My ponder for the day: Did Poseidon and Mother Nature work together? Or have they always been in a constant battle?
Breakfast was one of the many hits of the day. Zoe Bistro's decor was chic, but formal and it is owned by a sweet Polish couple who spent 17 years working at the large hotel/golf course complex in the village 10 minutes away. Breakfast began with a cappuccino and hot chocolate with brown bread and fresh baked croissants (good ones). Next we were given a dish of fresh fruit, followed by a dish of yogurt with homemade fruit compote and granola; and fresh orange juice. We ordered our eggs: scrambled for Chuck and fried for me. While those were cooking, they brought us pancakes with maple syrup. Chuck's scrambled eggs must have been more than 2 eggs! My fried eggs with bacon (more like a slice of ham as we know it in the US) were cooked perfectly. Completely stuffed, we made it back to our room to pack up. Voted best breakfast of the trip (so far).
Before riding out of Kilrush, we rode down to the Marina to check it out, and have a good look at the Shannon Estuary. The Shannon River is the longest river in Ireland and later in the day we found ourselves at the end of the land where the river meets the ocean. As we were leaving town, we passed a bike shop and stopped in to check our tire pressure. The shop owner, same genre as Joe Whelan from yesterday, had to take a look at our route and then tell us about what we would be seeing and where we must go for the best sites. Great guy!
The first 30 kilometers were quiet, beautiful, and easy going. We spied a castle in the distance and found our way to the Carrigaholt Castle. Wandering around it we read multiple stories about its history beginning with its construction in the 1400s, changing of hands from one family to another for various reasons: treason, love, compensation for imprisonment, and the list continued. Of course, Queen Elizabeth I was involved in the transfer of ownership several times. Unlike yesterday's castle, we couldn't enter this one, but did spy the circular staircase in the corner. It was 5 stories tall, too.
Continuing along the way, we saw this memorial in the town of Kilbaha. The anchor is from the shipwreck of the Morven who took 160 days to sail from Portland, Oregon to this area where she ran into the cliffs. The rest of the memorial was to the 5 "pilots" who lost their lives attempting to reach a ship to pilot it into the river to reach Limerick's port.
The memorial to the shipwreck of the Morven and to the pilots in Kilbaha.
Finally we reached Loophead, the furthest West Point for today's route. The lighthouse was available for tours, however we opted to just walk around. This peninsula point is one of several locations where they created messages of stacked rocks during WWII saying "EIRE" to aid the allies' airplanes in determining their location. This lighthouse, like many others along this coast, was manned until the late 1990s when automation using GPS took over. The bike shop owner told us to hike to the right of the lighthouse for the best cliff views. He was right!
Wild orchids. This photo is for our buddy, Rod. These orchids grew only a couple of inches from the ground. We decided that it was their way of surviving the winds (such as the winds trying to blow us off this cliff).
rod dayThank you. If you get time try to see the limestone pavements in Co Claire. We saw some but should be many more & other wild flowers now. Reply to this comment 6 months ago
After leaving the Loophead Lighthouse and heading towards Kilkee, today's destination, we were mostly traveling along the cliffs and the wind was quickly getting stronger. Our next stop was at the Bridges of Ross. As late as the 1800's three natural bridges existed, but today only 1 remains. The others eroded away due to the pounding waves of the wild Atlantic.
After parking the tandem, we ventured down a rock trail at Bridges of Ross. Along the natural rocky seawalls there are openings such as this.
That bike shop owner also told us to be sure and stop at Kilkee Cliffs because they are much more spectacular than the famous Cliffs of Moher and they are free to visit. We haven't made it to the Cliffs of Moher yet (that's tomorrow), but these cliffs are stunning.
So, back to my question: Did Mother Nature and Poseidon create these in harmony or through vengeance?
Now we have to admit that touring pace has settled in. We have spent all day riding only 75 kilometers with the last 35 in a strong wind; wearily we finally reached Kilkee. The tide was obviously out as we circumnavigated round the bay in search of Lynch's B&B. We had been warned that we probably wouldn't understand the Irish when speaking with them. We've done fine until checking into the B&B. We really aren't sure about all the stuff he told us. Nice guy, but that brogue! We had dinner down the street and happened to run into the French couple from the Carrig Island B&B.
