The Burren

 Our route today took us on some less travelled roads.  That is until we hit Galway.  We decided to stay on the waterfront as we went through the city.  Our thinking was that since it was a Sunday morning in October it would not be that bad.  We could not have been more wrong!  Galway's waterfront is a resort area on steroids.  Hotel after hotel line the kilometers of beach.  The number of people out and about was insane.  Did I mention that this is October? I can't even imagine how busy it might be in the summer!

We had scouted a route that looked interesting to get across The Burren.  The Burren is a headland/highland that appears to be made up of nothing but boulders.  Very little grows on it.  We kept hoping for the opportunity to snap some pictures but nowhere was suitable to pull over.  The road was narrow (imagine that).  At the top of a series of switchbacks there was to be a viewing area.  The viewing area would have been fantastic but a tour bus was parked there and it took up every parking spot.  So after all that not a picture of the Burren was able to be taken!

We pulled into our hotel in Doolin a couple of hours early.  Our room was not ready so we walked into town and had a beer with lunch...or is that lunch with a beer?...at Gus O'Connor's Pub.  We then walked out to the pier area where we booked our ferry ride to the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Mohr for tomorrow.  The nerves might be a little bit frazzled from what we saw.  The waves were absolutely crashing against the rocks.  With a little luck that will have subsided somewhat before tomorrow.  We will see!

Murphy's Red Ale

Cliffs of Mohr and the reason for our concern!

Doolin Pier

Our Ferry for tomorrow - not The Happy Hooker!

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