March 13, 2010
I was the first one up in the morning. I packed my bags except for my day’s clothes and shower stuff. I wasn’t going to shower just yet, since I had a cool event planned this morning. I went down stairs for breakfast. I ate and the others trickled down. I then headed out back to the barn. I was going horseback riding today. Noreen’s daughter got me boots and a helmet and then she saddled George, my horse. George is 8 years old and the gentlest horse they have. There is less chance of me getting injured with a nice horse. Michael, Noreen’s husband, gave me some pointers and put me on the horse. Now I have been horseback riding a time or two at those places where the horses just follow each other around. This was nothing of the sort! It was completely different; George had a mind of his own and I had to figure out how to control him. My tips for the day were: heels down, squeeze the knees, back straight, hands low, look over George’s ears. Got all that? Uhh…Ummm…Sure?! I road around the coral for a bit until Michael felt I had the hang of it. Then we headed across the country side.
This was the highlight of my Ireland Adventure thus far! We rode across the fields and even “herded some cows.” Michael was a great source of knowledge and Irish culture. This farm has been in the family for generations. He told me all about the stone fences. The Irish are very possessive of their land and its property lines. We talked about the Great Potato Famine, the industrial boom when all of the children left and stopped farming, why the sheep have color splotches and he told me what I should go see for the day. By the end I was even comfortable enough with George to run a little bit. It is so much harder than it looks or is with those follower horses! As for the sheep color splotches, I assumed that this was so the farmers knew whose sheep belonged to whom. This may be the case in some areas, Michael told me, but around Shannon it has to do with sheep fertility. This way they can figure out which sheep are pregnant. Interesting.
I showered, packed, and headed for the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs were beautiful, but crowded. I walked around the fenced areas, but eventually jumped the fence like everyone else to get a closer look. It was quite spectacular watching the waves crash against these huge stone cliffs. I lay in the grass beside the cliffs taking in the view for quite a while. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day, and I was relaxing.
I continued to head to Killarney to the Mystical Rose B&B. It was a very nice drive. I took the ferry across the bay from Killimer to Tarbert. This was cool; I’d never been on a car ferry before. The drive into Killarney was beautiful with the sun seting between the mountains. I arrived in Killarney about 7 and met another Noreen that ran the Mystical Rose. She was crazy. I introduced my self and she hugged me and talked my ear off. I got to my room and shower. She then wanted to introduce me to here 93 year old father whom I could not understand. Noreen translated English to English for me. In the kitchen she explained how she caught her kitchen on fire in January. This explained the smokey smell of the house. Noreen’s friend dropped by and I was introduced to Mary. We chatted, or rather I listened for a minute, and then I excused myself to bed.
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