Gunternation

Unlike my normally fair-minded self, I made a snap judgment about mushy peas. The words “mush” and “peas” and “don’t use garlic” created in my mind’s palate a bland green paste with a metallic canned-peas aftertaste. At best, lumpy babyfood. Even after I read that mushy peas somewhat resemble pea soup (which I quite enjoy), I was still, in my heart, anti mushy pea. Learning that they were made from marrowfat peas did not help. Mmm, marrow and fat! But, since I consider life a culinary adventure, I knew I would at least have to try the slimy boogers.

I took the plunge recently, and I have to tell you: I like mushy peas. They do have that earthy split pea flavor, and they are green green green! Pictured right is a fish and chips plate I had in Carlingford, and my first dish of mushy peas. What a beautiful moment.

Last Tuesday, Bill, Peggy and I survived this ambitious agenda:

6:15 Taxi to Heuston Station
7:00 Train to Limerick
9:15 Bus to Bunratty Castle
9:45-11:15 Tour Bunratty Castle and grounds
11:20 Bus to Doolin
12:30-1:30 Pub Lunch
1:45 Bus to cliffs
2:00-2:50 View Cliffs of Moher
3:00 Bus through the Burren and around Galway Bay
5:00 Dinner in Galway
6:00 Train to Dublin
9:15 Arrive at Heuston Station
9:20 Taxi back home!

I suppose it’s obvious we were with a tour. Bill and I would never come up with so precise an itinerary. Such tours are great for cramming tons of sights and scenery into one day, with no stress of navigation or parking and an avuncular OAP named Edmound sharing interesting facts peppered with corny jokes. (Did you know the EU has outlawed round bales of hay in favor of box-shaped ones? They were afraid cows were not getting a square meal.) We would have enjoyed about 25% more time at each stop, but that would have pushed the tour out to 17.5 hours rather than the manageable 14. Thanks to our lengthening days, we had daylight for the duration of our trip.

Our first stop, Bunratty Castle, a fortress built in 1425 was restored in 1954 and contains the furnishings and household items representative of life in the 15th and 16th centuries. The site was originally a Viking camp, and then a Norman stronghold. Irish Chieftains took possession of the land in the mid 14th Century and the castle was built by the MacNamaras, and then inhabited by the O’Briens, the ruling clan of North Munster. Under Henry VIII’s rule, the O’Briens professed loyalty to the King of England and were granted the title Earls of Thomond, but eventually surrendered the land to Cromwellian troops. The castle grounds were portioned to various plantation families, one of whom lived in the castle until 1804. The castle fell into ruin until restoration began in the 1940s. While I did enjoy some of the decorative elements at Bunratty, it was one of my least favorite castle experiences (acknowledging that lessor castle experiences still make for a fun day). The tour was a bit skimpy, and the castle interior is hard to navigate and view. Castle designers should consider future tour access! The view from the top was not too shabby, however.

The castle grounds contain a 19th century replica folk village, and we all three determined we’d rather live in the farmhouse than the dank castle. The folk village contains a street of shops, streams with mills, a church (moved stone by stone from Ardcroney, Co. Tipperary) and the house the plantation family built in the 19th C.

We were very hungry when we reached Doolin for our pub lunch. Peggy really enjoyed her salmon. I had a burger and Bill had Irish bacon and cabbage. At lunch we added a fourth to our group, a North Dakotan on the tour who was visiting Dublin with some friends who sadly had to work that day. We much enjoyed her company, especially on our train ride back to Dublin.

We had spotted the cliffs on our way into Doolin, and I was looking forward to seeing these famous jewels in Ireland’s crown of stunning coastline. I should mention here that the entire week of Peggy’s visit the weather was tremendous, amazing and dazzlingly perfect. The sun was so bright at the cliffs that my little camera could barely take in the beautiful sight. The West Coast of Ireland stands boldly against the vast Atlantic, making the sparkling loveliness of the ocean defer to the cliff’s rugged beauty. I loved watching the white spray of water against the rocky base.

The cliffs are on the edge of a rocky stretch of coastline called the Burren. This barren limestone landscape did not deter the Irish from scratching out an existence, sometimes at the command of landowners. Almost two thousand miles of stone fences cross the area. These walls of rock have no binding or mortar, and have survived decades against the fierce coastal winds. Farmers carted seaweed from the beaches to create soil on their lands, and the resulting grasses support herds of livestock to this day. The Burren area also supports an amazing array of wildflowers, but we did not see too many blooming on our visit. We stopped for a photo op and Bill and I ventured to peer over the rocky edge into the turquoise swirl.

At one point the bus of tourists was thrilled to be caught behind cattle on the road!

After rounding the bay to Galway, we had just enough time for dinner. Bill and I handily remembered a bakery we had visited on our last trip to Galway last year with my parents. We boarded the train at 6:00 for another three hours of rumbling past piles of golden whin bushes and spring greens even greener that you remember, that touch blue skies which fade into gray and charcoal mountains.

Diageo, the multinational who owns Guinness, is moving brewing operations from St. James Gate to Clondalkin, laying-off several hundred workers and selling off a large portion of the property at St. James Gate. This is only the second time in the history of Guinness that the brewery has moved. The first move was from Leixlip to St. James Gate in Dublin in 1795 when Arthur Guinness bought a 9000-year lease on the property. The Guinness “flavor essence” will still be brewed at St. James Gate and the Guinness Storehouse will remain as well.

*Cake courtesy of Colin and Marks and Spencer.
**Candles not representative of actual age.
***Bulmers not pictured.

We set out this morning in the mighty Polo, headed for Monasterboice and then destination unknown. This is the third time Bill and I have been to see the Celtic High Crosses and the High tower in County Louth, and I continue to be impressed that we can touch this longlasting evidence of faith history.

After Monasterboice we decided to head to Carlingford. Sound familiar? Yeah, we were there last weekend. We knew it was a good spot to grab some lunch and would not disappoint for lovely surroundings. We landed in a pub called O’Hare’s for some welcome tipples and grub. After an ice cream cone and a walk along the water, we drove around the lough and into Northern Ireland. We were in another country! It’s an open border, so open we weren’t even sure we’d crossed until we were in Newry. According to the Irish name of the city, we were at The Yew Tree at the Head of the Strand. We were in NI for 15 minutes, long enough for our phones to text us that we were roaming in the EU.

Tomorrow we’re headed to the West Coast!