We finally had some unscheduled time, so we slept in for 10 hours in our beautiful cottage! When we eventually got up, it was to make porridge (with lots of milk -- I still can't get over the giddy feeling that I'm not lactose intolerant!!) and to plan the rest of our week. The porridge was delicious; mine had PB, brown sugar, and blueberries. We also had tea and relaxed in our lovely living room.
Next we went on a two hour walk to the water. It turned out that Ballinderren, which happens to be the home of Gordon D'Arcy, is not quite as teeny as we thought! It may not have any restaurants or entertainment or groceries, but it has plenty of fields and gorgeous houses. All of the creeks were dried up and the fields weren't quite as green as Ireland should be, but there were plenty of flowers, butterflies, damselflies, and bees. And birds! It seems only fitting that in Gordon D'Arcy's neighborhood we should see some great birds!
We finally got to the pier, which was very pretty. We met a cute dog and very friendly cat named Portia (the neighbors introduced us). And, there was a hobbit house at the end of the road! So, if you're looking to rent a hobbit house on the water in Ireland, I gotchu.
On our way back from the pier, a man biked past us, smiled, and said hello. I'm 99% sure it was Gordon, but he went so fast my brain didn't get the chance to catch up and say hi! His house was right near there, though, so I bet it was him.
By the time we got home, my feet, ankles, and hands were quite swollen, and my belly was very swollen/distended. The walk was very hot and sunny, I had accidentally missed two doses of my meds, and had walked for two hours. We ate some bake-at-home falafel we'd bought in Galway with hummus, pita, cucumbers, and parsley. My bucket was pretty full by that point, so I had my first significant reaction of the trip. My spine started burning and I felt malaise creeping in.
I took a brief rest, and then we were off to Kinvarra -- great ocean and Burren views, plus the Dunguaire castle, which smelled amazing! They were prepping for one of their medieval banquets. The castle was built in 1520 by the O'Hynes clan of Co. Galway. It's still in amazing condition, and was part of a restoration project, so what damage had been done is now restored. The grounds are beautiful as well, but there were a lot of tourists.
Next we drove to New Quay (pronounced like "key"), parked at Linnane's Lobster House, and took a gorgeous walk to the Flaggy Shore! We sat on the beach, relaxed, and stepped into the water. By this time my stomach was a bit icky (from the falafel? heat?) but I felt otherwise fine.
We walked back, said hi to many cows, and then went to Linnane's for dinner. As soon as we stepped in the door, I was hit with deja vu and realized -- I'd eaten here before! There was a restaurant that I loved, and could never remember where it was, because we went on one of our Friday Irish History class field trips. I'd fallen asleep on the bus, and woken up to eat lunch, having no clue where we were. What I did remember was that it was one of the best open salmon sandwiches of my semester abroad, and that we saw a seal from our table! I even remembered which table it was.
Alas, this time we did not see a seal, but we saw gorgeous views and some cute dogs on the pier. I had the open salmon sandwich and Dan had crab cakes and fish chowder, and thoroughly enjoyed it all. Between the great food, lovely atmosphere, beach, and pier, we decided we'd have to come back.
When we got home, all we wanted to do was snuggle and watch a movie, so we checked out the bizarre collection at the cottage and settled on Argo.
Bird count of the day:
tree sparrows
wrens (so cute!)
tits (flew away before I could see which kind)
wagtails
swallows and martins
some kind of huge dove (woodpigeon?)
rooks
ravens
hooded crows
black birds
gulls
terns
grey herons
magpies
egrets
some bird with the most ridiculous call... (black-headed gull??)
(also mussels, oysters, and crabs! And lots of insects)