Killarney to Lahinch and County Clare.

Let's see... What can I say about County Clare? I left Killarney early in the morning since my sleep schedule was still fouled up (real humans don't wake before 9am). Unfortunately I was completely unable to see the countryside since there was nothing but very dense fog all the way from Killarney to somewhere near Ennis. And Ennis itself was still cloudy. I have a feeling that it was quite sunny in County Kerry by mid-morning and I still wish I had spent more time down there, but such is life. Another trip I guess.

I arrived in Ennis around 10am or 10:30am. Sunday. It might as well have been a ghost town as everybody was still in church. As soon as 11am rolled around the streets were flooded with people. It was really odd. Obviously in the States there aren't quite so many people that are that religious so it was an experience that I wasn't used to. I'm glad I ate breakfast before all the restaurants became flooded.

I didn't spend much time in Ennis since I didn't really see that much that interested me. There was a neat river and I took some photos of that but I'm still looking for the roll of film with those shots. I know I've got it, but I'm not sure which unexposed roll it is. My camera leaves the film leader out by default so mid-roll rewinds can allow me to continue a roll where I left off. I think what happened was that when the roll was finished I forgot to fully retract the film to indicate it was done. As luck would have it I didn't pick the roll for another set of shots so I didn't double-expose anything. I'm just not 100% sure which roll is the one I want. In addition to the shots of Ennis, there are also shots of the Muckross House and of Inch Beach - making me anxious to get the correct roll developed. Oh well.

From Ennis I drove to Lahinch and the famed Cliffs of Moher. The weather was cold, windy, on and off drizzle, cloudy, raw. In other words the weather could have been much more pleasant. I spent most of the daylight hours roaming around County Clare between Ballyvaughn in the north and Lahinch/Ennistymon in the south. Because the weather was not particularly good and the light was very flat I didn't take as many photos of The Burren as I would have liked. There were several instances of old stone sheds that would have made interesting subject matter but I just couldn't be bothered to get out in the rain and take the shots.

Body: Canon EOS Elan IIe Lens: Canon EF 70-200/2.8L Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji Velvia The largest cave along the cliffs. 800x600 (52k) | 640x480 (31k)

Body: Yashica T4 Super Lens: built-in Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji NPH 400 Coming from the parking lot at the Cliffs of Moher this is more or less what you might first see. Those little specks over near that tower: yeah, those are people. Don't trip. 800x600 (k) | 640x480 (k)

Body: Canon EOS Elan IIe Lens: Canon EF 70-200/2.8L Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji Velvia From just north of O'Brien's Tower this is the view to the north towards Galway Bay. Apparently there's a neat way to get down to the water. However, I started to head over there on this day and almost was blown off the cliff. No thanks. I turned back. 800x600 (k) | 640x480 (k)

Body: Canon EOS Elan IIe Lens: Canon EF 50/1.4 (???) Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji Velvia A view to the south over the Cliffs. This is taken right near O'Brien's Tower. 1024x768 (86k) | 800x600 (54k) | 640x480 (37k)

Body: Canon EOS Elan IIe Lens: Canon EF 20/2.8 Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji Velvia This is the view to the north from near O'Brien's Tower. The 'northernmost' cliff is enlarged two images up. I like having a telephoto lens. 1024x768 (101k) | 800x600 (62k) | 640x480 (39k)

Body: Canon EOS Elan IIe Lens: Canon EF 70-200/2.8L @ 200mm Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji Velvia This is an enlargement of the very south end of the Cliffs of Moher. It's a long walk to the other end and even though I wanted to go down there, the weather was turning to worse (if you can believe that). Two images up this point is on the very right of the frame. 1024x768 (81k) | 800x600 (49k) | 640x480 (31k)

Body: Canon EOS Elan IIe Lens: Canon EF 20/2.8 Exposure: Unrecorded Film: Fuji Velvia A nice wide-field view of the main focal point of the Cliffs of Moher. 1024x768 (83k) | 800x600 (51k) | 640x480 (33k)

By evening I was looking for a place to stay. I had previously stayed in Tralee and Killarney - two towns with a fairly active downtown and easy to find B&Bs. Lahinch has nothing of the sort. I looked for some open places but a lot of them were seasonal and therefore, closed. I ambled into O'Looney's Pub on the waterfront in Lahinch and ended up meeting these three guys from Limerick: Cyril, John, and Brian. I was actually there for a few hours and ate dinner with them and had a great time. I wish I hadn't lost their email addresses as I'd like to get back in touch with them. If you guys are out there, please mail me!

I then needed to find a place to stay. I drove a couple of miles back to Ennistymon and indulged in the luxury or staying at the Falls Hotel. Mmmmm... nice shower, huge room, TV, and a big bed. The hotel was actually an inn for an Irish noble (I'll find the name) and had since been converted to a hotel. The room was a dirt-cheap (by U.S. city standards) 50 IEP a night. I couldn't resist.