Doolin to Innishmore 9/14/26

 This will be a short blog today.

I took an hour-long ferry ride to Inis Mór, or Innishmore, which means ‘big island ’. It is the largest of the three Aran Islands.  The ride over was pretty bumpy, but I have learned on these hikes that you never know when you'll take a ferry, so I always bring Bonine. I can guarantee seasickness if I don’t take them.

Here we are docking in a pretty decent fog. I was barely off the boat when it began to rain.  It rained cats and dogs.  The wind picked up, and then it rained sideways.  I walked about two miles of a 9.5-mile circular route.  By this time, I was soaked, my backpack was soaked, and even my phone was starting to get wet.  I had rain gear, but it wasn’t doing me much good.  I thought, screw this, and turned around and headed back to the tiny little village. I found one pub open and headed in.

The bar was pretty dark, but there was this young man playing a guitar and singing an Irish Crying in Your Beer type song.  He was pretty good. Then I found out that he and a buddy had come to the island by paddle boat - you know, the type that you use your feet on - and it took them over 6 and 1/2 hours. They didn’t want to pay for the ferry. Ah, the young and broke.

I started with a Diet Coke, and I had to order something else or leave, so I got a glass of wine. Then these three Irish ladies joined me because the place was packed.  The photo is blurry because my camera lens was wet. They were so much fun.  We laughed and solved most of the world's problems, made fun of a few things, and just had a grand old time.  On the way out, they sent me a glass of wine.  I have never had two glasses of wine before 3:00.  It is not that I have never had more than two glasses, just not before 3:00.

We had a different style of boat going back. Good thing I had taken more Bonine because these were the roughest seas I have ever been on.  We rocked and rolled.  The woman sitting close to me was green. Her mother, in her late 80s, laughed and loved every minute of it.

The view of Innishmore as we were leaving.

I made a beeline for another pub when I got back.  I am sure I looked a fright, but I knew that if I didn’t go to dinner and instead went back to my room, I would not want to leave.  I ordered O'CONNOR'S ATLANTIC SEAFOOD CHOWDER, described as “a broth of fresh seafood, vegetables, and herbs finished with double cream, served with homemade brown soda bread.” It was warm and rich, and did I already say warm, very potato-based, with chunks of white fish, lobster, and crab meat. The perfect meal for a tired, hungry, and very wet traveler.

So I bid you good night and God Bless.

Liscannor to Doolin 9/13/26

 Good afternoon!

After a ten-minute ride, I was dropped off at the start of the trail, which is at Conway’s Cottage.

I think it is just someone’s house that happens to be at the start.

Does anybody know what these flowers are called?

A mule for Pami!

Looking down at the Atlantic Ocean on a foggy day.

Horses for Janet, and there are two babies.

Part of the Cliffs of Moher Trail has been closed since 2024 because of the risk of severe injuries. The cliffs dramatically soar 390 feet above the crashing Atlantic Ocean. They have appeared in several major motion pictures, including Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

There is no way to describe how magnificent and huge these towering cliffs are.

A little rock island, close to the cliffs.

There were many orange danger signs.

If you look closely, there is a man standing at the bottom of the cliffs.

I could see that some of the trail had fallen into the ocean and a new trail had been carved just above it.

A warning poster.  If you look where the woman is sitting, she is right on the edge of the cliff.  There is little chance someone would fall from here and survive.

Today was a fairly short day.  Counting my walking around Doolin, I clocked in at about 8 miles.

One of the colorful pubs in Doolin.

I had dinner at the ever-so-charming Ivy Cottage.

I ordered the Puy Lentil Pie, described as "aromatic Puy lentils in a wild mushroom gravy, topped with a creamy mash, and served with mixed leaves."  Translated, it was a lentil-and-mushroom cottage pie with a salad of shredded carrot and squash over weeds.  I happen to like those weird salad greens that I call weeds. I love lentils, and this was clearly slow-cooked to bring out the flavors. It was delicious.

So I bid you good night and God Bless.

Louisville to Dublin 9/11/2026

Hello all!  

Sometimes, getting ready for a trip is the most stressful part of the whole trip.

Three days before, I spent five hours on the phone with Audible.  I could not get my books (on tape, to use an old term) to download. Then I got cut off. I won’t repeat some of the words I said to the air around me.  I called back and got another woman whose English was even worse than the original woman. Ultimately, I found out my iPod wouldn't work with Audible anymore, blah, blah, blah. Apple no longer makes iPods. I listen to books or music on long walking days so I find it an very necessary gadget. I ended up ordering an MP3 and sweating bullets that I wouldn’t receive it on time. I did, but I still had to figure out the new gadget. And I think I am going to like my new toy even more than the old iPod.

 

Then the day before I left, my computer locked up. I raced to the Apple Store - a two-hour wait.  As I was fooling around with it, I got it unlocked. Long story short, my hard drive is going bad. I need my laptop to write the blog, so I am limping along, hoping it makes it through the trip. 

But the good news is that I made it to Dublin with no delays and on time.

I spent the night in Dublin. I had an  excellent BLT on ciabatta at this pub.  They had me at ciabatta.

Irish bacon is more like ham - very good, but we do bacon better.  However, Irish chips are far superior.  Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, fried in something gosh-awful but yum..

On Saturday morning, the hotel called a taxi, and the driver took 30 minutes to arrive.  I was sure I missed the bus, but I got the last seat.  Whew.  I needed to take the first bus to Ennis, which would take about 4 hours, and then catch another bus to Liscannor.  There was no bus in Liscannor. All the buses in the area had been canceled because Trump had just arrived.  He is also in County Claire.  Jeez, I get out of our country so I don’t have to hear any more political crap, and dang if he didn’t follow me. Lucky enough, I found an Uber driver close by and made it just fine to my hotel - Vaughn’s Anchor Inn. It cost a bit more, as all things with Trump seem to.  LOL  Sadly, there were protests all around.  He is not well-liked in Ireland.

Vaughan’s is known for their excellent food, and it didn’t disappoint.  The amuse-bouche

was a curry carrot soup, very creamy and assurance that the meal was going to be great.

I chose a starter as my main course, Vaughan’s Vol-au-Vent with Lisconnor Bay lobster and langoustines with shellfish cream and homemade puff pastry.  And chips to die for.

I ordered an appetizer because the server told me they had passion fruit soufflé as a dessert special. It was served piping hot, with pineapple gelato, absolutely worth every calorie. I shuffled off to bed, fat, dumb, and happy!

Until tomorrow.

The Final Chapter 5/16/26

 HiYa!

St Tysilio's Church is often referred to as Church Island. St Tysilio was the son of a Welsh king in mid-Wales. He became a scholar, but is best remembered for establishing a hermitage on Church Island (Ynys Tysilio) in the Menai Strait and for later serving as the Abbot of Meifod. 

The church sits on a tiny island, high on a hill. It can now be accessed by a raised causeway. In the past the causeway would flood with high tide and was regularly submerged. Service times took that into account. A local historian described the scene during services, "a boy was placed on watch in case a strong westerly wind brought the tide in sooner than expected. Then, at the shout of 'Llanw'n dod' (Tide coming), the congregation, often led by the priest with vestments flapping, scurried indecorously across the causeway to the safety of the mainland of Anglesey"

Even higher on the hills stands this Celtic Cross, a World War II memorial.

The last trail marker at the end of my journey.

I know the photo is dark, but when I ate at Dylan's last night, I kept smelling this bread, and I am like a heroin addict when it comes to bread.  So I ordered it, and it was a whole loaf - a bit much for one person, but I had to have it.  It was legendary.

BAKED ARTISAN LOAF 

Hot, sliced Dylan's hand-baked bread & salted Welsh butter.

It was worth every penny.  I still have better than half a loaf, but it will make a great lunch.

So for my main course, I ordered the Crab and Prawn Ravioli, which was handmade crab and prawn ravioli, lemon zest, chili, garlic, and mascarpone in a creamy tomato and parmesan sauce. It might have been an appetizer, but it delivered like a main course. This restaurant rocks.  Thank goodness I am leaving, or I would be slobbering at their door every time they opened.

 I say "hwyl fawr" or goodbye to my totally done-in boots. 

     I am always both sad and glad to end a journey.  Sad to be finished with something I love so much, yet glad to be going home to my husband, my four-legged children, and my friends.  I am indeed blessed.

A journey on foot is such a metaphor for life’s lessons.  Into each life a little rain must fall, and on this trip, one day of rain did not spoil the whole trip by any stretch of the imagination. When I was a child, I had a piano teacher, Mr. Grad, who taught me something valuable, and it wasn’t to play the piano.  He was not successful at that.  I didn’t like a particular chord in a piece, and he told me that it only made the rest of the piece sound more beautiful in comparison. My one day of hail and rain certainly made me appreciate the other days that much more. 

My possessions feel more important because my backpack doesn’t hold much. I am very careful not to lose those precious items. I am thankful for one pair of warm gloves, one down jacket, enough food for lunch, and precious water. At home, what I think is necessary is vastly different. Hummm?

I am reminded of the good in people. I could not make this journey without help from people (and GOD!) I always have strangers go out of their way to assist me in so many ways.  My Google Maps does not work here. And my trail map is downloaded, but it's not always reliable. God always seems to send me help just in time and he sends kind people. People smile and wave. They wish me a good journey.  And with my accent, they want to know about me and where I live. Those small things mean a lot. And they don’t care who I voted for.  We have lost much of our civility in the U S with our us-against-them mentality. I pray that we go back to “one nation under God."

And lastly, and most importantly, I thank God for this trip.  I see him in the vastness of the ocean and the grandeur of the mountains.  I feel him in the wind and even in the rain. I slow down enough to appreciate all of these incredible things he created, for surely no other being could have made something as magnificent as our world.

Thank you all for following me and for all of your encouragement.  You will never know how much it meant on those long days.

Until the next adventure....

I bid you good night and God Bless.

Brynsiencyn to Menai Bridge 5/15/26

 Good morning!

There are just so many beautiful flowers here.

It was cloudy and overcast all day.  And you know it is windy when you can hear the wind. The first part of my day was through scenic farmlands, over hills and dales. Smell is certainly one of the best senses, and it smelled so fresh.

This must be a fairly affluent area.  I have seen many mansions with property.

This carriage house looked ready for hobbits.

Another carriage house.

A fancy birdhouse with a camera recording.  I saw another one of those pheasants?  Whatever it is, it is a beautiful bird. I don’t think it can fly, but I am not sure

These bushes were over twenty feet tall.

The trail was interesting, featuring a variety of surfaces, from tree-lined paths to rocky coastline along the strait. 

This was more of a boathouse than a lighthouse. It had a sign on the side that read "deep water".

The Menai Suspension Bridge is a bridge spanning the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was one of the world's first major suspension bridges, and the second such bridge designed to carry vehicular traffic, after the Union Chain Bridge (1820) across the River Tweed. The bridge still carries road traffic.  When it was built, the height was to allow the tall sailboats to pass under. It is also associated with haunting tales stemming from its construction between 1846 and 1850. Many workers died during this period due to construction accidents, whooping cough, and a murder, leading to reports of tragic, restless spirits lingering near the structure.

The memorial to Lord Nelson was built 150 years ago by an artist experimenting with materials.  It is made of concrete, unheard of at the time. Vice-Admiral of the White Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics led to multiple decisive British naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Trafalgar Square is dedicated to him. I am no expert of Engloish history but I know who Lord Nelson is.

Saint Mary’s of Llanfairpwll has been the site of a place of worship for over 600 years, but the present building was constructed in September 1853.

 I was fascinated by the unusual stained-glass window celebrating its connection, in years gone by, to  a former training school for sailors. 

The famous Menai Bridge and the end of my walking journey.

I like trying local food, and I know that cheese and pickle sandwiches are really popular in Great Britain.  It was not as I expected.  It was nothing like our pimento cheese. It is grated cheddar cheese mixed with a sweet, vinegary chutney.  The most popular brand is Branston. It was likable and certainly an easy, packable lunch.

I love signs, and this is perfect for my friends who love to shop, me included.

I made a reservation at Dylan’s, which was reputed to have an award-winning chef named Michael Cheetham.  

The view from my dining table.

I ordered the Seafood Chowder, which was Salmon, smoked haddock, king prawns, clams &

Menai mussels with potato, carrot, peas, corn, white wine cream & chunky sourdough. I don’t really have the ability to describe how good this was.  It was beyond rich without being greasy.  Every bite of the seafood was better than the last.  I know many of you do not like certain types of seafood, but each morsel was blended into this complex flavor that was in no way fishy.  To leave one of them out would have been a shame.  Sort of like people who love real Caesar Salad.  If you leave the anchovies out of the dressing, it isn’t fit to eat. I have to admit that, of all my trips throughout Europe, this one was by far the best for food.  And that includes France and Italy. Who’d a thunk it?  I really have to quit making fun of British food because I have been proven wrong.  In fact, it was so good that after one bite of my chowder, I got on my iPad and made a reservation for tomorrow night.  Technically, my last night in Wales.

Good Night and God Bless!