Ireland 3: A rainy day on the southwestern cliffs and a hike to an abandoned castle

   Ever since the Tintern Abbey, we have driven on local roads.  Local roads in Ireland are incredibly narrow.  There are usually mounds of dirt on both sides of the road, with bushes or long grass growing out of it, and there is no shoulder.  Many roads only have a few inches for cars to pass each other, with it being safest to pull as close to the edge as possible.  This makes for a stressful driving experience.  In Scotland, there were more places to pull your car to the side and many more mirrors to give you sight on bends and hills.

  The people in Ireland have been incredibly warm and friendly.  No one seems distracted or disinterested.  The bed and breakfast hosts, as in Scotland, are extremely friendly and willing and wanting to accommodate in any way possible.  A new favorite dessert that I have discovered is called tiffen.  Even Miles likes it, which says something.

  Our next hotel would be in Schull, a port town with a hotel as close to the two hotspots that I wanted to visit, that I could find.  It was the fanciest hotel of the trip and likely will remain so.  We dropped off our luggage and were given an early check in.  After lunch, we left for Mizen Head, a set of cliff walks in the southwestern corner of Ireland.  

  It was very windy, with occasional bouts of rain, so we donned our ponchos and set out.  Unfortunately, I somehow forgot to put the battery back into one of my cameras, so I was limited a bit.  When I returned ot the hotel room, I made sure to put my spare battery into the bag, so that this could never happen again!

  Our second and last stop of the day took us to Coosacuslaun Bay, to a parking lot on private property.  Using a donation box, they allowed you to hike alongside farmland to the abandoned Three Castle Head.  The weather was dry on the way up, but once we were in sight of the castle, it began to rain steadily and the wind picked up.  I would have liked to spend time around the castle, but with the weather, it became quite uncomfortable, so we turned around and hiked back.