NiallOK’s Blog

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Just back a couple of days from a trip down the west with the fiancèe - did plenty of driving, saw lots of stuff, had a great time!

We went to Galway and used the Jury’s Inn Hotel there as our base of operations. From there we went one day to Ennis and on to Kilrush and Kilkee where we stopped in the Stella Maris for a spot of lunch. The place looks the same as it ever did in my many years of going there on summer holidays as a kid. Then on up the coast past all the little edge-of-the-world towns (lots of looking out of the window and going “ooh! aah! nice!” and other words to that effect) to Lehinch/Lahinch (wish they’d make up their mind!) and onward to the Cliffs of Moher, which the missus was completely underawed by - on account of the sun being in her eyes and her not being able to see much more than a “big looming black thing sticking out into the ocean”.

This was the only picture I took with my phone at the Cliffs of Moher. An out-of-order Smart Telecom phone. I took a few other photos but they’re on an Avantix film which has yet to be developed. I’m sure I’ll scan them or something… Anyway, you all know what the cliffs look like at this stage, don’t you? You don’t need me posting yet another picture of them on the Inter…. oh nevermind, here you go:

Onward we went from there anyway, up to Lisdoonvarna, where herself was expecting to see burly country bumpkin type men in red coats (what?) and flat caps roaming the streets looking for a wee wife for themselves. Needless to say, we saw no such thing (this wasn’t matchmaking festival season) and the most exciting thing about Lisdoonvarna was driving down Corkscrew Hill after passing through it, and her with a massive hangover. It was me doing the driving so I pulled in at the viewing area at the top of the hill just so we could get out and I could stretch my tired legs a bit and she could have a look down the hill with her hungover head. The reaction, of course, was “we’ve got to drive down THAT??”. Great craic.

From there we went back to Galway, too late as it was to stop off at the Ailwee Caves. As she said, anyway, if you’ve seen one bunch of drippy stalagmites/tites you’ve seen ‘em all (or words to that effect). The following day, it was off down in the same direction again, except with no turning at Ennis this time, just straight on to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. It had never occurred to me before that she, being from the stony grey soil of Monaghan had never seen this national treasure before, whereas I, being from Limerick, had been there on innumerable school tours and family trips. She thoroughly enjoyed it and we had a nice meal in Mac’s Pub in the folk park. Passing up the option of hanging around for a medieval banquet, we headed into the city of my birth, Limerick, for some retail therapy (for her). After much plodding around of shops and ooh-ing and aah-ing at “nice” clothes, we left the city and headed out to the City East Retail Park, where Limerick’s Harvey Norman can be found. I took a couple of pictures there to show the folks in work.

Then it was straight back to Galway, through Limerick’s rush hour traffic (gah!). The next day, we ventured west through Connemara, past Spiddal (An Spidéal, excuse me!) and we stopped at the Connemara Airport for a look. The EIGHT MINUTE flight to the Aran Islands was a whopping €45 each, so we hastily made our exit and headed onward to Ros a’ Mhil (Rossaveal) where we got the much more reasonable Aran Islands Ferry over to Inis Mór (Inishmore), the larger of the three Aran Islands. The trip took 40 minutes and was only €25 each.

Once there, we were sufficiently badgered by the locals with their minibuses and we hopped in one for a magical mystery tour of this 10 mile long by 4 to 5 mile wide island. As we headed along the twisty stonewalled roads, I couldn’t help but notice that every second house along the barren bouncy route around the island had a minibus behind it, each minibus at least 10-15 years old, and each one with a sign saying “Tours” on it - some professionally done by proper signwriters, some awkwardly scrawled in splodgey paint. Indeed it’s certainly not hard to fathom just how important the tourist trade is to the Aran Islanders who certainly seem to live, as the brochure put it “on the edge of the world”.

Our first stop there was Dún Aonghas, which is an old ring fort on a hill. Well, I say ring-fort, it’s half a ring, but considering its location on the edge of a sheer cliff, that’s hardly surprising. Plenty more walking involved here, just to get to the monument, which, of course, thrilled the missus. After this, we saw the seven churches, and came back to the town of Kilronan where we saw thousands of Aran Jumpers and Supermacs… whose Inis Mór branch must be the most westerly fast food joint in all of Europe… and, of course, the boat back to the “mainland”.

That night, we went back to Galway (via Supermacs in Salthill… s’pose you can’t go to Galway without stopping at least once at Supermacs), and so - we went to the dogs!… literally - spending the evening at Galway Greyhound Stadium, where we had a few pints and placed a few bets. It was back to Dundalk (via my folks house in Dublin) the next afternoon, after a spot of shopping in the Spanish Arch market in Galway.

I’d highly recommend a few days break-away in Galway to anybody - especially if you’re adventurous enough to head out on road trips from there to county Clare, Connemara, the Aran Islands, and possibly further afield. I’d especially recommend it to Irish people who haven’t seen it - my fiancèe being a case in point there - being from the north east of the country as she is. Still… she WAS glad to get home to see her Bonzo…

Anyway, I return to the radio airwaves this weekend - hopefully with sidekick Darren in tow once again - with the Wall of Sound on Friday night on Dundalk FM 100. We’ll have the Top Ten James Bond Movie Songs … to *cough* “celebrate” the release of Casino Royale, which - in fairness - I can’t wait to see. All the usual features are included as well - like the Gig Guide, some comedy, and HOPEFULLY THIS TIME SOMEONE WILL WIN SOME FREE PIZZA… Should be a good show. Hah.

Dundalk FM have their AGM tonight in the Lisdoo. I’ll be there. I’m sure it’ll be … interesting.