the moher I see you, the moher I want you (Moher, Limerick, Killarney)

Sad, isn't it? That's entirely Jayne's work, a pun on Peter Allen and the cliffs of Moher.

The cliffs
We left Galway this morning in sunshine, or was it rain? Perhaps it was both at different times. We drove straight to the Cliffs of Moher. I was really hoping to see a Puffin. Because Ireland's main attractions are so well sign posted, we ended up at some bay on the coast. This allowed us to look at he cliffs from a different angle and for FREE. Nothing is free here. Oh, look, a natural attraction, that will be 6 euro each please. Seriously! Do we charge to look at the Three Sisters or Bondi Beach? No. Well maybe we should, because everyone over here is queuing up to pay. So anyway, the west coast finally lived up to it's wild reputation. I would not have been keen leaving that harbour on a boat.

After challenging the TomTom to find us another location, we drove to the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre where it cost us 9 euro admission each. We walked across the road and up the path to the cliff walk. I took lots of scenic shots, but there was nerry a Puffin to be seen. There were some sight see-ers huffin' and puffin' up the incline and that was the closest I came to a Puffin - if indeed they exist. In fact, I think that H R Puffinstuff is more real than a Puffin. They exist only on the spine of children's books. Sigh.

Jayne decided that she needed to get her money's worth and climbed the fence at the end of the path to walk along the cliff's edge outside the fenceline. Civil disobedience from such a pillar of society. I followed only to ensure she didn't fall. It's too early in the holiday to be worrying about funerals.

King John's Castle, Limerick
There once was a lady from Nantuckett,
Sorry, that is the only beginning line to a Limerick that I could remember. Can't remember how it finishes up ... something about a bucket I think.

The drive from the cliffs to Limerick was as usual. It poured, it was sunshine, there was a tractor driving slowly, there were trucks and locals driving way too fast, it rained, it was sunshine. And the sunshine held as we drove into Limerick. We found St John's Castle, eventually, and went inside. There were two audio visual presentations, one for 5 minutes and the other for 20 and while they both had a great story to tell, the production was very amateurish. Once again, Vindolanda set the benchmark for us back in 2003.

The Castle itself was interesting and King John was the bastard I always knew him to be - even if Robin Hood didn't really exist as we believed.

In looking at what the English have done to Ireland down through the years, and then you think of other countries as well (like Australia), it really makes you consider their role in world history. I think the victors have been authoring the history text books for far too long.

Killarney
We arrived late this afternoon. No rain. The B&B is fantastic - it even has a shower where you can move around without hitting your elbows! We've been to town for dinner at The Laurels, a delightful little pub. OMG  Irish serves are big. I've been restricting myself to breakfast and dinner, and even that is too much. I need to walk more and I miss my bike rides.