Cambridge 2010: Three Months On The Trot

I woke up at 8am this morning and got ready for the tour to the cliffs of Moher. I packed my daypack with my nutella and peanut butter sandwich (in a pink package with a lion sticker holding the seal), a pack of crisps, chocolate rice krispies treat, my Y-12 sweatshirt, and other stuff. I had a bowl of corn flakes for breakfast. Brooke, Sophia, and I walk to reception to wait for the tour bus.

Our bus driver arrived and all 22 of us (we three and the people from the resort, not the people from the group) got onto the bus for our day tour. We headed off toward The Burren and our first stop was some little castle. The driver told us a story of a lady who wanted to keep her estate after the death of her husband, and had to marry an officer to be able to keep it under the feudal system. So, she walked into the officer’s mess tent and asked, “Who will have me?” Oh, and she was naked…yeah.



Driving along, we saw a lot of flagstone. Flagstone is a type of rock that looks like a concrete parking lot that has been left to ruin. Made out of the flagstone was this one burial area which once held 33 bodies buried in a weird style. The bones were laid out and allowed to be picked by birds, then the bones were stacked with the skull placed on top. Creepy. After that, we arrived at a circle fort. Basically, it was just a dirt mound that was sort of like a very short glass. There were raised dirt walls that could be walked upon (which I did do) and the middle was hollow. This one tree in the middle had a wooden head figure in it. Very odd.



Shortly after, we arrived at Aillwee Cave. I thought it was included, but it was 8.50 euro, so I decided to skip out. I work in a cave with the world’s rarest formations, waterfalls, and a huge underground lake...it would be hard to beat that. I took the opportunity to eat lunch and then went inside to get a cookie and some coffee. I sat with an older couple from the group and talked to them. They were from Florida. The group got all back together and we drove down the mountain to the shop to do some cheese tasting. They had 4 kinds including plain, nettle, smoked, and something else that I cannot remember.

We went along the coast and stopped at some well that was fed by three streams. People leave religious artifacts and offerings there. We kept going and stopped at a field full of llamas. All I could think about was the Llama Song.



We stopped along the coastline and the bus driver gave us 20 minutes to see the sights. The Ireland coastline was amazing. The swells of the sea were hitting the rocks and exploding into these huge geyser-like sprays. It was so awesome to see something like that. I could actually taste the salt on my lips after standing there for just a few minutes.



We left the coastline and went up this hill to see an old castle/lookout tower. It has been refurbished into a home owned by an American, but is rented out when the family is not there. There was a great view of the Aran Islands from there. At the top of the hill were the cliffs of Moher. They were so gorgeous. The sea was not as rough on this side as it was the other. We had about 30 minutes there until we were to be back on the bus.



We went back toward the resort. On the way, we circled through a beach town and the driver let us see the beach and sea. I went down the stairs that led into the sea. The tide was coming in, so I stayed about 30 feet away from where the water peaked before receding. I was getting some really good pictures with the water hitting the rocks. A bigger wave came in and the spray hit my camera. I wiped it off and stepped back another 10 feet. While lining up the perfect shot, a HUGE wave came in and I saw it on the camera screen right before it hit me. I jumped back as quick as I could, but the water still got part of my blue jeans wet. They were not soaked, but a little bit damp in places. My boots are waterproof, so they were good.

When I got back on the bus, I properly cleaned off my camera and lens. When I looked through the pictures, it was funny how it all worked out. I could see the wave approaching, it first crashed (where I realized I was about to get soaked), then it poured over (where I narrowly escaped). It was quite hilarious. I slept the rest of the way back to the resort.



When we came in, Brittany almost had dinner ready. Tonight was spaghetti night! I helped her out by splitting the slices of French bread, buttering, and putting them in the oven. I plated the bread once it was finished and we all absolutely pigged out on spaghetti. It was nice. We all had hot chocolate and watched British television once we were finished. A movie called "The Green Mile" came on and we watched that until bedtime. Slightly weird, but interesting movie.




Cheerio poppets!