Not An Irish Goodbye

Bryan and Mary

The next morning we were getting on the road back to Dublin. J&K and now Kat and George, had yet to spend time there, so we wanted to make sure they had a day to see some of the sites. We had about a four hour drive, so we got up early and hit the road. Our plan was to drop off our car at the airport, check in at our hotel to drop our bags (also by the airport) and then head into Dublin. J&K were scheduled to take the tour of Trinity College and the Long Library, the one we did earlier in the visit. They were on a tighter schedule than us, so took off earlier and we hung out back at O’Donoghue’s pub while they did the tour. The pub is right
across the street so it’s a great meeting place….and we had other friends to join us! Our last travel partner of the trip, Mary, who used to work with Bryan and now lives in Dublin, was coming to spend the day with us! It was so much fun to see our group expand more and more with every town we visited!

Following their visit to Trinity College, J&K met us and we all began a little walking tour of Dublin. It was on this tour that we reconnected with Kat and George. They had incredible car issues (a terrible flat tire!) that kept them from getting to Dublin for the tour, so they just wandered the city on their own until we could meet up with them. Because Bryan and I had done the Rick Steves walking tour earlier in the week, we made sure to show everyone some of the highlights – and saw a few new sights ourselves! We made our way across the city, stopping at Dublin Castle to walk the grounds, before taking a break at the Brazen Head. Everyone felt it was only right to stop for a drink at the pub before making our last stop of the day – TheGuinness Factory and tour.

Normally this is not a tour that Bryan and I would be interested in, but many people we spoke with said that it was a must do – so we gave it a shot! I’ll be honest, by this part of the trip – especially with so many one night stays – we were both pretty tired. The brewery and tour were definitely very unique, unlike any brewery we’d done before, but we were having a hard time getting excited with how tired we were. Enjoy a few of the fun photo opportunities we had!

At the end of the tour, we were all ready for dinner. We had made reservations at the Bank Bar that Bryan and I also visited earlier in the week. We assured everyone that it was well worth it and we would enjoy it again. More importantly, we knew that Katie and Kat would enjoy the design because of their professions as architects. And it was at this last stop that Jonathan crossed whiskey #40 off his list – the last ‘Spot’ of the trip – a coveted ‘blue Spot’. So special it came in a fancy tray – although that could have been more about the venue than the whiskey. 😊

We all enjoyed a delicious dinner before heading back to our hotel – we had an early flight home to catch! But wait, we couldn’t end this trip without a little bit more excitement. We got back to our hotel pretty late – probably close to midnight – and we had to get up early for our 7:30am flight. While Bryan and I were getting ready for bed, our toilet broke and water started flooding the entire room – ha! Bryan tried to stop it but didn’t have the tools to do it – he tried using a spoon! While he did that, I called the front desk and told them (probably a little too unpleasantly) that they needed to hurry! Luckily, they gave us another room and we found ourselves getting about three hours of sleep before it was time to get up for the airport….but that is what the plane ride home is for – to SLEEP! And that’s just what we did the entire flight home. Eventually we made it (and our bags too, although that also took a day) and we continue to reflect back on what will be one of the most memorable trips of our lives. We have already planned a reunion trip to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversaries. Now, time to plan a wedding! 😊

Bioluminescent Kayaking

Kinsale to Skibbereen is only about 90 minutes, but it just so happens that this part of town is also home to the most famous golf course in all of Ireland – Old Head. Originally, Jonathan had looked at this one as an option for his 40^th birthday – but the price tag was a little too much sticker shock. At around $400 per person for golf, we decided we should stop and take a picture instead. Even that was hard to do……the course itself has a gate that should belong to a castle – you can’t even drive up to the golf course property without a reservation! But the views from that spot were still pretty epic!

So on to Skibbereen we go! When we started planning this trip with J&K, Katie had an IT issue (unrelated to the trip) that led to a very serendipitous moment while getting her laptop fixed! I won’t go into the long story of it all, but what she discovered was that she had a connection to a distillery called West Cork that is based in – you guessed it – Skibbereen! Leading up to the trip, we learned that they would be doing some tastings in Denver, so we tried them out so we could be the ‘experts’ on West Cork Irish Whiskey. When we got into town that afternoon, we were treated to a private tour of their distilleries thanks to the connections Katie had made. It was really neat to be able to tour a distillery that is not one you will regularly see on the Viator websites! Thanks, Katie for the awesome connection!

Following the distillery tour, Bryan and I were pretty tired and we still had a lot of day left to go – so we decided to go back for a nap while the other four toured more of the city! We all met back together for dinner at the Church. What has been so neat about Ireland is how many buildings have been repurposed for use today, rather than a scrape and rebuild. We had the

Bank Bar, the Old Bank Hotel and now the Church restaurant! This building was used as a church from 1883-2003 when it was repurposed for use as a restaurant. Unfortunately, in 2006, there was a terrible fire destroying the building – but they restored it as best as they could to it’s original look.

Now is the time where I answer the question you didn’t ask – why were we on the road so much instead of staying in one place? As we were planning this trip, a friend and former co-worker of Bryan’s who lives in Dublin, mentioned this lake called Lough (lock) Hyne and how it was the only saltwater lake in Europe. If you visited it at just the right time of year, you could kayak at night (yes at night) and see the bioluminescence that came off the lake due to the saltwater. Once Bryan heard about this, he wanted to do everything he could to make the kayak trip happen! He did a lot of research and discovered that the season to see it would just be starting toward the end of our trip – so we needed to visit on this particular day to try and see it in action.

This kayaking trip was the other reason we needed to get a rental car. The trip was about 15 minutes outside of Skibbereen with no bus, so it made the most sense for us to drive ourselves. The adventure had us starting at 8:30pm at the lake. We were able to get ‘suited up’ and enjoy the lake scenery before it got dark. While we were waiting, we saw a seal in the water! We later learned that there is one entry point that connects the lake to the ocean – which is how it becomes the saltwater lake. When the tide is high, other creatures come in from the ocean and sometimes will stick around! The guides told us they have seen sharks and even a four foot long lobster – so the seal was also no surprise!

In order to see the bioluminescence you have to kayak when it is dark out or it can’t be seen. This can certainly cause challenges since you have to ask yourself – how do I know where to kayak and go? The instructors did a great job of numbering us off so that we all could report back and make sure we were accounted for. They also each had a red light (rather than white) to follow, one instructor stayed in the front and one kept the rear.

The kayaks were for two people and the back person ‘steered’ with their feet – so I assigned Bryan to that job. It was such a cool experience kayaking all around the lake – they essentially had us take one big loop around the exterior. At one point, the instructors had said ‘don’t go to the right of me’, but somehow Bryan and I missed him saying that and we got stuck on the rocks. Because you couldn’t see much, it was hard to push ourselves out, but it made for the most beautiful site – the sparks were flying! Yes, we were fortunate enough to see the bioluminescence throughout our trip! I had taken my phone to take pictures but quickly realized that you wouldn’t be able to capture it. It’s just too quick and magical for a photo to do it justice. The best way to see it was when there was friction with the water – so when we got stuck on the rocks, it was great – ha! We could regularly see it when our paddles hit the water and off the back of another’s kayak as it made waves. It was so incredible and we were all thankful we had the opportunity to see it!

It was so dark out on the lake that it was a bit misleading how far you were or where you were on the lake, so I was ready to be done when we wrapped up – and cold! Multiple times we said to each other, we’re kayaking in Ireland at night – how amazing?! To learn all about this adventure, check out their website with Atlantic Sea Kayaking here.

Once we got back to the hotel, we were all running a bit on adrenaline, so we grabbed a drink at the bar before they closed, and then another nightcap in the hotel room and played some games. One more day to go!