To cheer ourselves up we decided to go on a trip round the south of Ireland with Tir na nOg backpacker tours. We set off from Dublin on Thursday morning in a 22-seater bus with 6 other people plus a really funky and spunky Irish tour guide who talked pretty much the whole trip about just about anything from potato fields to how his mother and father met!

First stop was the Rock of Dunamase, a ruin of a castle dating back to the 12th Century where you can climb among the ruins and get a great view of the patchwork fields surrounding. We then had lunch in the town of Abbeyleix at an establishment that served as a grocery, bar and undertaker! The lunch menu there consisted of ham, cheese or ham and cheese toasted sandwiches. We all also tried Guiness with blackcurrant. Drove past lots of potato fields and grazing cows as we headed towards Cork for the night. We stopped at the Rock of Cashel and went on a tour (just another castle really). In Cork we had some dinner and a few drinks and went to bed.

Up early the next morning to beat the busloads of middle aged Americans to Blarney castle. Before I got to Blarney I thought the whole kissing the blarney stone was a stupid idea and the thought of another castle didn’t really excite me. But when we arrived I saw the magnificent castle and beautiful grounds and changed my mind, heading up the spiral staircase to the stone for a snog! The story is that a mute guy that lived in the castle saved a witch from drowning in the river and to reward him she conjured up a magical stone that would, when kissed, gives the kisser the gift of eloquence. The catch is that in order to kiss the stone you have to lie on your back and slide back over about a meter gap, bend over backwards peering down the 15 meter drop and kiss the stone! After all that I am still waiting for the eloquence to kick in! I have heard stories of locals pissing on the stone but we saw the attendant wiping it down with disinfectant so it can’ t be that dirty!

Well after falling for the blarney debarcle I decided to try my luck with all the other silly Irish magic. I walked down the fairy stairs backward with my eyes closed and then back up to make a wish. I looked for fairies and leprechauns in the witch’s kitchen and druid circle. I drank the water at the Torc waterfall to give me good teeth and splashed water in my eyes for better eyesight in the Burren. Well none of these have worked yet, but I remain hopeful (actually my eyes felt bad after the eye water!)

Probably the highlight of the tour was seeing the cliffs of Moher, 700 foot high sheer cliffs overlooking the Atlantic ocean. The best way to see them was to lie on your stomach at the edge and peer down to the water below. Hundreds of sea birds have made their nests on the rocks and the only sound apart from the sound of waves crashing is the birds screeching and squawking. A very tranquil and amazing place.

We spent that night in Doolin, a tiny place of no more than 200 locals which is a Mecca for trad music enthusiasts. Before hitting the pub we had dinner prepared for us by our resident French chef, Michelle…delicious! The pub was absolutely packed when we arrived and we found out they were having a trad music festival to celebrate the owners of the pub being there for 25 years. Tourists and locals mingle to the sound of fiddlers and singers and even a man playing the spoons. One of the highlights would have to be the real life Irish Johnny Cash who took a liking to Sue!

The next morning we drove to Galway via the rocky burren and some awesome sea views. In Galway we said goodbye to the tour group except for Michelle as we had decided to spend a night in Galway and then go out to the Aran islands. After trudging around the streets for ages we finally found a hostel with beds. The Lets Go describes it as “bohemian”, “the cheapest in town” – as you can imagine it was not the Hilton! We were in the male dormitory, which had 12 beds and it looked like quite a few permanent lodgers most of which were hanging out in the kitchen, their lips and ears heavy with big chunks of metal and arms black with tattoos.

After our big night in Doolin we did not have the energy to see much of Galway but we did catch a brilliant street performer before we headed to bed. He attracted a massive crowd for what was a pretty standard juggling and unicycle act. He was really funny and when a drunk guy from the audience decided to join in, coped with it really well. One classic line was when the drunk guy called out “you aren’t anything as great as Michael Collins” he replied without missing a beat: “Michael Collins rode a unicycle?”

The next day we set off for Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran islands. The Aran islands are home to small fishing and farming communities that still live very traditional lifestyles and speak Gaelic as their everyday language. We headed for our hostel that we had booked in Galway, we were greeted by a seedy looking man laid out on a couch, unshaven and surrounded by bottles of alcohol and cigerette butts. All over the wall were postcards and sketches, even one of him naked…blurck. Why do we always seem to pick the most bohemian places?!

We headed back into town to hire some bikes. I was a bit nervous about this as I had not been on a bike for a while but after a few refresher gears lessons from Michelle (all boys can do it instinctively) I decided that I actually quite like this bike business. The scenery was spectacular, mile after mile of dry stone walls and green fields scattered with rocks and the occasional cow or sheep. We rode to the ancient (as in 2000 BC) Celtic fort – Dun Aonghasa which is perched on a massive hill. We also stopped a little beach for a paddle and rode to the far southern tip of the island to some cool rock platforms.

In the evening the 3 of us headed out to look for some Craic, which of course being Ireland, we found. The first bar we went into we found a local family playing pool. The father was trying to raise his 3 sons of about 7, 14 and 16 to be pool sharks as they took each other on. Michelle challenged the oldest boy for the table but lost miserably. It was great to meet some locals though. We headed to another bar called Joe Watties. There was some musicians there, one of which was the bar owner watched attentively by his tiny rat-like dog. He had a magnificent voice and even sang And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda especially for us after we went and sat at the table with them. One of the ladies in the bar then got up and started doing traditional Irish dancing including a dance involving a broom – cleaning made fun!

Back in Dubs now, back to the job hunting. I wish Ireland would stop being so damn interesting and fun as the more I see the more frustrating it is not to be able to say that I will be staying awhile.