Ireland 9: Inishmore's beautiful black fort, insects, wildflowers, and the boring horse and buggy ride

   The next morning we drove an hour to Doolin, to take the ferry to Inishmore.  We settled into our hotel and decided to take the short hike up to Dun Duchathair.  The weather was spectacular and the cliffs had the most interesting formations of the ones we've seen in Ireland so far.

We found this odd insect in the window sill of the hotel room.

    We took our time walking back into town, as I really enjoyed taking pictures of the many wildflowers and insects we found along the route.

At one point, an insect flew onto my glasses.  I took it off and was able to snap some photos.

  The only supermarket on the island, a Spar, only had ham and cheese sandwiches in their premade food section.  Therefore, I went to Joe Watty's Pub for dinner and had an excellent Chicken Curry, whereas Miles ordered a burger from the hotel restaurant to bring up to the room.  

  The main way to get around the island is via bicycles.  Unfortunately, bicycles could be pretty uncomfortable for me to ride.  Therefore, I found what I believed to be the horse and buggy tour with the highest ratings online.  It didn't state the itinerary on their website, but there are only a handful of sites to see on the island, so I figured they all would have the same routes.  Unfortunately, the ride only had two stops.  

  The next morning began with rain, but the weather reports showed that it would clear up about an hour after our buggy tour would begin.  When we were picked up, everyone was sat huddled in an enclosed buggy.  There was no way I was sitting close to people who were encased in a plastic cover.  Miles and I sat in the front and used our ponchos to protect us from the rain.

  The first stop was to a seal colony, where there wasn't a single seal.  The second stop was a two hour break near Dun Aonghasa, another fort on a cliff.  This one wasn't free, however, so we paid the absurd admission and walked up to it.  The fort itself was nothing special, but the view of the farmlands, with their rock fence enclosures, was unique and beautiful.  Also, the weather reports turned out to be correct, and the sun had come out.

  I checked out some of the sweater shops, which the island is known for.  In the handknit section, the sweaters were nearly all for women.  I found a nice men's sweater in the main section, but they did not have it in my size and the color that I wanted.  I would have looked for it in another sweater store, but I found that it was extremely itchy on my arms.  I asked one of the workers about it, and she said to wear a long sleeved shirt under it.  Unfortunately, it really doesn't get cold enough at home for me to wear such a combination.

  Miles had a nutella crepe at the ice cream shop and I had two scoops of gelato, one banana and one Irish something or other.  The Irish one was amazing.  I wish I had remembered the full name of it.  After sitting around for the rest of the two hour stop, the buggy took us straight home.  We missed out on seeing The Seven Churches and the Wormhole, which are major attractions on the island.  I explained to Miles that we try things and sometimes they turn out to be a miss.  This was a miss.

  We replicated the dinner that we both had chosen on the previous night.