Lighthouses!

Wexford & Roscommon.

The next morning we woke up and made our way to the car rental so we could actually get around. The group from the night before had thrown out numbers like "1,000$" and "750$" which made me a nervous nelly about the costs, but ultimately, it wasn't too high and honestly, it was 100% worth it. We rented an automatic which wasn't that much more expensive. The thought of driving stick shift (which I can do) on the left side of the road, on small roads, and with the gear box on my left hand vs. my right, seemed to be a little much. So we drove towards Waterford and Wexford, to see the famed Hook lighthouse where my dads family lived briefly.

 

The lighthouse is massive and well kept, def touristy but well worth it. The tattoo on my ankle is of the lighthouse, which made for some cool conversations with the folks working there. We didn't do the full tour bc there wasn't enough time, but we did get to see the poster with the names of all the keepers. Sure enough, there was an A.G. Hearne listed at 1955. What up, fam! 

 
 
 
 

Next we drove to Kilkenny to eat dinner at a witchy bar that veronica found. It ended up being more like a theater dinner but the story was pretty interesting and obviously the company was perfect 😉 

Next up was meeting my Aunt Phil & Cousin Lynn for the first time. It was so cool to me! Aunt Phil is my dads oldest sister and I think there are something like 20 years between them? And Lynn is actually closer to my dads age than mine, which is weird but cool. We sat at Aunt Phil's dining table and chatted for a few hours over tea. Lynn's husband came too, and brought their jack russell terriers, Kevin and Charlie, who are perfect. Lynn named them by just calling them names and sticking with whatever they responded to, which I found hilarious. Eventually, we went to bed & slept like champions. 

  

I was also floored by my aunts hospitality. She lives in the MOST adorable cottage in a "neighborhood" so small that there are no house numbers; you just write the street & the post person knows where everyone lives. She gave up her bed to me & veronica, both of whom would have gladly slept on the floor. I woke up early the next morning and sat with aunt phil, who had pulled out a stack of pictures of my dad & our family from when everyone was younger. Holy wow, does my dad look EXACTLY like my brother. My cousin came over & veronica joined us for another cup of tea for the road. We left later than we'd hoped for but I think getting to spend time with my family, no matter how brief was sacred.

 
 

Cork

Cork

We landed in Cork pretty tired and with just enough money to pay for our hostel, but it was in pounds so that wasn't helpful. (Most of the trip was a fun game of "will this machine accept my card" which does wonders for anxiety.) Veronica's card worked and we were able to take out enough to pay for our hostel & grab dinner near by. 

The next morning, I was tanked. We walked around the city a little bit and didn't do much else, which I think ultimately was a good thing; I desperately needed to regroup. We'd book a night kayaking tour for later that night in West Cork. Fun fact, West Cork is not actually the "west" part of Cork. It's a whole different city. An hour and a half away. With VERY limited public transit. Guess who had no car. So we called a taxi and I ate the bill. He was a great human who left us his card and number so that if we got stuck, he'd come back and get us because otherwise, we'd be sleeping in the village of Union Hall. 

 

Just before we pulled up to the night kayaking group, we mentioned something about hoping for a port-o-potty, to which our taxi driver responded, "port-o-potty?? You won't find one out here! You should have asked; I'm a taxi driver, i know where everything is and I can tell you there's no bathroom here!" So he kindly let us out in a field and said he'd be back in a few minutes. Our first proper day in Ireland and we'd already jumped someone's fence to pee in a field. I, very fortunately, must have found a very very angry plant bc holy wow did whatever touched my legs BURRRRN. Veronica joked that it was payback for the midges since I hadn't been bitten at all. Our driver came back around and picked us up, having a word with the kayaking guy to make sure we didn't get stuck. The taxi driver drove off and the guy leading the kayaking venture only charged us half rate because our fare was so high to get out there. AND his assistant agreed to take us in for the night and drop us at the station in the morning. Good & gracious kindness. And the kayaking was amazing. We most led paddled around a small harbor and listened to the quiet. The big draw for the tour is the presence of bio-luminescence, which will absolutely make you believe in magic. Along the shoreline, it was so intense that you could put your hands through the water and push around the glow in the dark sparks like a bundle of fireflies. It was beautiful and breath taking. Fortunately for us, another couple (everyone in the group minus one couple was from the US; weird) was also driving back to cork and their hotel happened to be around the corned from ours, so we managed to get a ride back that night. W e absolutely CRASHED into bed.

Skye again!

Skye 2

The next morning, we woke up and had the most therapeutic showers and delicious breakfast. Our hosts were friendly and told us some good stories about the area, and the eternal war with the midges.

After a while, we left for the Old Man of Storr (who I affectionately called "the old man of the star" for most of the trip) it was a massive hike but the view was unbeatable. We climbed beyond the normal route, and hiked up part used by thru-hikers and ogled at the steep drop off that defined the cliff we were sitting on. Never, not with a million hours of planning, could we have intended to see so many beautiful things and have such a perfect trip. After some time, we traipsed down to see if we could squeeze one more sight in before we caught the ferry and headed home. 

 
 
 
  
 
 
    
 
   
 
 
 
 
 

Our hosts had told us about the drive through Killraing, a tiny little path barely marked by a road sign. It turned out to be a single lane dirt road swallowed by massive mountains on either side. The road was peppered with small shoulders, little areas to let oncoming traffic pass. Never on that trip was I so nervous than when we had to give way to a tour bus. 😳 I still don't understand how it fit on the road in the first place. Eventually we got to an open spot and pulled out our picnic bag to make sandwiches before our ferry. It was hard to watch the trip wind down, and yet, it still wasn't over. We just barely made it onto the ferry and started waving goodbye to the island that had easily become in our memory, a collection of infinite moments. The ferry back was beautiful too, and a nice soundtrack of rolling waves taking us to shore.

     

We made our way from Mallaig towards Ft. William, which includes the train used for the Hogwart Express in the Harry Potter movies. We jumped out again and waded through the river, same semi-reckless style that we'd used the whole weekend. We walked out to the Jacobite monument and couldn't stop looking at the view. At some point, veronica and matthieu walked up to me with a bargain and before they said it out loud, i agreed. We should ABSOLUTELY make camp out here & finish the drive in the morning. Our flight wasn't until the early evening, and we were less than 3 hours away. We asked chloé what she thought, happy to yield our excitement to her needs since none of us had been bitten as badly by the midges. We agreed that if it got bad, we'd head home. We went to the next town to find midge-nets and a grill to enjoy a sunset meal. (The sun doesn't set till like 1030, so there was playing of light left) 

   
 
 
 


 

Matthieu adventurously went swimming while we set up the NOT broken tent, and started a fire. We didn't even use the charcoal and instead cooked our burgers on the open flame, which was pretty damn cool. We also learned that wind and smoke keep the midges away, for which we gave MASSIVE thanks. At some point, a man on a bike stopped by the little beach, so we invited him over for some food and drink. He was from France (i think?) and he was touring around as part of his job for the train company. Teach me how to do that! The sky eventually settled into its own darkness & we decided it was time for bed. Matthieu braved the elements next to the fire while the 3 slept soundly in our tiny tent. We could not have planned how perfect it was❤️


 

The next morning we cooked breakfast and packed up our stuff about 15 minutes before 3 massive buses showed up with tourists. Perfect timing. We started towards Glasgow, warmly celebrating a perfect weekend with just the right mix of people. 

   

We pulled over at a gas station for coffee and sandwiches to fuel up a little before departure. Matthieu said he would take us to the airport, which saved us the bus fare. Before we left officially, we stopped in chloés to regroup, shower, and slow down for a moment. The whole trip was beautiful, unexpected, and unfathomable. After Matthieu dropped us off, veronica and I both cried, skeptical of how on earth Ireland could care with the weekend we'd just had in Skye.