Bless us father we survived Limerick

Tuesday 12 April


Salthill was the first port of call this morning and what a brisk morning it was indeed.  I have decided that my dearly beloved, Spock is best suited to the cooler European climates.  This brisk morning I had three layers of clothing on, but he was just in a shirt and with no complaint, whilst I could easily have applied another layer.    Salthill is a lovely little seaside village just about 10 minutes outside of Galway with a lovely walk way along the foreshore.   
We did follow up the flags from yesterday on Achill Island they were the provincial flag of the area including county Mayo.
Driving through the small stone harbour of Kinvara, that sits smugly at the south eastern corner of Galway Bay we visited Dunguaire Castle.  This castle was erected around 1520 and has been extensively restored and now used for stage shows, not all that remarkable really.
Cliffs of Moher were the sight of the day.  The entirely vertical cliffs rise to a height of 214 metre’s high, their edges fall away abruptly into the constantly churning sea. From the cliffs, the Aran Islands and Galway bay are clearly visible.  The Cliffs of Moher are one of the major colonies of cliff nesting seabirds in Ireland with around 20 species of birds nesting.  Prior to getting to the cliffs I was thinking that they wouldn’t be a patch on our cliffs down on the Tasman Penninsula, I was pleasantly surprised.  

Leaving the Cliffs of Moher we pass through the Burren, well would you believe it, in a 100 metres there were 4 pubs in a very small village.  We have to be in Ireland!!We couldn’t  decide which one to go too,  so we drove   through.  Just as well, perhaps we knew what was coming up!!
Limerick was our next destination for today.  Limberick is  the setting of Frank McCourts’s Angela’s Ashes.  Limberick straddles the river Shannon and the city has a not so clearly defined grid of main streets, as we were well to find out.  With some degree of difficulty I programmed Sheila to find the street where we were to be based for the night.  Well, we found ourselves driving up the wrong way of a street not once but twice in five minutes.  Oops, you have no idea of the traffic in Limerick. Poor Spock, he is so cool under pressure.   Limerick has the worst streets in the country.  People stop their cars in the middle of the city streets and just double park waiting, one can only imagine to pick someone up.   I must add that we have had some very interesting encounters driving in the cities of Ireland.  We have decided that their city planners need shooting!!!!    I was so stressed I would have given asprin  a migraine, For God’s Sake.  We found our accommodation and there was apparently parking attached, well that was another story, we did find it after a visit from the garda (police). 
A couple of pints was very much the order of the day and very well deserved.  Both Sheila and I were complete let downs today, but you know a poor tradesman blames his tools.  What can you do when Sheila says right and means left and I don’t have a fooking clue.  We had a great laugh over the few  pints in a lovely little Limerick pub and then went for an early chinese dinner.  We didn’t want to be out late wandering the streets of Stab city!!!