybe) recognizable. So we declared victory, took pictures, and moved on. |
Bob: Continuing on our way, we branched off the direct road to Limerick to visit the Grange Stone circle, which is the biggest one in Ireland. It turned out to be rather different from the one we had seen the previous day in that it had over 30 stones of all different shapes and sizes, and no clear-cut "altar" stone. There was, however, a clearly designated entryway between two of the larger stones and the archeological analysis we read suggested that it had a ritual use as a calendar. Currently the circle plus the smaller one nearby and a big standing stone are all on the private land of a farmer with a bad limp who we met while we were on our way out. |
Monika: Our next stop was the Grange stone circle, the largest stone circle in Ireland. It was comprised of probably 30 or so stones, all different, and one cow who was contentedly chewing its cud. It was rainy and cold, so we just took pictures but did not linger long. |
Bob: We had lunch when we reached the outskirts of Limerick when we found a Subway next to an Aldi store. That was perfect as we used the Subway for the freshly-made sandwiches for lunch and then purchased more foodstuffs for our evening meal from Aldi. Monika also picked up yarn and needles for knitting, but I decided not to buy an electrical power winch as it would only operate on 220 volt current, which is not easily available back at home. Once we got through Limerick, we used the new toll tunnel to go under the River Shannon and continued on the motorway toward Galway. The motorway, like interstate highways in the U.S., was fast, efficient, and showed us absolutely nothing about the Irish countryside we were traveling through. I was almost glad when it ended about 26 kilometers short of Galway and we once again had to wind our way through all the little towns and roundabouts. Once past Galway, I was getting rather tired of driving so I was just as glad when Monika decided we should start looking for a B&B for the night as it was by then 4:00 p.m. or so. We stopped (finally, after 6 hours of driving, thank God!) at a little B&B west of Galway for three nights. The B&B we found was a nice one near the shore of Galway Bay just West of Spiddle, which was close enough to the ferry to the Aran Islands for our planned trip the next day. I was tired of driving and gratefully settled in after a nice snack of tea and muffins offered by our landlady. |
Monika: Our route now took us through Limerick and I was already worried about guiding Bob through yet another old town. But I was happily surprised when the signage guided us easily towards an interstate that would lead to Shannon airport and parts north. Before we got there, I spied an Aldi store and thought it was a good time to stock up for dinner. Right next to Aldi was a Subway, and although we in general are loath to eat American fast food when in a foreign country, we do make an exception for Subways since they have great (surprise) Subs. We each got a 12 inch one and Lois and I kept our second half for the evening meal. At Aldi we stocked up on bread, cheese, and wine and I also, finally, found a nice little backpack. It will work well as carry on for our trip back, so our big backpack can be part of our checked luggage. From Limerick north we had about 50 km of interstate, which made up for time we had lost trying to find the cemetery. The last 30 km to Galway were fast two-lane, but then we had to get through Galway itself. I managed to guide us well north around for about two third of the city, but then took a wrong turn, and led Bob again onto narrow downtown streets for the last bit, before we hit the coastal road west of Galway. We had decided to find a B&B somewhere west of Galway, since we wanted to see the Aran Islands and then head northwest into the Connemara mountains. When we passed the little village of Spiddle, we decided to stop and check the first B&B. They did have a single and a double at a reasonable rate, so we decided to stay here for 3 nights. The hostess even prepared tea/coffee and muffins for us, which was welcome after the long drive. Especially Bob, who had driven wonderfully the whole day, with nary a problem, needed to rest and recuperate. |
Bob: After resting a bit, we also walked down to the shore of the bay and along it for about a half an hour. The waist-high dry stone walls enclosing tiny plots of ground ran right down to the high-water mark of the tides, which was clearly marked by a line of seaweed with the occasional miscellaneous debris embedded in it. We walked mostly on the rocks just above the high water mark, but when we did venture out onto the seaweed in search of a better path, we found it to be surprisingly soft and yielding and not at all slimy as I had expected. |
Monika: It was still early and we really had not walked much. The B&B was located not too far from Galway Bay with a lane leading down to the bay. We were again astounded by the stone fences along the way. Where the lane led down to the water, a horse was standing on top of the stones and watching us carefully. On the other side, a pony was hopefully coming to the fence. But we had not brought anything eatable. We walked along the grass by the edge of the water. It was low tide and you could see the stones that usually were under water. |
Bob: We returned up the next alleyway and were amused to find that it was a 2-way street with a posted speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour!! That despite the fact that the main highway, which was actually paved and broader, was posted down to only 50 or 60 kpm for that entire stretch. Back at our B&B we had the leftovers of our Subway sandwiches plus the apples and stuff we had purchased at Aldi. Then we all read, worked Sudokus or crossword puzzles, and shared the use of the computer for emails and updating our journals until it was time for bed. |
Monika: When the grass ended, we scrambled across the stones and walked on some sea weed until we came to the next lane that would take us back to the road. Since Lois was getting tired, we took the easy walk along the lane and road back, rather than scrambling back across the rocks. But it was a nice outing to end the day. |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Transatlantic Cruise | Map of Drive in Ireland | Epilog |
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