On Friday, Gina and I left Dingle to drive the rest of the Dingle Peninsula. So we filled up with 20 liters of gas which is about $2.23/L...yikes! We took the Slea Head Drive for our journey, starting at Dun Beag Fort- it was built on sheer cliffs that lead into Dingle Bay to protect.

Just down the road were the Beehive huts, which are über cool! We saw another one and stopped and a lady gave us a lecture on our manners - we didn't say 'thank-you' fast enough! Also- they sell their sheep in this area for meat - they don't harvest the wool - it's too long and shaggy.

We made it to the Westernmost side of Ireland and Europe! The view overlooking the Blasket Islands was lovely! We drove through Connor Pass on a road made for one car in width. We rode big draft horses (pieballs) on Brandon beach...my first time riding English and wearing a helmet to ride! It was nice...we got to do kinda what we wanted and loped on the beach and walked our horses through the water! Made it to the Rowan Tree hostel in Ennis...which was really nice, by the way! Cooked a gourmet meal and tried to go to bed early (never happens) to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the next morning!

We left Ennis to make it to Doolin for our 10 am cruise by the Cliffs of Moher and to the Aran Islands. Turns out they had sent us an email the night before saying it had been changed to 8:30. Soo we missed it. We were both SO mad...but found we could make something else work. So we drove to the Cliffs of Moher anyways and walked along them: Bastions 200m above the sea that run for 8km. We walked off the trodden path beyond the fences where you have like 2 feet to walk and you could fall off the cliffs. Eek! Of course, to show our true Canadian-ness, we built an Inukshuk on top!

We drove about 10mins to Doolin, where we were catching a 1pm cruise (altogether €25 each, we got a steal!) It all worked out from our morning disappointment- we got to see the Cliffs from top and bottom! Two completely different views- they make you feel so small and amazed. If our tour hadn't gotten messed up, we wouldn't have been able to hike the top! We got pretty close to the cliffs on the hour cruise and then we got to stay on to go to Inis Oirr (pronounced Inish Ere), which is the smallest of the Aran Islands (approx a length of 4 km with a population of 250) and took a horse carriage around (we only had about 1 1/2 hours). The island was formed from a volcano and is absolutely covered in limestones so the people there piled them all up into hedges to make room to live. And there is a lovely castle there...O'Brien's Castle. So crazy...so much work!

There is a wild dolphin named Dusty who spends a lot of time at the pier in Doolin...she is so friendly! We lured her over and I got to pet her! She is so playful and even splashed a couple girls! We were both so exhausted by this time and drove an hour to Galway, which seems to be a party city. Of course, thanks to "P.S. I Love You", I had to hear the song "Galway Girl" in a pub! Unfortunately, unlike Hilary Swank, I did not meet my true love in Galway. Haha. We also had a very...interesting...hostel experience that night. Another story for another time! I have survived the crazy, winding roads, so that's definitely something to be thankful for! Oh, and the speed limit is 120km on the main roads!

Yesterday we drove across the country from Galway to Dublin (about 200km) and up to Belfast (in Northern Ireland, part of the UK). Stay tuned for our adventures in Belfast!

Slainte! (Cheers)

Larae xx