We left Kilkenny this morning and headed to the Rock of Cashel. Tradition has it that this is the site where the Kings of Munster were converted to Christianity by St. Patrick. Niko accidentally got off the highway too soon and we ended up just where I dreamed we would be…on the back country roads of Ireland. At the foot of the rock we stopped in at a sweater shop. There behind the counter stood Inga, a vivacious young woman who had not seen another person all day. She was full of information and stories for us.
Inga had a bit of bad news for us, though. The roads to Cork were very bad and the roads to the Dingle Peninsula were completely closed. There went our plans. We quickly reorganized and started to quiz Inga on our other hoped for destinations…Donegal, need 4 wheel drive, Belfast, roads not safe, the whole southwest coast, not derivable. So we decided to head to Ennis and then up along the coast of county Clare tot he Cliffs of Moher.
We arrived in Ennis and went to a holiday fair where Sam got a snake painted on his face that was unbelievable. Niko and I started to look for a place to stay. We checked out a nearby hotel, but it stunk and felt dirty, so we decided to keep looking. Niko sat down to make some calls and I went on a quick tour of the shops before they closed in 20 minutes. I got lost and for the life of me could not find my way back to the hotel where Niko and Sam were waiting for me. It was nerve wracking. I knew I was close, but I could not figure out how to get there, nor could I figure out the name to ask anyone coherently, where it was I was trying to go. After 3 at temps, someone finally understood which hotel I was looking for and set me in the right direction. Niko was none too happy to see me, having waited an hour for my return. He told me about a B&B he had found, but when we called back to say we would take it, it had been booked while he was waiting for me to return. Needless to say the tension increased. We had tried alot of B&Bs and even a hostel or 2 and many were closed because of the season. We had one more option, before we checking in to the smelly, dirty hotel. We called and a wonderful woman answered and told us she had a room and offered us a price 20 Euro cheaper than anywhere else we had tried. We arrived at the Railway View House and were greeted by Kathleen, a lovely middle aged woman in a beautiful country style home. Our room had fir floors and furniture, a fresh mug of milk for tea, and it smelled great! Kathleen greeted us warmly and then told us she was headed into town to hear a Christmas concert at the Cathedral, organized by the Franciscans. We hopped in our car and headed there ourselves. It was lovely.
After the concert, we headed to a local pub for some Irish music. The music was good, but we were all tired and didn’t last long. OK the hot whiskeys probably didn’t help increase our energy, but we hoped they would help with our oncoming colds.
In the morning, we took some time to visit with Kathleen. She is obviously a woman of deep faith and has a good heart. She told us about her daughter working in Calcutta with the poor. My experience in Calcutta forged a bond between us. As I said that she must be very proud of her daughter, her eyes filled with tears.
We left Ennis filled by Kathleen’s hearty breakfast and her gentle, kind spirit. We were off on another day of adventure, ever watchful for the next angel put in our path.