Category Archives: Travels

Monday, May 25

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The morning began in the morning. Kind of like usual. Dan actually woke before me and while I said I was really awake even though I didn’t say anything after my “good morning” he said I was making “sleeping noises” so I guess I dozed on and off. Since I would never snore I’m sure my sleeping noises were some sort of musical sounds or something.

When I finally did actually get out of bed, and made my coffee, I suggested a plan for today, which I had plotted out when I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night. He said, “I see you have a plan,” or some such thing, but I said, “No. I have a plot.” Sometimes I can be comedically annoying. Go figure.

I also commented on meeting up with some dear people tomorrow and he and I both kind of marveled at the time passing. Stay tuned for who we meet! (Okay, probably half of my four or so readers already know. Heh.)

Finally ready to go, after showering and putting things away, out we went.

First we walked back up to the cathedral we saw from the outside yesterday. A young man working there gave us tons of information and, had we the time and energy, probably would have given us a full tour. He sure knew his stuff. Turns out the outside of the cathedral is quite grand, but the inside never did get fully completed. It was, he said, all built due to the architect’s ego. Also it was to show the Catholics just how grand the Anglicans were. Ah, the lovely conflicts. It was interesting to see so many organ pipes right on the main floor. (I know he was telling someone else about just why and I heard, “It’s embarrassing…”. No clue why, but I guess they had to put them there.)

Again, just as we did yesterday, we went to Elizabeth Fort. We didn’t spend a ton of time there (it seems more geared toward kids), and I was NOT at all fooled by the men I saw. Not one real guy there, although the one being punished in the stocks looked life-like. The views of the city were nice to see.

We walked some more …

… and passed by the Counting House as we went further. So I said, “The king is in the counting house, counting out his money.” For the life of me I couldn’t remember the whole thing, though. (And yes, I had to look it up when we got back to our room. It quickly came back, tune and all.) They are working on the place, so we couldn’t get all that close.

Then, finally, we went to the English market. Full of booths, a few with knick-knacks and such, but more of meats, fish, cheeses, fruits and veggies, and more. We walked through nearly all of it.

Eventually we stopped at a sandwich and salad spot to buy what turned out to be lunch, even while we had planned on late breakfast. And gee, we remembered this time to share a sandwich. Miracles do happen! (This photo makes the sandwich look so small. It really wasn’t this tiny!)

From there we headed to the Church of St. Anne. We had a bit of a walk, including a spot where we had to quickly cross a street to avoid a man who was clearly out of it. Mostly I was thankful his pants, which were falling down, had yet to expose anything I’d not want to see, but I suspect that happened shortly after.

That brings me to a bit about the problems in each of the places we’ve been here. Yes, there are homeless. In some areas quite a few. In Dublin we walked by a woman with a number of scabs on her face, and I saw that she was shooting up, and groups of men who looked pretty bad. When stores close some homeless will take up a spot where they can sleep. It’s so sad to see, and I don’t like to write much about this darker side, but it’s there. Poverty is here. But then walking around San Francisco we see much the same. It’s everywhere.

Okay … back to the church. We walked further and we had a good climb up some stairs. As we climbed we’d walk past houses. The people who live in those places surely must be in very good physical condition!

But St. Anne’s … well … we walked by it, but it just didn’t look like a place we wanted to bother with. We’ve already been in a number of churches, so we passed it by.

Next on the “plot” of the day was the Fitzgerald park. It was a bit over a mile away. So off we went in that direction. What did I know about the park? Really nothing. I’d just read it was a place to visit.

When we arrived we heard and finally saw that a cricket game was happening. A very nice young man explained a bit of the game to us. I managed to comprehend some of it, but I sure couldn’t explain it well if you asked me!

We walked only a short while in the park. At the start of our walk we heard a woman on a loudspeaker of some sort nearby. We finally heard more clearly and there was a school by the park. The children were having races. Cute. Too bad we could only hear but not see them. We continued our walk in the park for a bit. I shot photos of the bird because I’d not seen one like that before. Looks rather crow-like, but the gray made me assume it was something else …?

We realized perhaps today would be a good day to head back to the hotel, take a rest, catch up on writing and downloading photos (the latter for Dan: I always wait until I get home), and just relax. I also started planning just how to pack things up: it has now gotten quite warm, and the remainder of our trip will probably continue with that trend. I have to figure out how to squeeze my warm “shacket” and sweater into the suitcase, along with my warmer pants. It’ll be a challenge, but I have no choice but to make it all work.

After that bit of time in our room I, as usual, became restless. I’m not very good at sitting around. Dan asked if I wanted to get out and walk a bit and of course he already knew my answer, I’m sure. While we had been relaxing I had also looked up pubs that have the “trad” Irish music sessions (trad for “traditional). I found a few and entered them on to my Google map.

Side note: Ah, Google Maps. Sigh. I plot things out, they work. But suddenly they disappear. I’m not sure why. I guess I’m probably doing something wrong, but ugh. We tried Apple Maps on our phones but haven’t managed to get more than one destination on them. I’m sure there’s a way, but so far we’ve not managed to figure it out!

So out we went, across the river once more (it’s the only way to go anywhere from our hotel. The first place we saw was a no-go. Just wasn’t right. The second place we passed wasn’t on my list and I saw no reviews, but at least we knew we would hear Irish music and they had food. Still, I’d rather go to some place that was recommended. We passed some interesting places, though.

Shortly after that we went to the The Oval pub. Such a cool place. They have several “snugs” — little rooms like the two we found in Dublin (at least I think it was Dublin — everything seems to run together after a while). Those little rooms are perfect for those of us who can’t hear well. I had a little beer and Dan had a larger one. As I told him, “Those bubbles fill me up!”

Then more pub hunting. While at The Oval we saw a pamphlet that listed other pubs that had music and one was a place I had already put on my list, so off we went, to “Sin é”. Now about that name. I read that it means “That’s it” and it’s so named because right next door is a funeral parlor. Hah! Well, it looked fine, but had no food and the music didn’t begin for a while. So on we wandered.

Then we found a restaurant. Not Irish. The man we spoke with (the owner perhaps?) was so friendly, and explained that they served tapas in a Latin American style. (Later we learned he was born in Algeria but grew up in France. Just the friendliest man.) We looked over the menu, and said we’d like to eat there. We ordered some mini ceviche tostadas, some guacamole, and a chicken and rice dish. Absolutely delicious. For desert we opted for a bit of decadence. (Who … US??) That was fabulous as well.

After dining there we headed back to Sin é. Some musicians were in the back playing. I couldn’t see them, but could hear them. We squeezed in and Dan ordered our zero zero beers (we are so well behaved sometimes) and we sat down at the first free table. The place was crazy! Things all over the walls and ceiling. It was fun to hear the musicians — it seemed that they frequently took turns doing whatever they wanted to do. There was a fiddle player (at least one), guitar (he sang as well), some sort of squeezebox, and I’m not sure what else. I did some recordings. Of course people talk throughout, but so it goes. It was interesting with the final recording, though: people suddenly got very quiet.

Well, that’s a wrap for now. I’m beat! Tomorrow is another moving day, and we have one flight and two trains to take.

Goodnight!

Stats
17,251 steps, 7.02 miles, 6 flights climbed

Sunday, March 24

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Today began with hotel coffee since they had a Nespresso machine and that coffee isn’t too bad. We’ve avoided all the little packets of freeze dried (at least I’m assuming it’s freeze dried), but Nespresso will do. I’ve yet to figure out the kinds of coffee though: there were three colors and none were labeled (so Dan can’t figure out if any are decaf). After getting dressed (for me) it was just waiting until Dan was also ready so we could head on out.

Our first destination, or so we thought, was to be Elizabeth Fort. It wasn’t open to enter, we knew, but we at least wanted to walk by. So off we went, taking some photos as we walked, Dan with his Fuji and me with the iPhone for the moment.

We managed to get sidetracked — no surprise — when we saw this church, St. Finn Barre’s. We shot from the outside, as the gate was closed, but soon a man came up with a key. I suspect opening to get ready for the service. But he said, “Let me open it for you.”

Do you see the gold angel (perhaps easiest to see in the fourth photo)? Apparently the architect of the church, William Burgess, put it there and the legend is that if it should ever fall the world will end.

From there we continued on our way to the fort. I saw the organist’s house and the choristers’ house, but I couldn’t find the oboist’s house. Strange.

Some of the photos of a wall above are from the fort. I neglected to take a photo of the entrance. Oops!

Our next destination was a good walk away. For the first time on this trip I was actually getting too warm while walking. Where did that sun come from?! But on we walked.

I saw a fork in the road but I didn’t take it.

And then we arrived: this was the Marina Market. I thought perhaps it was a market that would have, oh, you know … things that are in a market. Veggies. Fruits. Meats. But no, it wasn’t that kind of market. The area around this is run down, with lots of vacant buildings, broken windows and all. I think they are attempting to change the area. (One building is going to be housing with 25 stories and it’s so strange as they are starting by building two extremely tall — gee, maybe 25 stories tall! — skinny structures, but the photos show a more normal looking building. I should have taken a photo of what is to be the finished structure, but of course I neglected to do so. Oh well.)

But I ramble. Back to the Market. As we started to get close I saw a little girl carrying a tiny violin case. When we reached the entrance of the market I saw why: there was to be a Suzuki performance there. Sweet!

The entrance:

When we entered the building we saw a large number of food options so we toured the entire building in order to search for our first meal of the day.

We settled on a place and while Dan ordered our breakfasts I headed to the coffee spot and ordered our coffees. It took a while to get our food, but oh dear … SO MUCH FOOD! Here I thought today would be a day on which to be responsible. Never mind. I opted for the vegetarian meal and Dan went for the meat. We should have ordered one meal and shared and had we known how much would be in our “breakfast box” we would have. Too late to do that, though. And no, I couldn’t finish. Nor could Dan.

After we ate we walked by the Suzuki concert. I shot only a very short bit. But so doggone sweet to see all those young musicians!

After our meal we ventured back out, ready to walk to our next destination: the train station.

We bought our tickets for a 25 minute or so round trip, and also purchased tickets for a tour at our next destination, and shortly after boarded the train and headed out.

And hello Midleton! We had another mile or so walk then. Since we were early for our tour we looked at a few other things in the village. Every village we’ve been in, be it Ireland or Scotland, always has memorials to the war or wars.

And then it was time for our Jameson Whiskey Tour! We of course had to go to the distillery since they clearly named it after our youngest! Heh. Or not. We hung out for a bit, shopped a little, and finally the tour began. It was really very informative and I enjoyed it. It ended with a sampling of three high end whiskeys. My only complaints about the tasting: it was rather rushed and they didn’t have the little bottles that Talisker had so if you couldn’t finish your whiskey (and who could in that short time?) you just had to leave it behind. Too bad! From there we were taken to another spot where they gave us a final drink. Dan and I opted for the whiskey with lime and tonic water (at least we think it was tonic water). Yum!

Do you see the wings above? That’s representing the “angels’ share” of whiskey. As it ages it evaporates and they say they it rises up and the angels get it. The longer it ages the less whiskey you get from a cask, which can explain why older whiskies cost so much. I also showed a photo of the final whiskey we could sample. It is €240 a bottle! It could only be purchased there, I believe, and no, we didn’t buy a bottle.

When the tour was finished we started our walk back to the train station.

We had about twenty minutes to wait. I was fine with that, as I was quite tired of standing. Then on to the train we went.

I wish I’d taken a photo of the tons of people (most in red shirts that resemble soccer shirts in the states) who were getting on to the train. Wow! BUT as we walked back to find dinner (as if we needed food) there were absolute masses of sports fans. We had noticed some when we were at the Marina Market in the morning and since so many were young children we assumed it was a sports event for children. Nope. It was Cork versus Clare.

But what were they playing? Well, I had to look it up and here’s the answer I received:

Cork defeated Clare by 1-30 to 1-14 in Round 5 of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship on Sunday May 24th at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

So now you know.

As we looked for dinner we continued to run into crowds of people. Some were walking to who knows where, some were at bus stops, and many were at various drinking establishments. Most were in the red and white shirts, Cork’s colors. Clare’s colors are saffron and blue (as I later looked up to verify) and I did see a few of those, and one little boy looked rather dejected as he was walking. Poor guy! I wish I’d gotten a good photo of the crowds, but honestly it was hard to get through some areas so I could only grab this one after we made our way through.

We were searching for a place with room for us, so we could grab a bite. We went into one place, thinking it might work for dinner, but the noise was deafening. Thankfully we did find a place called The Raven (looked like no Cork fans were there) and we ordered, surprise, surprise, far too much food. I think I need a fasting day! I had a shrimp sandwich and Dan had chicken. HOW he managed to eat that huge thing is a wonder, don’t you think?

From there we walked back to the hotel. A bit of laundry was done, and I got this entry typed up. What a long and full day it’s been!

Yawn. Time for sleep!

Oh …
21,582 steps, 8.59 miles, 1 flight climbed

Saturday, May 23 — Moving Day

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We were quite lazy this morning: we didn’t wake until a few minutes after 8:00! But today is moving day so there’s really no need to rush.

I showered and packed, and then we went downstairs to have some coffee. We rarely purchase breakfast at these places — €15 per person just seems ridiculous! So instead we went to the bar area because Dan had seen a woman with coffee the afternoon before, and we did see an espresso machine there. No one was in the room so we wondered if we’d have to venture out when a man came from the kitchen. We asked if we could just get coffee and maybe a bite and he said he could bring croissants from the breakfast room and yes, he could make my cappuccino and Dan’s espresso. When he came back with four miniature croissants, butter and jam, and proceeded to make our coffees. Perfect! We sat around a bit, and when it was time to pay Dan again had to wait for someone to notice us. A woman finally came into the room and we found out that the croissants were free and we only had to pay for coffee. Can’t argue with that.

She talked a bit to us about the weather. (Turns out she lived in New York for something like seventeen years.) She said the weather they have been having was colder and wetter than usual. We noticed that, finally, the weather looked quite nice and she agreed. Of course we were leaving so it didn’t matter a whole lot to us! (Side note: and yesterday when we were buying our baseball caps the young woman at the register said she had majored in meteorology and it didn’t do her much good with figuring out the weather!)

Going back up to our room after our little breakfast we collected our things, checked the room carefully as we always do, and checked out. We walked in the direction of the “coach station” (bus station to us). Every time we head out of an area it seems I feel as if we missed a lot, but of course it’s impossible to see it all. So it goes.

Partway there popped into a little store to purchase a sandwich for the bus. Arriving at the station we spotted our door and sat nearby.

I had read that we must be at the station ten minutes ahead of departure time but we were about thirty minutes ahead. My kind of timing! We didn’t have to sit for long, as the bus arrived rather soon after we got situated. I had mentioned to Dan that we get no reserved seats on a bus, so I wanted to get on as early as possible. We did, in fact, get in so soon we could easily sit together and find seats toward the front. Lesson: never just arrive at the last minute — some groups of people had to sit separately and I could see they were caught by surprise.

The bus itself was clean, but the seats weren’t terribly comfortable: they were too upright and there was no way to recline them, and anyone of any girth would probably need to buy two seats! They said they had outlets but they were underneath our seats and nearly impossible reach unless one of us stood and the other got down rather low to plug things in. No issue for us since we had fully charged everything, but I do wonder why they hadn’t thought to put them in front of the seats rather than underneath.

There were rules that I had read (although my confirmation didn’t state any of them and I wonder how many people go online to read them). No drugs, do alcohol, no smoking or vaping, no weapons. Well, okay, I guess we can deal, but what to do with my lightsaber?! We were also not to have “odorous” food. We dealt with that too. We are so obedient.

Almost precisely at 11:30 we left the station. Goodbye Galway! (Although we did one other stop in Galway to pick up more passengers.) The ride was fine. Three hours of “fine”. One thing of note was that people on the bus were much quieter than people on most trains we’ve been on. Curious.

I took iPhone shots as we went. The colors are off since the windows are tinted.

There was a quick stop in Limerick as well. No time to get off the bus, though.

Off we drove. Well okay, I did no driving. Off we sat …

… and then we arrived at our final Ireland destination.

Hello Cork!

We went out in search of a taxi as the walk to the hotel would be over and mile. With backpacks that wouldn’t be an issue, but these roller bags make it less pleasant. The lay of the land — or at least the roads — was odd and the driver had to go a round about way, but I knew that would be the case having checked the map earlier.

Our hotel didn’t have our room ready when we arrived, so we hung out in their lounge for about 30 minutes. No biggie.

In 30 minutes it was, in fact, ready, so we headed up. The room is a good size, with one of those not-quite-king beds. At the little coffee station were two pieces of chocolate which was, well, sweet. (Yep, still imaginative here.)

(The last photo above is from our room’s window.)

But then I saw a box of five little chocolates. Hmm. How nice of them to give us even more chocolate! And then I saw the card … and that was even more fun to read.

We did a bit of in-hotel-room laundry, and then we decided what to do with the remainder of the day. Answer: wander around a bit. Duh.

So off we went, just a random walk.

When dinner was desired we just opted to go in to a restaurant for no particular reason other than it looked like it would do. I had prawn curry and Dan had a chicken burger of some sort. Having forgotten to take a photo yet again, I just quickly shot this silly thing. Why? So I can go back if necessary to remind myself of what we had that night. Why? Because occasionally Dan and I reminisce about a trip and we start naming our meals. Why?

Because.

On our walk back to the hotel we clearly fit it so well with everyone wander about. I’m sure people thought we were locals. After all, most of those out and about were probably college age. Like us. Um. Many years ago.

But seriously, I was surprised by the huge number of younger people wandering about. Not quite as surprised by how so many were in summer clothing even though I was in my wool Shacket , though. I’m sure low 60°s here is just fine for summer clothing for them. Me? No, not so much.

Now we are back in our room, and I guess we might want to make plans for tomorrow.

Ciao for now!

Update: Forgot to post the pathetic stats for today.
7,713 steps, 3.12 miles, 0 flights climbed

Friday, May 22

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About that power outage: it’s fine now, but it did last a while. I’ll have to check and see just how long, since we may end up tossing anything in the freezer. Apparently a damaged semi truck was near a power pole and if it had overturned there would have been a bigger issue, so PG&E opted to shut off power until things were resolved. Or so I’ve read.

We had no specific plans for today other than walking to Salt Hill, which I’d read was a nice walk. There were a few other things we might fit in, but nothing like a tour or museum. So it was to be a relaxed day.

I had read a blog by a woman who fell in love with Galway and said she would be happy to move here. So far Dan and I aren’t feeling that, though. The Latin Quarter is fun but clearly a tourist area. Maybe today would be the day we find out what she’s writing about …?

First, though, coffee. Of course. But look … no sweet roll this time! I had no idea my bagel would be so huge, and who knew crisps were served at breakfast?

Once we finished our breakfast we went toward the Latin Quarter: Dan had seen a cap yesterday he wanted to buy, and I had decided I needed a lighter cap for days when it isn’t cold. Rumor has it we will encounter warmer weather quite soon. My hat was found and gosh, for only a bit more € we could get two so Dan opted for a baseball cap as well. Here I am with my new Guinness hat. (I had to show the back as well, since I do love the harp logo.)

We continued on our way to the place where Dan could buy his linen hat as well. The funny thing is that he now has SIX hats with him: his Mucros wool cap, the new linen Mucros cap, a rain cap, a trail hat, beanie, and his new Guinness baseball cap. Me? I “only” have three: my new Guinness baseball cap, my rain cap, and my little hot pink beanie. (Yeah, really — I’m NOT a pink person, but it came as a free bonus from Woolx.)

Here is Dan modeling just three of his six hats!

Then it was on to find the way to Salt Hill. As we neared that path we saw a lot of booths set up so we wandered a bit. There was one cool stand that had faux leather items made from cork and I was tempted by the keychain. Then Dan said, “Do you have any keys?!” Heh. Well, aside from a mail key I don’t even use keys, so never mind.

While we were there we saw a huge dog. I’m not an animal person, really, but this dog was so sweet … and huge! The people were quite friendly as well.

We found our way to the “long walk” (which is what the walk to Salt Hill is called I guess), and headed out. I won’t write a ton, but I will show photos of things we saw on the way.

We arrived at Salt Hill, seeing the place (from a distance) we might have opted to stay, and while it would have been less expensive we did think where we are is more central and better.

Then it was time to turn around and head back.

We opted to go a slightly faster way, and eventually landed at a place to buy a little bite to take back to our room. I had what was sort of like a pasty, but not quite, of mushroom and sauerkraut, and Dan’s was mushroom and cheese. They were small but tasty.

After a brief respite (is there any other kind of respite?) it was time to go back out. Since we missed out on the live music yesterday, we planned on getting somewhere early enough to grab a spot where we just might hear and see the musicians.

We walked back to the Latin Quarter, looking for the place Dan remembered. Or did he? I guess we’ll never know for sure! He thought he saw something that said music began at 3:00, but we sure couldn’t find it. He also had read about a place that had two floors and we weren’t sure about that either. We did get to see some buskers, as well as a bride and party parading down the street which was kind of fun. (We weren’t sure if we were seeing the father of the bride or the groom … heh … funny how one can’t always tell!)

Eventually we went to a spot to have a couple of “zero zeros” to begin our little adventure.

From there we continued to search, and finally went into a spot that already had musicians playing. I’m not sure how “Irish” all the music was, but it was fun to hear them.

That group of musicians left and another was setting up, but we were planning on heading back out. BUT … well … then were heard what I think were uilleann pipes. That kind of caught our attention. I saw the guy who was playing that then pull out a few recorder-like instruments (Irish whistle?) and we had to stay a bit longer to listen. (Sound is probably bad and too loud so maybe turn the sound down!)

It was fun to hear them. Loud, though!

But then they played “Folsom Prison” and moved on to more contemporary music. I heard a guy nearby saying, “That isn’t Irish!” Heh. No kidding. And it was just too loud, so we then left.

Then it was time to search for actual dinner. We walked almost all the way to our hotel when we found a place that looked like it would do. And it did. Except … there was a group of what appeared to be students (two young men and maybe four or five young women) and an older man who we figured was their professor. Oh. My. Goodness. He was loud. He was annoying. And one of the young women was playing up to him and he had his arm around her. He was clearly drinking a lot. It was pretty darn sad and frustrating to see what was going on.

Okay, enough of my whining. For now.

I had a nice seafood chowder and Dan did the turkey roast thing. It was tasty and, for me, just a nice, smaller meal. I need to do more of those! The place was interesting and I wish I’d thought to take photos, but all I got was the ceiling. Ah well!

Back in our room I am finishing up this entry and then it will soon be sleepy time. Tomorrow we have our one and only bus ride to our next destination. We’ll see how that goes!

Goodnight!

Update:
19,484 steps, 7.79 miles, 0 flights climbed

Thursday, May 21 — Moving Day

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We had a lazy morning: our train was to depart at 11:30 and we didn’t have to check out of the hotel until 11:00. We aren’t so brave as to check out that late, though, for an 11:30 train. Odds are that would work fine, as it’s just a 10 minute drive away, but we like to allow time for any problems that might arise.

After hanging out in the room for a bit we went out to get breakfast. (Since I normally don’t even eat breakfast I sure wonder how much weight I’ve already gained!) Cinnamon rolls and coffee were enjoyed.

We walked back to the hotel to check out and had them call a taxi. Said taxi didn’t seem to show up in the one minute they promised, but another cab dropped some folks off so we grabbed that. The driver was a nice guy and he asked how soon our train was leaving. We told him we had plenty of time and he proceeded to talk about the people who head to the airport with no time to spare. We assured him we always allow time for either train or plane. (Dan knows me well enough to know I’m not a risk taker, and I think he is also quite careful about making it to stations with time to spare.) I took a couple of photos as we said goodbye to Dublin.

We reached the train station, entered knowing we had extra time, and went to a store there to grab something to eat on the train. This particular train had no food to purchase, but I’d prefer picking things up in any case since it’s less expensive off of the train. We waited only a short time for our track number, and when it seemed as if it should have been announced we went up to the spot I thought would scan our tickets but the man there looked at them and pointed us on to a further walk, telling us we were on track 7. As we walked Dan said he thought it was actually track 8 since he saw that on a board and, sure enough, it was 8. It was a good reminder to always double check!

Our car was the second to last. Of course! I told Dan, since we were in car B, that we’d either be right near the front or all the way back. Figures it was the latter. Our seats were in the row right by the door so that was easy, but there was no luggage rack there (I’m guessing I chose those seats because I thought our luggage would be right behind us!) so Dan had to lift the suitcases into the space above us. Even his large suitcase fit there, but lifting it? Well, that was a challenge … but a young man was behind us and offered to put it up for us. Whew! Sometimes it’s not fun to realize we are unable to do things like that any longer, but as Dan said, he’d lifted luggage for other so much so this was just okay.

Soon the train was departing. As it went I did shoot a few photos, including the stops we took.

And then we arrived. Hello Galway!

Oh — and hello rain. Not at all surprising: it seems our trip has been full of rain.

We had to get our rain jackets out of our luggage, but then we took a very easy three minute walk to our hotel. It’s sort of on the edge of the main part of Galway that people visit, and it’s a fine spot. It’s also very expensive. I was rather shocked at prices here for lodging, but maybe it’s because people come here to then go to the Aran Islands. (When we left our room to investigate the area we saw a van advertising eight minute flights — yes, really — to the Islands.)

We are back to the smaller “king size” bed, but so be it. The view from our window … well … see for yourself!

Once we were somewhat settled and got anything of value we didn’t want to cart around in the safe we went out. I didn’t bother with the Fuji camera due to rain. We eventually got to the Latin Quarter (yep, in Galway). I’d heard that you could find a lot of Irish music spots there. We walked through the area looking in at shops and pubs and a rather amazing bookstore, and also ambled into less populated areas. Street art is all over the place.

From there we walked over to the water, where what I think is an estuary (thank you, Dan!) goes to the sea. It was racing out pretty wildly! We crossed over a bridge and read about and saw what used to be a lock as well.

At that point it was nearly dinner time, so we went back to where the crowds were now gathering and tried to find a place we could hear some music and enjoy a meal. Two places were impossible to get into, and we then went to a place where music had yet to start and, toward the very back, found a place to sit. Dan ordered a couple of beers while I held the seats. What we didn’t know until he returned was that it wasn’t a place for dinner. So we sat, enjoyed piped in music until whoever played arrived, and then barely heard the musicians since they were so far away and the place was packed so it was quite noisy. Ah well. Tomorrow we will plan better!

After our beers we left and went to find a place to eat. Nothing really worked in the Latin Quarter (crowds!), so eventually we just opted to eat at the hotel restaurant. First we went to our room to drop some things off. But what did we find? Um. The “safe” wasn’t so safe since we neglected to close it. Hah!

The restaurant downstairs was quiet, which was nice, and we sat and ordered: Dan ordered salmon and I ordered chicken. When they brought our meals both of us had chicken. Oh well! He opted not to tell them, and the food was actually quite good. Typical of me, I forgot to take a photo until I’d eaten most of the food so I think I’ll skip sharing my meal here. Just imagine a nice plate of chicken, peas with pearl onions, and mashed potatoes. (I must say we are getting more than our fill of potatoes and I am actually getting tired of them, which I wasn’t sure was possible.)

And now we are back in our room. I’ll finish up this blog entry and get ready for bed. (But meanwhile I just received a notice that we have a power outage at home. Sometimes I wish I didn’t get these messages, as there’s not a thing I can do about it.)

Tomorrow I think we’ll walk to Salt Hill, as I’ve heard it’s a lovely walk. I think we have seen much of what there is to see in the center of Galway.

Goodnight!

12,404 steps, 4.79 miles, 3 flights climbed

Tuesday, May 19

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Our day began sometime very early in the morning. An alarm went off that could not be ignored. I thought it was somewhere on Dan’s side of the bed, but of course being pretty deaf in my left ear meant I have no sense of direction. Dan checked his side and he said it wasn’t his phone (the only way it could have been would have been one of those national emergency alarms and even those aren’t that loud — at least I don’t think so!), and he thought it was on my side. Nope. Eventually we just went back to sleep because the alarm was quite brief.

Then at 4:00 AM it went off again. Just this horribly loud noise that lasted for maybe five or ten seconds. Well, this time we did more investigating. The bathroom fan, which had been on since Dan had some laundry hanging there, was no longer working. Hmm. Odd. We smelled no smoke, and of course the alarm had stopped and I doubt it would have done so had it been a fire. Still, Dan looked out the door and he said the fire doors had closed. Finally he called downstairs. They said someone had an issue with their shower and there was no problem at all. Meanwhile there was this periodic extremely low hum — almost like a foghorn — and we wondered about that as well. (Later I started to wonder if the person in question had run very hot water in the shower to get wrinkles out of clothing, but had left the bathroom door open: I had taken a hot shower some years back and left the door open and it triggered our smoke alarm! So maybe …? But who knows?)

I was just relieved it was not a fire. Going outside in cold temps wearing pjs is not my idea of a fun way to spend early morning, and I suppose if it were a fire that’s what we’d have had to do (although, as always, my clothes were sitting out for the day already).

But back to sleep we went, and didn’t rise until well after 8:00.

Once we did get moving (slowly) we went in search of breakfast. I’d located three possibilities. We chose the one with the higher ratings (although who knows what ratings mean!), and went inside. We were quickly shown a table, and soon ordered and paid for our food and coffees via Dan’s phone. That’s getting more and more common, it seems. Our food was quite yummy. When we first went in there was room for more people, but when we finally left there was quite the line to get in. I guess it’s popular!

Next up was St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around. I have to roll my eyes sometimes at what they might write about someone who is laid to rest there, or at least has a memorial plaque. They always sound like such flawless men and women! I do hope that, should I even have a service when I die, people are honest and say, “Well, she could sometimes be a handful and could definitely be annoying!” I mean … the truth is just fine by me. Just be sure and mention my incredible wit.

Or not.

I enjoyed reading about Jonathan Swift. (I think I might need to reread him sometime.)

From there we started to make our way to the Guinness location. We managed to make a few wrong turns, but it’s really not a big deal since we like seeing more of the city.

Finally there it was.

We purchased the self-guided tour tickets and made our way inside. I took far too many photos and don’t want to bore you too much, but I might bore you a bit. So it goes!

This water thing was rather cool!

There was a lot of information and parts of the tour were what Dan and I refer to as an “experience”, but really it was interesting and fun. It took much longer than I’d expected, too.

There was a section on an artist who did a lot of work for their advertising that was cute.

When I saw this particular display I cracked up. I had a t-shirt with that saying on it (you have to watch the full video) back in the later 70s. (My dad sure didn’t like that shirt!)

We were taken into a room to do a small tasting, but I didn’t do photos there. We walked a bit more and eventually wound up on the top floor where we were given a pint of Guinness. It wasn’t easy to find a place to sit, but eventually Dan nabbed a spot and we enjoyed sitting, drinking the beer, and I had saved a few packages of shortbread so we also ate those. Who knew shortbread and Guinness would work okay together? (Or maybe we were just hungry enough we didn’t care.) There were good views on that top floor.

We eventually left Guinness and planned on finding a light bite to eat. We walked a bit but didn’t find a place that appealed.

I had to shoot that last photo for my friend Bernie Sheehan!

So on we walked, through St. Stephen’s Green. I loved the sight of all those schoolboys squeezed on a bench!

At that point it did seem like perhaps dinner was in order soon. We ambled more, and even a bit more, not spotting anything that screamed out to us. Eventually I remembered that I had seen an old Victorian pub that seemed quite interesting so I did a quick search and found one. Whether or not it was the one I had seen online earlier I don’t know, but it was really cool. We walked in to find a very long hall. Then to the right there was a pub entrance with high tables. We aren’t exactly high table fans, and I had seen stairs that led to other rooms and I wondered about them. Someone who worked there said we could go on upstairs. So up we went. The first floor had a really nice, somewhat private room and we thought that would be perfect so in we went. I ordered the turkey roast (far too much food!) and Dan ordered the cottage pie. All was very good. Eventually the room did fill up so it was a bit noisy, but I was so happy to have that time when we were almost alone. At 7:00 a musician showed up and started to sing and play in the larger room adjacent to ours. The funny thing was that he was singing songs from our youth like “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” We had thought we’d be hearing Irish folk music or something!

Walking back out I took a few more photos:

Then it was time to head back to the hotel, passing once more through St. Stephen’s Green.

Thus ends our day. In some ways it feels as if we didn’t do all that much, but the cathedral and the brewery did take a lot of time.

Oh, and my watch was happy with me today. Whew! I’d still prefer to do even more walking, but this’ll do.

16,645 steps, 6.74 miles, 5 flights climbed

Goodnight!

Monday, May 18 — Moving Day

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We woke at 6:00 AM. Too early? Well, for some reason it seemed rather easy to rise, perhaps because I knew we had a flight to catch.

We checked out and got our taxi easily, and then drove to the airport. I was surprised by the expense, but Dan said it was what he expected. The driver was quite nice and we understood most of what he said. There were times, though, when I was at a loss!

Getting into the airport there were a lot of people in lines. Many were school kids — we are guessing high school. They were all in matching sweatshirts with their names on the back. I wondered if they would all be on our flight. I also wondered how long it would take us to get through the line we saw since we did have to check our bags. Thankfully Dan asked at the help desk and we were told that our line was further up and there were only a few people in front of us. One of those in front had a very very red baseball cap on with someone’s name on the back of it.

For the first time on this trip we encountered a maga hat. Dan mentioned to the woman at the desk that it was the first time we had seen one and that we weren’t a part of that group. Her response? “I’m glad.” She was very friendly and clearly relieved that we weren’t maga folks. It just made me sad to see the hat. Even if one is maga it seems as if they should be savvy enough to avoid announcing it. Most countries aren’t too thrilled with the United States at the moment. Ah well.

We got through security in absolutely no time at all, and found a spot for coffee and a sweet roll. We had tons of time to wait. I’m always okay with that!

When we walked to the area where our plane was probably going to be (still not posted on the board), all those kids were there as well. I finally could see their sweatshirts and there was the name of an Aberdeenshire school, Westhill Academy, and “Valencia ‘26”. I didn’t manage to find anything else about it at the time, but I did see they weren’t going on our plane.

Finally it was time to board. This was one small plane. That group of kids probably wouldn’t have fit on to it!

We were in the second row and poor Dan’s knees were right against the seat in front — and then the young man sitting in front of him leaned his seat back. At least it was a very short flight!

I took a couple photos and Dan made a video for me since he had the window seat.

You can really see the bright yellow canola from the plane.

I pretty much spaced out and even snoozed a bit. We were on an Aer Lingus flight and even water would cost money, so never mind any drinks or food. Not that we needed them in any case.

And then we arrived.

Greetings, Ireland! Hello Dublin!

Our taxi driver was very chatty and gave us a lot of information abut the area. I could even understand most of what he said.

We arrived early to our hotel, so we dropped off our luggage and went on a walk in search of lunch. And not “not lunch” but real lunch which was fine by me since my earlier sweet roll was quite burnt. (Darn!)

We ended up in the Temple Bar area. Clearly tourist country. Our driver had told us it was a place to visit during the day even while drinks were more expensive than in other areas. He explained that there was live music and the extra cost was due to paying musicians. I’m okay with that! In the later hours it gets a bit wild and crazy (I’d already read about that as well, and one had to be careful about theft and all.)

We randomly chose a place and went upstairs (where we couldn’t hear the music at all) and ordered our meals. I had soup and Dan had fish ‘n chips. I neglected to take photos but no one really needs to see those — just use your imagination! Instead here’s a photo of Dan and his beer!

From there we did more walking in our typical random way. (The first shot is of the restaurant for lunch.)

We ended up in a shop with tons of gorgeous Aran wool sweaters as well as other wool items. Oh how tempted I was! I know it’s all about the tourists, but honestly the prices for such beautiful sweaters didn’t seem at all unreasonable and they were 100% wool. There was one long one that I drooled over. (Not literally, you’ll be relieved to read.) Still, I resisted. I wish I’d taken a photo of the green one I loved, and the men’s purple — a color I wished they’d had for women. I only took these two photos. One of the jackets and vests and the other of the fishermen’s sweaters. And who knows … maybe I’ll cave and return to buy something. They do say they are made in Ireland, and they are just so doggone beautiful.

From there we just ambled a bit.

I think we were both a bit weary from the early wake up. In addition the bag Dan was carrying was rather heavy (full of his photo gear, I think). Due to all of that we went back to the hotel to get our keys and luggage and up we went to our room. The room is spacious, and the bed is the first truly king size bed we’ve had, I think.

I looked outside our window as well.

A bit of snoozing may or may not have taken place. Just guess!

Eventually we decided to head out in the rain in search of a light bite. I did find one spot we passed rather humorous.

I had done a search on restaurants, and then pubs, but finally I realized the best way to search was to plug in FOOD. That way I’d see even more suggestions. We walked to the closest place but it was burgers and that didn’t grab us. Then we walked a bit further to a small pub but it was so crowded and we didn’t see that they served any food at all. Another place, just a short walk away, was nearly empty and looked okay, but Dan said the one he saw on my map that was only a block or so further down was rated higher so we went to check that out. And that was the spot! It was incredibly noisy, but it seemed more like a local place and we really wanted that. They had all of one food option: toasties. Well, that was something I wanted to try in any case, and it was the small bite kind of thing we were hoping for. PLUS the prices were much more reasonable. The place was full of, primarily, younger people — perhaps college aged. I’m certain we were the oldest people there the entire time! The video I shot doesn’t really show the crowd so much: many arrived just after we did, and some of the slightly older guys had left. (Older as in older than college aged, not nearly as old as us!) You might want to turn your sound way down!

Then it was time to make our (short) way back to our hotel. I did have to stop for this little guy, though:

I mean how very encouraging is that?!

We aren’t sure what’s up for tomorrow. Maybe the immigration museum. Maybe a Guinness tour. Maybe something else. So check in tomorrow to find out! I’m really hoping we get a day without rain, but I’m going to bet that won’t be the case. S’okay — we are having a great time no matter!

And now …

Oíche mhaith!

If what I just read is true, that is pronounced “ee-hah wah” … I don’t think I’ll be speaking Irish any time soon.

It means “goodnight”!

Friday, May 15

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7:30 and time to rise ‘n shine for our 8:00 breakfast here at the Altnaharra Hotel. Sleep was fine, but I’m still adjusting to the “king size” beds here — they are a tad smaller than ours at home. You’d think kings would be larger in a country with a king. Or not.

Breakfast was nearly gone when I realized I hadn’t done my photo. Why a photo? Well, it helps me remember where we were when I go back and reminisce about a trip. So here, have the remains … and my driver as well. I’ve decided he’s Driver Dan and I’m Whimpering Wife. At least for the next couple of days. I’ll just bet he’ll be happy to be back to trains and planes!

On most of the walls in this place are prints of wildlife, fishermen, highland scenes and the like. But on this one wall …!

We got whatever we needed (cameras, and warm clothes) and went on our way. First we had to retrace our final drive from yesterday, which took over an hour. (Closer to 1 1/2 hours I think.)

Here are shots up to our first destination:

I’ve written before about the passing places. Today there was one spot where some cars were stopped and no one was moving at first. Finally the red cars started to back up. But it took a while. Turned out that the vehicle in front of them was towing a huge camper (or whatever it’s called). When he passed the second red cars they had a little chat. My bet is that Red Car had a few choice words to say about how they were all stuck, but who knows? Maybe he was admiring the gigantic thing in the back. I was just amazed that someone would bring such a thing on a one lane road like this. I’m guessing it’s not advised.

We stopped when we saw this area, which was right before the small village of Durness I think:

Then, when we hit Durness, we went in search of health food. I’d seen a sign for chocolate, after all. So we went to the area (kind of a curious little spot, including this haunted house bit and some craft stores we didn’t visit). We ordered coffees and rocky road bars. Plus, because it would have been rude not to, we chose four pieces of chocolate for later.

Between Durness and Tongue we saw these views. (Yes, Tongue! There is a village called Tongue and I need to look that up sometime to see what that name is about. Perhaps the end of a loch? Dunno!)

This is Loch Eriboll. I only shot this photo because of the curious tunnels I saw. I’ve no clue what those are about. (Not sure you can see them without enlarging the image.)

Here is Tongue:

Then we had some “not rain” as we call it, since we look at the weather and it says it’s not going to rain.

Going through the village (town?) of Thurso we purchased gas and proceeded to miss the right turn we were supposed to take, so we ended up on a lot of little country roads. It was a pretty drive, though, and I don’t think it added much more than a few minutes to our drive.

And finally, we reached today’s main destination: John ‘o Groats, here we are.

Getting out of the car was a challenge: the wind was something else. We donned our warm jackets and rain jackets, as well as our beanies. I don’t believe I’ve ever been in such wind before. Despite that, we headed out.

If you watch the video perhaps turn down the sound: I have no idea how horrendously loud it will be, nor do I know if you will even be able to hear me talk!

Honestly, this walk was intense! But gorgeous, too.

A short time before we got back to the car Dan noted that the rain was moving toward us. We walked a bit more quickly, but we still ended up getting hit by the rain and then hail. In my face. Hail in the face hurts! I was just about to get to the parking lot when wind gusts were so strong I grabbed on to a post to keep from getting blown over! I was quite relieved to get into the car, wet though I was.

A bit later Dan said, “I can smell the sheep,” assuming it was due to the rain. I said, “No. You are smelling my pants!” I was wearing my wool pants, and yep, they smell when they get wet!

So from John o’ Groats our next destination was back to our hotel. These drives take a long time and we were done. Still, we had over 1 1/2 hours to get back. I took a few shots along the way, and had we had more time would have stopped for more, as I saw a number of monuments as we drove along our one lane road. I suspect it was about WWII, but don’t know for sure about them all.

In any case, here are just a few shots, the first from Thurso. (Dan took photos 2 and 3 from his window for me.)

We reached our hotel and made our dinner reservation, which took place shortly after. I had sea bass and Dan had salmon and all was delicious, but I forgot photos until our sticky toffee pudding so you only get dessert tonight.

Tomorrow is, again, moving day. Hmmm. Where will we go? Guess you have to tune in tomorrow to find out!

For now I will take my leave: my eyes are weary and even while it’s only 9:45PM here I doubt I’ll be able to stay awake much longer!

G’night!

Thursday, May 14 — Moving Day

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We woke and headed down to breakfast fairly quickly. And yes, it was down: we are on the first floor (second floor in the US). I am reminded more and more about bringing our packs rather than the roller bags!

Breakfast was much more simple today: granola, yogurt, and berries in a bowl, one half slice of toast (for me, that is), orange juice, and coffee. Still, it’s more than I would have had at home, due to the toast, and of course it’s about four hours earlier than I would ever eat my first meal. I’m convinced that’s why we end up eating again midday. At home I only need two meals since I delay the first. My weight gain will be, I fear, a bit significant unless I get more exercise.

From my chair at breakfast … exciting, I know. Shortly after taking this it started to rain. Go figure. Mostly it was that misty sort of rain, but it can really drench a person!

After that it was shower and packing time. We’ve got the packing down — doesn’t take me any time at all to get that suitcase packed and zipped.

Before heading back on the NC500 we had to fill the tank. Dan commented that it’s nearly as costly as filling our BigMobile. So it goes!

From there we drove off. The first time we pulled over I saw a sign that told me there were some “Geopods” for the Northwest Highlands Rock Route” on our drive today, which could be found when there was a sign with the blue and white design you see in a photo. We stopped, though, for the view.

Another stop was at the Knocken Crag Nature Reserve. I haven’t yet mentioned that the scenery here is simply staggering, so let me say it now. The scenery is simply staggering! There. Done.

The next stop was at the Loch Awe View Point. We do a whole lot of stopping on these kinds of trips, but we don’t stay long — between the wind and the cold and sometimes rain I’m quick to get back in the car.

Yep, another stop. This time at the Ardvreck Castle. I should have taken photos of the info there. One fascinating tidbit was that a supporter of Bonnie Prince Charles thought he’d be safe escaping to this Highland spot but whoever was at the castle at the time traded him, supposedly for oatmeal. He was then hanged. (I have been missing oatmeal, but I don’t think I’ll trade Dan for some: I need him as my driver.) Sorry I don’t have the names at the moment and internet is rather slow so this is currently all you get. Perhaps I’ll update later. And of course that could all be a myth for all I know. We only took quick photos of the castle and the Calda House in the other direction.

Just a few shots from the area of Elphin.

… and then some from the Lochinver area.

We decided to take a detour to a lighthouse. Once again Your Royal Wimpiness did a bit of whimpering as Dan the Driver made his way there. It was a longer drive than either of us expected, and I did fear, at times, that we would fall into the sea. (The other day I instructed Dan that if we were to go over a cliff he wasn’t to swear as one might do in such a case, but he was to yell out, “I love you!” I figured I’d do the same. I’m not sure how keen he was about my instruction.)

On the way … some more hairy coos!

We continued the drive and then made it to the lighthouse. Anyone want to rent it? It was SO SO SO windy. (That’s a lot of wind.) At one point it nearly blew me over. We didn’t make it all the way into the lighthouse (I’m not sure that’s allowed in any case) because I’d had it with the wind.

Then back we went to reconnect with the main drive. As we went I used the passenger assist brake (on my left) and the passenger assist steering wheel (in the cup holder) a number of times. I’m helpful that way.

We’ve seen a few beaches on our drives. Too bad I didn’t bring my bikini.

Oh. Wait. I don’t own any sort of bathing suit at all! Never mind.

We reached the Drumbeg Viewpoint.

We saw a sign for some sort of secret tea garden and figured it was time to stop, relax, and have some “not lunch”. I did puzzle over all the signs I saw for the secret tea room, though. Not much of a secret, if you ask me! Anyway, it was a nice spot where we bought a bit to eat and enjoyed not only the secret tea room but no wind!

The secret tea room had no secret bathroom, so we had to amble back up the road a bit to find the WC. I took a few shots during the walk. And … now goats!

We drove on, eventually crossing a bridge and then pulling over to see a monument, read about the river below where the military did submarine training, and take a photo of the bridge.

With about an hour and a half more to get to our lodging we did a very small amount of photography, and took a five minute snooze. At this point I think we were both weary of driving. I can’t tell you how taxing it is to handle my emergency braking and steering! Plus I have to whimper every now and then. Thankfully the last bit of the drive was much easier for both of us.

For the most part, I think Dan has got this driving on the left side of the road down. We are even at a point where we grumble when someone coming toward us doesn’t know how to use the passing places correctly. We’ve been known to say, “Americans” with disdain when they get it wrong. And yes, we are being goofy. Because that’s what we do. (I’ve often said we should record our conversations because we clearly are a comedy team. Then again, I fear a lot of eye rolling should we do so.)

At a very decent time we arrived at our lodging for the next two nights. We are at the Altnaharra Hotel. This use to be a popular place for fisherman and climbers, if I read the blurb correctly. It’s old and rather charming. We enjoyed a nice dinner here as well, as there is absolutely no place nearby to eat. Dessert was the “Altnaharra Mess” and it was quite something!

We still have to figure out what where our drive will take us tomorrow. It’s impossible, I’m guessing, for us to do the entire NC500 on this trip, but we’ll try to hit a lot of it.

And now … Oidhche mhath! (Good night!)

Tuesday, May 12 — Moving Day

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Rise ‘n shine, it’s moving day!

Last night I checked the map and did a bit of research to figure out our route to the next destination. One place we could drive to on our way might be one of those at the edge of a cliff drives. Something I’d never do, but something I could see Dan was tempted to do. I’m not one to say “absolutely not!” so I had to just breathe deep and let him decide.

But first, breakfast. Being here for three nights meant three breakfasts (see how fabulous my math skills are?) and I do something different each day. Today was my simplest: scrambled eggs and smashed avocado on toast. As it turned out, there were two pieces of toast, one with the avocado and one with the eggs. I wasn’t even tempted by the sweet rolls or croissants today. Yep, I was a good girl. For once.

As we were sitting at the table I noticed my watch band was breaking. Again. I had noticed a few days ago that it wasn’t in good shape, but managed to push things back together. Showing it to Dan he suggested I would lose the Apple watch if I kept attempting to use the band, so I had to switch to my “night watch” band. (Yeah, I brought both — I have been tracking my sleep.) Well, the night watch band is pink. PINK. I do not wear pink. Pink is not me. But I guess it is now, and I will stop tracking my sleep (which is probably a good thing anyway since my watch tells me I’m not doing a good job sleeping and I don’t like being reprimanded).

Okay … rambling over … as was breakfast.

Back to the room we went, to get ready to head on out. Packing this trip has been quite easy: when I packed at home I had room to spare which means that even as things in the suitcase get larger as we go (ever notice how everything expands when you travel? Not just one’s body, but everything in the suitcase as well!) I have no issue zipping it up. I was quickly packed, although I had to wait for someone to brush his teeth since I’m the Carrier Of The Toothbrush. (This is one very important assignment and I carry it out perfectly, just so you know.)

Packing done, we checked out of Redwood House and went on our way.

We had to stop one last time on our little 1 lane road to the Redwood House … I mean, really, how could we not say goodbye to a lamb or two, and the tree said, “Shoot me, shoot me!” so I complied. And that sign? Well DUH!

Goodbye Isle of Skye!

Well, sort of. We did have to get petrol (see how British I’ve become already — maybe they’ll let us stay?!). As Dan filled the tank I took a few shots of these little cars. Just because.

A few shots in what the iPhone tells me was Carbost.

One small waterfall image after a short bit of driving:

I had read about Lean To Coffee when I was planning our trip, so we opted to stop there. Besides, the coffee at the Redwood House was less than stellar. Now we are supposed to do a two meal a day thing, but a “tiny” pastry and coffee don’t count as anything at all, right? Um. Right.

And over the bridge we went.

We drove on. First it was Duirinish …

Then Plockton …

Then somewhere above Loch Carran.

Here we are, according to the iPhone anyway, at Ardheslaig …

And then Shieldaig, where I made another pink flower photo which the phone identified at Pedicularis Sylvatica or, commonly, small lousewort. Poor flower. I think it deserves a better name.

We pulled over at Benin Eighe and Lock Marie Islands National Nature Reserve. Now don’t worry, I won’t test any readers on the names of these spots later. But of course I’m sure you’re trying to memorize them.

Because our watch’s weather apps told us it wouldn’t rain it rained. This was at Lochrosque if my map GPS on the phone was correct.

Lochluichart was a bit before we arrived at our next village.

And then … hello Ullapool! Our room is very simple, with two small twin beds. We take what we can get, and if I can’t tell if the bed is queen size or larger I go for two twins.

After settling in, we went off in search of dinner. We headed down toward the water.

We could have done pizza, but that just felt oh so wrong when one is in a place that has seafood. The next place we looked at had no spot for us for over an hour. So we walked more, and finally landed at The Seaforth. We had a short wait, and that was fine. I finally had my Cullen Skink soup (thanks to a recommendation by my friend “DK” … thanks!), and Dan had salmon. It was all yummy!

After dinner we walked just a short bit.

And now we are in the little lounge area of our small hotel. It’s peaceful and quiet, and I can finish up this blog and post it. For me this is pretty early to get it finished. Whew!

As to walking … wellllll … I certainly didn’t do well today, and while we have the rental car who knows what will happen. So it goes.

Tomorrow I’m assuming we will do some of what they call the NC500 (North Coast 500). Stay tuned … and now goodnight!

6,568 steps, 2.71 miles, 5 flights climbed