JOHN’S BIG DAY, CLIFFS OF MOHR, SHANNON FERRY AND KINSALE, IRELAND!

John’s BIG DAY began early!  (Notice anything different about our rental car?)  John manned up and took on the challenge with doing something he swore he would never do—drive on the WRONG side of the road!

He practiced for a minute or two and then bit the bullet and off we went!  A low air alert came on for one of the tires so he drove straight back to Enterprise.  They took the car, filled the tire, and we tried again!  This time was a success!

The Enterprise place told John that many of the roads in Ireland are very narrow, so getting hit by brambles on the sides of the car was okay.

But what they don’t tell you, is that behind those brambles are stone walls!  Best to be very careful on those narrow roads!

When we arrived at Cliffs of Mohr, we hopped out of the car and could not believe it—it was actually WARM outside!!!  And the sun was shining bright!  It was the PERFECT day to witness the beauty of the Irish cliffs!

We continued our journey toward Kinsale, when the road literally stopped at a large body of water!  We had to drive our rental car onto the Shannon Ferry across the Clonderalaw Bay to get back on the road!  (We did this three years ago, but both John and I totally forgot!)

Once across the water, we continued on our way through a small town called Farronfore.  We stopped at a pub to hit the bathrooms and noticed one of our rear tires was nearly flat!  (I wondered why the ride in the backseat was ROUGH!)  The bartender told us there was a gas station “a ways down the road”.  We hopped in, and by now, most of the air was gone and there was a crunching sound every time the wheel turned! (😳)

We made it to the station, where the nicest Irishman filled up our tire, called Enterprise at the Kerry airport (not far from where we were) and sent us on our way!  We arrived at the airport’s Enterprise only to be told that they did not have one available car to switch with ours.  Soooo, they filled our tire again and sent us about 20 minutes down the road to a Tralee tire shop.  By the time we got there, (I’ve never seen John drive that fast), our tire was at 10% air!  We barely made it, but we made it!  

The people at the tire shop were fabulous!  They took the car back and it wasn’t long before we had it back with not one, not two, but THREE new tires.  (Shame on you, Galway Enterprise!). Back in the car we continued our journey south to Kinsale, with no more incidents!

We arrived at our adorable B & B (without the breakfast, so maybe it’s just a B?) in the heart (well, kind of) of Kinsale.  Our host, James, was sooo friendly and gave us all kinds of good recommendations for where to go and what to see during our stay.  (I totally forget to get a photo — I’ll get one tomorrow!)

One of his dinner suggestions was The White House!  After our easy peasy walk to town (a wonderful downward stroll) we literally chose the nearest recommended restaurant, went inside, sat down, and ordered (demanded) beers for all as fast as we could!  Oh, what a day!

By the time our food was served, it was well after 8:00PM and everyone was HUNGRY!  We had skipped lunch to deal with our tire fiasco, so, like I said, everyone was HUNGRY!  The food was delicious!  (Mike’s wings were extra specially HOT!)

We walked down the street after dinner to Daltons Bar to listen to Trad Music (ie Traditional Irish Music)!  We had missed out on it in Galway, so I was thrilled to listen to three locals play!  It was so fun to see them sitting at a corner table in the pub, playing their hearts out!

Mike and John enjoyed a nightcap and toasted “Slainte” to a day that could have gone SO WRONG but really didn’t!  We had the help of kind Irishman at every stop and truly had the “Luck of the Irish” on our backs and in our car the entire day!

When we were ready to head back to our rooms, we tried ordering an Uber and got a “no driver available at the moment” message.  Like I said, our “B” is only an eleven minute walk to town.  But it is an eleven minute walk straight uphill!  After waiting FOREVER with no driver in sight, we decided to put on our big girl and big boy panties and we walked home!  Wow!  What a day it was!  And we have the FULL day tomorrow to enjoy this quaint coastal town!

                                                                   Good Night, Kinsale!