I pulled in to Killarney at about 10:30 at night. I was SO relieved I’d made it after such a long journey! It was great to have learned how to successfully gamble today, but it REALLY set me back time wise! I was eager to check in, drop off my gear and head out for some grub and a drink.

The grub proved fairly difficult to find, given the late hour. One thing that is so surprising to me is how early kitchens shut down here. ESPECIALLY given that every second doorway is a pub :) At any rate, I did find a hole in the wall Chinese Takeout Place. I wasn’t at all put off (cough) by the 3-deep row of 8 garbage bins right in front of the doorway.

A farmer walked in right behind me and I struck up a conversation. “Hey, how are ya? Good food here?” kind of stuff. You know, the usual. He told me he’d just been fixing his tractor. He was out clearing his field and slammed into a buried butter stone. What? So check this out:

There are artifacts buried throughout the land and farmers frequently dig them up when working the land. This time it was a butter stone; large round stone wheel with a square peg in the centre. He lifted the stone and rolled it to his yard where he proceeded to clean it up. He explained the acid wash process and the extreme hard work to clear up the square hole in the centre so he could fashion a new wooden post for it.

When our food was ready and we were ready to leave, he asked me something, but I couldn’t quite understand. I thought he asked if I had a smoke. No, that wasn’t it. Did I smoke? I asked if he needed a smoke? I was laughing because I could NOT figure out what he was saying, but then he reached in his pocket and handed me a gum wrapper. I looked at it and he says, “You can figure out the rest of it”, shook my hand and strode off.

I shoved the wrapper in my pocket thinking I’d throw out his garbage for him. I turned and walked back down the alley and came to little pub. There was a guy standing outside with his drink so I asked him what were the chances I could go inside, grab a pint and sit to eat my food. He laughed and said, “Sure! Go on in!”. Then he had a funny grin on his face so I asked if he was setting me up for embarrassment. He laughed and assured me he thought it would be fine.

Well I walked in and it was jam-packed. I had a hell of a time squeezing through people just to get to the bar. After securing a pint I walked back out and joined the fella at the front door. After all, he had a half a whiskey barrel to himself out there! (sideline – many of the pubs have a half a keg attached to the outside of the pub wall to serve as a table). I set my drink down and we got to chatting.

Regrettably, due to the lateness of my arrival, there was only time for one drink before they shut the place down.I wanted another drink; I was still pretty wound up from my extremely long day. I asked Michael (my new friend), if there was a place we might grab another drink.

He took me to a place called “The Grand” in Kilarney and what a blast we had! We laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what we talked about, but he was the perfect friend for me that night. That lonesome, completely singular feeling slipped away,

I’d finally found a right good bit o’ craic here in Ireland!

AKA Sweet Company

Although the morning was absolute shite at first, the ride ended up being quite glorious. Yes I was lonesome as hell, but as I looked out across the land as I rode on, I felt joy. How incredible it is to embrace the beauty and awe of Ireland. With every single turn my heart swells with gratitude that I am on this adventure. Sometimes when my heart is full, the happiness spills over and the wind caresses with her gentle touch to dry my cheek.

Not wanting a repeat of the morning’s misadventures, I started looking out for a place to stop and eat. Not once on this trip have I had lunch! Irish breakfast lasts through my touring about so my next meal is always dinner. I passed by a number of potential spots because their parking looked a bit dicey. I came across a spot on the road without any cars out front at all. Actually I wasn’t even sure if it WAS a pub! I parked, got off my bike and realized just how starved I really was.

No sooner had I taken off my helmet and shook the kinks from my hair when a fella comes out to say hello. We chat about the bike for a bit and his friend comes out to join the conversation. Darren and Chris were both so friendly and I was so happy to have friends! We went inside, I asked for a menu and water. No to both. OK. You don’t have food and that sucks, but how about the water? Nope. So I had coffee and the bartender tossed a chocolate bar on the counter for me. Sigh.

I drank my coffee while Darren, Chris, Paulsy and Christian finished off their beers. We had a grand chat for quite possibly close to an hour! They were headed off to another pub nearby and I was welcome to join them.

“Sure, if they have food!”

I followed them. I followed them over hill, over dale, left turn, right turn, crazy road, cart path and down into a mill. “Oops! Sorry, wrong turn”. Ok, I get that! BELIEVE me I get that! After going back down the cart path and making room for a ginormous tractor, I get back onto what feels more like a road. Sort of. Left turn, right turn, narrow road, traffic..where the hell are they TAKING me? At least I’m not totally alone. I still have Gretta with me!

Finally O’Donnovan’s Bar at Fisher’s Cross appears on the corner. It was such a perfect spot! With the stone fence across the road and the sea beyond, it was absolutely picturesqe and lovely!

But no food.

Not to worry, Darren secured a ham and cheese sandwich for me :). Great guy, that Darren. Funny as hell, good lookin chap, and capable of carrying on a conversation. His only downfall is his sense of direction ;) I should have introduced him to Gretta.

So here I am in the middle of nowhere’s ville Ireland with 4 blokes I don’t know having the best fun I’ve had since my arrival 6 days ago. The five of us hung out at O’Donnovan’s for a few hours sharing stories, tons of laughs, and they introduced me to horse racing. More specifically, they introduced me to BETTING on horse racing.

Darren asks me to choose a horse to bet on. Before I told him, however, he huddled with Paulsy. They were going to secretly discuss which horse I would choose. After I said my choice, if it was the same one they thought it would be, then we’d bet on it. I chose Sweet Company because…why wouldn’t I?

So we bet. I put in a tenner and it was dicey for a while there! It was pretty touch and go until the lead horse duffed the last jump and both the horse and rider were down (one or both must know Gretta)! My cut was 110 euros! woot! woot! I bet again on the horse Darren chose and we won again. Fan freaking tastic!!

I had such a good time!

The day was getting late and I knew I still had a hell of a long ride ahead of me. They invited me to stay, promising good food, safe lodging, and a couple of drinks. As tempting as it was, and it really was, I also didn’t want to rob myself of my experiences. I know it’s counter intuitive because I’ve been griping about having no friends and here I have 4 new ones!

When I said goodbye, my heart was light and my soul was full. Almost as full as my wallet!

This is the first of what I hope to be several posts about my three days in Dublin in July, 2016.

Unbeknownst to me when I booked this trip, I booked my first three nights in the heart of Dublin’s touristy Tempel Bar. You can find all manners of photos and details about Tempel Bar, and I know I could have participated in dozens of touristy type things. I learned from @MorganJDeane about a literary pub crawl and the amphibian tour. Both were certainly on my list, but due to my state of exhaustion upon arrival, I wandered the district taking in the sites.

I dropped my backpack at the Parliament Hotel where I was staying and set out to see what all the fuss was about. Regrettably, I left my camera in the room as I thought I’d only be gone a short while, take a nap, then head out again later. I should really know better!

It didn’t take long to learn that one only needs to walk about eleventy two steps to pass another pub, so I was in no rush to pop in and have a pint. Plus also I can’t drink beer (stupid gluten). It also didn’t take long to realize that there were very few Irish people in the mix! I have nothing against the touristy stuff, I mean I AM a tourist! But I wanted to talk to locals! I set out on what ended up being what I can only call an awakening.

I’ll spare you all the details about the sites I saw on my way and jump right to the conversation I had with three old fellas in a pub that first night. I wandered down side streets and alleys far removed from Tempel Bar. I couldn’t even BEGIN to tell you where I ended up because I was completely lost. That’s ok though. That’s what exploring is all about.

One particular doorway seemed more interesting than the rest, so I stepped inside. I was hungry again as by this time it was about 7:00 pm and my Irish Breakfast had long since wore off! There were white haired fellas sitting at the end of the bar and they stopped talking and looked at me as I walked in. I gave them my big Deanna smile, said hello and said, “How’s the food here fellas?” It isn’t! came the reply. They pointed me in the direction of a small place three doors down and gave me strict instructions to come back for a drink.

It was kind of a donair place, and the food was fantastic. I had pieces of chicken with incredible sauces, salad, and hot peppers. It was the perfect precursor to the drink I’d planned to have next.

I took this at a pub another day before things got busy :)

I joined the fellas back at the bar and listened to their tales about life in Ireland; specifically the country side as they knew that was my ultimate destination. What a time I had! They ensured I tried every flavour of whiskey on the shelf upon learning I am not a beer drinker, and insisted on paying for it each time. A younger lad tried to join the conversation and was less than respectful. They sent him packing and admonished him for speaking that way in front of a lady. A first in my books and it was so nice to have someone (actually three some ones) stand up for me like that.

One by one the gentleman said good bye until it was just me and what I think might have been the youngest of the bunch. He asked if I’d like to have another drink as he’d like to show me a pub that he thought I might appreciate. We left and walked for a bit until we came to a hole in the wall with stairs leading up. I heard beautiful melodies streaming down the stairs and couldn’t wait to see what awaited!

We stayed here for another hour or so listening to a man sing the most hauntingly beautiful melodies to ever touch my ears. On more than one occasion I felt something stir inside. Stephen (my guide) looked at my eyes, patted my hand, and said to me “Someting brought you here to Ireland Madam. You’ll find it. You’re home now”.