Off-Roading in Galway

Our bus arrived in Galway late afternoon on Sunday. It was much easier to find our hostel this time, but we still got a little turned around. Regardless, our hostel was great. We stayed at the Kinlay House and it was absolutely charming. The decor was very bright, with lots of artwork details. Even the windows had flowers painted on them! We checked in, and this time our room of six consisted of all people in our group. So, we weren't worried about leaving our stuff in there since we didn't have any random roommates. We got cleaned up and went on the search of some dinner. There is a main strip of shops that forks at the bottom, one way has restaurants, the other way has pubs and night clubs. It was a pretty easy set-up! We checked out all the menus posted on the outside of the restaurants, and found a fairly reasonable restaurant. I got the salmon with mashed potatoes, and it was delicious. Just what I needed after a long day of travel. That evening we found a pub with traditional Irish music, then called it an early night.

Yesterday, (Monday) the six of us that were travelling together, Andy, Shannon, Cory, Drew, Pat and I went to the Aran Islands for a day trip. We bought our ferry tickets first thing in the morning, drove to the ferry (Andy and Shannon had rented a car) and boarded at 10:30am. We got to the Islands around 11, and rented bicycles right away. We had a map, but decided to just ride bikes until we wanted to stop and take some pictures. We stopped a few times for pictures, and then stopped at a picnic area for lunch. We had brought sandwiches and snacks, so we just ate all that. Then, we went to the main attraction on the island, which was the almost 3000 year old fort that was built by the people that first inhabited the island. So far, the bike ride had been really fun, and mostly downhill. We parked our bikes, and then walked up this huge hill to get to the fort. The fort was really neat, and we got some great pictures. We headed back down and back on to the bikes.

We were riding along nicely until we started to go uphill. It was a pretty good climb, and our group was starting to get farther apart, as some people were going faster than others. Andy was way ahead of the group, blazing the trail. Pat, Cory and I were pretty much together, and Shannon and Drew were slowing down a little. We hit a pretty good hill, and my gears didn't shift in time (these weren't great bikes) so I came to a stall. By this point, everyone was walking. I was forced to hop off my bike and walk it up the hill. There was a fairly flat spot before the next hill, so I got back on my bike and got my gears back in order. I went up the next hill and expected to see Andy waiting for us at the top. However, I rounded a bend and I could see him even higher up, going up another hill! So I kept going, waiting to see him at the top of that one. By the time I was about halfway up, I realized there was yet another HUGE hill, and Andy was nowhere in sight. I just kept chugging along, and went up one of the steepest hills I had ever biked on. I got to the top and finally saw Andy waiting there. I stopped, took a while to catch my breath and get a sip of water. A few minutes later, the rest of the clan topped the hill. They had all walked up the whole hill, and were still extremely tired! Everybody was proud to have gotten up there, and it was quite a sight to see. We could see almost the entire island from this high point. From there, we knew it would be mostly downhill!

Now comes the best part of the day. We continue along the path, and sure enough it's going downhill. We're all laughing and having a great time together until the paved road became a gravel path. We still stayed together, but the path got rockier and steeper. By the time we were halfway down the hill, we were practically off-roading over big rocks, and very unsteady terrain. It was awesome! I was having the time of my life weaving around big rocks, and trying not to slip in the loose gravel and going fast downhill all at the same time! It was quite a rush! We got to the bottom of the hill, and all got caught up to plan our next destination since we still had a few hours left. There was supposedly a beachy area at the end of the island, so we decided to head that way. On our way, we passed a small cattle drive. A few farmers were taking about 6 cows to another pen, but they were just taking them on the town road! So, we followed them for a while, making jokes about being part of a cattle drive in Ireland. We passed them and continued to the beach.

When we got to the "beach" it just looked like a huge expanse of sand with a small stream, and some puddles. We decided to check it out anyways and splash around. As we kept walking, we realized there really was a beach that led right to the ocean! There were dead jellyfish on the beach that we poked with sticks, we splashed around in the shallow water, I collected a bunch of beautiful seashells, and we took pictures of us jumping up in the air. It was almost time to board the ferry, so we headed back, grabbed some snacks (Kate, I found Curly Wurly's!) and returned our bikes. We loaded the ferry, and Andy and I sat on the sun deck on the top. (The rest of the group was pretty sunburned.) We were having a great time chatting and enjoying the sunshine and the nice cool ocean spray when we noticed an ominous black cloud right over the mainland that we were heading to. As we were docking the ferry, it started to drizzle. It quickly picked up and turned into a heavy rainfall. We were stuck on top of the ferry, getting soaking wet! We were some of the first off the boat, so we ran to the car to wait for the others. They showed up a few minutes later, just as wet! As soon as we got into the car it stopped raining so we had a good time joking about our misfortune.

We got back to the hostel, showered and asked the front desk for a good restaurant suggestion. She suggested we go to this Italian restaurant about 10 minutes away. We took her advice, and it was a great one! It was an authentic Italian restaurant where everyone who worked there could barely speak English, so we knew we were going to get a great meal. I ordered a calzone since they had a huge pizza oven, which is their specialty. It was amazing, but different than calzones I have had at other restaurants. I think I'll keep trying them, to see which kinds I like the best! We headed back to downtown Galway and hit a few pubs with our entire group from Derry. Since it was a Monday night, the bar closed fairly early. On our way out, there were salespeople from a night club offering us stamps on our hands for free admission to their night club. We decided to take them up on it! When we got to the night club, it was very hip and modern. It was completely dark, with crazy colored lights on the dance floor, some video screens and all the bars were lit up by huge panels that changed color. They played a good mix of mostly American music, with some techno in there sometimes. Our group had an absolute blast dancing the night away! Since there are about 20 of us, there was never a shortage of somebody to dance with on the dance floor. It got to be pretty late, and the club was closing so we headed back to the hostel. It was convenient, because we were all staying in the same place so we could walk together!

I fell asleep really quickly, and got up early this morning to do some shopping before I had to leave Galway. I got a few souveniers for myself and my family. (getting excited?) Then, Drew and I got to drive back in the rental car with Andy and Shannon. It was so much nicer than taking a bus, and probably much cheaper. I got back to Derry safely just a few hours ago, and I'm going to read my articles for class tomorrow and call it an early night!