It’s 9:30 pm and I am relaxing on the bed after a third busy day. I rate Bealkelly House close to the top of the b & bs I have stayed at. It wasn’t that easy to get to—unmarked turn off the road, up a long one-way almost cattle track—but it is so relaxing and comfortable. Anita, my hostess, couldn’t be kinder. When I was having trouble getting my U.S. internet service here, she hovered by me, suggesting things, trying to look things up on her laptop and allowing me to call the U.S. from her landline (not looking forward to hearing about THAT bill, I was on for close to an hour!) The family part of the house and the guest part of the house are quite separate and I am the only guest so it is like having a small house to myself. The one small quibble is that the shower is VERY small. Richard would barely fit into it. But the water is hot, the rest of the room is large, WiFi is good (and free), bed is comfy, breakfast is wonderful (eggs any way I want them, bacon, mushrooms. . .all the usual trimmings of an Irish breakfast.
I adapted fairly well to being back driving on Irish roads. I say that with some caution, I still have a week of my holiday to go and miles to drive. Driving really takes full concentration over here. I mostly forget about anything on the left side of the car and focus on staring out the driver’s side of the window. The exception is when I am manoeuvering around a parked car on one of those ubiquitous narrow streets in a town. Then I crawl around it, crossing the white line in the middle of the road. Everyone does it although the Irish drivers don’t crawl, they speed,
Yesterday, after spending two hours trying to get connected to my own cellular service, I decided that I would proceed with my plan to go to the coast, near to the Cliffs of Moher, where I had mapped out two graveyards I wanted to photograph. Anita, bless her, drove ahead of me to where I could easily follow the roads to Lahinch and thence to Spanish Point (where a Spanish ship from the defeated Armada foundered.) It is impossible to read a map and drive here so, at least for yesterday, I had to go somewhere that would be easy to get to and easy to return from.
The mission was a success. I found the first graveyard, a small one, and photographed it in about an hour. It was located out in a farm field, with just a rough track leading to it. As the graveyard is still in use, I guess the mourners have to park on the road and carry the coffin over the track up to the graveyard, as they would have done for centuries. I met an old man while I was up there who pointed out all of the friends he had known that were buried there. At least I think that’s what he was saying, between his accent and his missing teeth, I found it hard to understand him.
It was 1:00 pm when I finished and I was hungry. So I drove another 8 kms to Spanish Point and had a yummy lunch at the Armada Inn. Salmon and some white fish, prawns, mashed potatoes and squash. Very filling! Afterward I walked out on the lawn and took a photo of the beautiful cove/beach.
Then I drove off to the other cemetery I had wanted to photograph. It took about 20 minutes to get there and I had to double back, having missed it the first time. But it was well worth it, very old, interesting headstones. I photographed 80-odd. I was just finishing the oldest part, and was thinking of doing the newer part as well, when it started to pelt down. Given that it is difficult to photograph wet granite, I decided I had enough. We don’t worry about doing “all” of a cemetery. There are always old stones that are illegible anyway, I just try to do as much as I can in the time I have.
As I got into the car, my phone suddenly beeped. My cellular service was finally connected. As I knew how to get back to the b & b anyway, I didn’t use it but it augurs well for the rest of my trip. Providing the cellular service doesn’t cut out.
I got back to Bealkelly at about 6:00, changed to drier clothes, and then got back into the car and went to Piper’s Inn, a restaurant about a 15-minute drive away. That is a small problem with the b & b, there is nothing in walking distance. The Piper’s was lovely, a quiet pub that was very elegantly decorated. I had a bowl of vegetables and noodles that were as yummy as anything I had had in my favorite Thai restaurants. And that ended Wednesday.
Will begin a new page for Thursday. It is difficult to write on the iPad when the post gets too long.
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