Galway, The Cliffs of Moher and Annascaul – 31st August – 1st September 2017

Slainte’ from the South West of Ireland.

We left Derry after a decent hostel breakfast and started to head south towards Galway. We had a quick stop at a servo on the border and then we were once more in the Republic of Ireland. The countryside began to become more pastoral and greener and the sun came out from behind the clouds. We had a quick stop at a cemetery where W.B. Yeats is buried before we stopped for a quick bite for lunch at a servo in a wee town called Grange. The food was surprisingly good and a crumbed chicken breast and chips went down a treat. Most people grabbed some supplies for the evening as Galway is known as a party town and the plan was to pre-mix before we hit the town. We stopped at a wee beach/harbour called Mullaghmore where we saw a great breakwater and the local boats called Hookers…They have an annual Hooker Festival in this town that apparently goes off.

Anyway we rolled into Galway around 3.30pm and we had two hours before Rory took us on our walking tour. Unfortunately, we were all in different rooms and the hostel was alcohol free…So un-Irish. We actually managed to download the GOT finale and squeezed in half an ep before we headed to Eire Square to meet Rory.

He explained that Galway is one of the only true Irish towns in Ireland. It was founded by 14 Irish families back in the day and was never settled by the Romans or the British and is therefore a proud town…it is also a big university/party town. We walked through the cobblestoned streets and the vibe felt like Edinburgh. There were buskers (Ed Sheeran honed his craft on the Galway streets,) we saw where the Claddagh ring originated, saw a fast flowing river where the poor originally lived and soaked up de craic.

We then headed over to a pub called Murty Rabbitts where we settled in for festive dinner and drinks for Georgia’s 21st. The cider was great (Orchard Thieves), the Guinness was smooth and the smoked salmon on brown bread was tasty. The highlight was THE BEST ever Shepherd’s Pie that we have stuffed in our pie holes. Man it was tasty!! We bought the birthday girl a drink, Rory organised a cake and then we started our pub crawl.

Long story short – everyone got hammered in a variety of cool bars with live music in all of them…Yep it was the best night that we could have asked for and the Skeff Bar (can’t remember the actual name) was a multi-storey pub that had rooms everywhere and was one of the best pubs that I’ve ever seen. We ended up pulling stumps at around 12.30 – 1am but the birthday girl and her friends all arrived back around 4.30am – some with new paramours…ahem ahem… the youth of today…tsk! 😉

The next day on the bus and most people had proper Irish hangovers and the tone was subdued with bouts of vomitus…I was OK, Jen was a wee bit dusty and the young girls were a mess…

Today was a big drive day and our first stop was the second most popular tourist attraction in Ireland (behind the Guinness Storehouse) The Cliffs of Moher. Most people will remember them as The Cliffs of Insanity from the classic film “The Princess Bride.” They were spectacular and Mother Nature really turned on the weather for us today – it was optimal viewing – so amazing. We also saw the castle on the top that Lord Someone-or-other created to seduce the Victorian women that he would walk along the tops of the cliffs with. This tower is still erect – thank you – after all these years. I did a one hour ferry cruise around the islands – saw the Harry Potter cave from “Half Blood Prince” where he gets the horcrux – but Jen elected to have a snooze on the bus.

My favourite part on this trip happened when one of the newbs who had joined our tour – an Asian Canadian woman threw up due to the swell and chop from the Atlantic Ocean. She was holding a plastic bag to her mouth as the young deckhand walked past her and in true laconic, cheeky, Irish fashion, asked her:

“Enjoying de trip?”

We winked at me as he walked past and I lost it…love this country!

We had very average fish and chips before we boarded our new bus – Shrek 2 – and headed for our hostel. We stopped for ice cream at the most beautiful little town called Adare, before we rolled into the one horse town of Annascaul. This hostel was owned by Paddy wagon tours and the accompanying pub – The Randy Leprechaun – opened just for us.

The rest of the night was spent singing karaoke and drinking pints with a few inbred, rapey locals. I tried a few new songs that I won’t be repeating anytime some – but I did nail Elton John…Your Song I mean – not the actual man. Some of our group were fantastic. Zoe did an incredible version of “Valerie” and the two Kiwi girls – Nicole and Christine – belted out a whole swathe of epic and tragic tunes. Good craic was had by all – except those trying to sleep upstairs in the hostel – they thought it was pretty ordinary.

That’s about it. Off to Dingle, Kerry and Killarney tomorrow for our last night together.

Ciao for now       

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