Ireland - Counties Clare, Limerick & Kerry (June 7 - 20)

What a fabulous finale to our Sabbatical journey! Ireland was so beautifully green, clean, rocky, musical, and friendly. We flew into Shannon, County Clare, on June 7, picked up a rental car and promptly drove to the cliffs of Moher. The pathways and lookout landings at the cliffs provided excellent opportunities to hike or to take photos.

Cliffs of Moher

From there, we made our way to the small village of Corofin to begin a 10 day housesitting assignment. Patricia, the homeowner, had a lovely house with 3 pets; Mollie (a blue heeler), Tinkerbell (a miniature chihuahua), and Pinky (a chocolate brown cat). What an amusing interaction between these three. We spent between 1-2 hours walking the dogs each day, taking them to a nearby lake where Mollie could have spent all day retrieving sticks that we threw into the lake. The lake had upwards of 40 swans and was so picturesque, surrounded by rolling hills, dairy farms and an abandoned castle.

House where we housesat in Corofin, County Clare

The sunroom

Mollie, Tinkerbell and Pinky vying for attention

Mollie retrieving sticks thrown into the lake

A highlight of our time in County Clare was discovering that there was going to be a folk festival in the area the following weekend. Although tickets were sold out when we initially enquired, the organizers released some additional ones and we were fortunate enough to get them for one day. The event was held in Doolin, on the west coast near to the cliffs of Moher, and was their second annual. With the unpredictability of the weather there, a large tent was set up where you could sit, stand or dance while watching the performers and then there were smaller tents housing food and arts and crafts booths nearby. The organizers scheduled groups to alternate between instrumental and vocal or a combination of both with a very creative use of instruments and props (e.g. bending saws, singing into tea kettles).

One of the acts at the Doolin Folk Festival

While in Corofin, Olive spent a lot of time working on her thesis and we fit in several day trips including: a hike of the huge nearby park called the Burren, a rugged, rocky, moonscape-like landscape; a trip to the beach at Ballyvaughan and short excursions into the countryside to see old castles.

Hiking in The Burren

Rainbow colours

Castles like this were common

Extensive use of stones for houses and fences

After the housesit we had three days to explore so we headed to Limerick, stopping at the Bunratty Castle and then staying overnight at Rossbeigh Beach where we swam in the Atlantic Ocean. From there we drove all around the county of Kerry, on a route called the "Ring of Kerry" which included a short ferry ride to Valentia Island, a hike to the peak of one of the mountains on the island, a hike to a lookout of the Skellig Rocks and a day in Killarney National Park.

Beach at Rossbeigh where we stayed at a B and B

Very popular bar we ate at in Limerick

We would love to return to Ireland again one day. We were only able to see parts of three counties, obviously so much more to see.

As I write this final blog, we are on the plane on our trip back home to Canada and I have so many mixed emotions. Part of me would love to keep traveling, however, another part recognizes that it is time to go back home and get more involved in the lives of family, friends and community. It is also time for Olive to focus more again on her writing and not be distracted by all of the travel related distractions. We have so many great memories that we will cherish, so many wonderful people we met, so many fabulous experiences. We are grateful.

During the last week of our trip, I wrote a longer poem and have included two of the verses that relate to our travels ...

Olive and Dan,

Came up with a plan,

To spend a year on the road,

In all of their travel,

Their marriage didn't unravel,

But you might even say it "growed".

During their one year Sabbatical,

It took plenty of mathematical,

To calculate schedules and costs,

But it sure wasn't a bummer,

To experience nine months of summer,

And to escape the Calgary frosts!

Thanks for all of the comments, encouragement and interest over the past year. If you ever want to reach us, our email address is fastnz2002@yahoo.ca

Dan & Olive