mountains, beaches & guiness...ireland

after a four hour journey battling through driving rain to the pembroke dock, we crossed the irish sea in relative tranquility, free from any dramas (although nays was slightly concerned that the lifeboats would only hold 150 each), to find ireland basking in sunshine. from then the race was on as we headed west towards cork city, to spend our first night in the relative luxury of a hotel, but more importantly to get to the cities array of pubs in reasonable time to sample some guiness. after a somewhat frought evening we woke up and headed out towards county kerry and the town of killarney. after pitching the tent we decided to take a walk to the famous lake and castle, such a pull for the tourists, however after walking for 45 mins we decided our energy would be better spent taking the 5 minute walk into town to drink guiness than continuing the further 30 minutes to see some old castle and a lake. and a pattern emerged. after a bbq and some more drinking at the site we woke up with heads a banging, freshly motivated to take in some countryside, so we headed further west and out to the dingle peninsula. this is where things started to fall into place and the breathtaking kerry scenery of the journey could only be bettered by the even more remote and magical scenery of the peninsula, first stopping at inch beach, with the backdrop of the ring of kerry, then out around the slea head, where wonderful beaches and views to the blasket islands were found. having taken in these delights there was no better way to spend the evening than by drinking some guiness in the picturesque harbour village of dingle, especially when the barman seemed intent on supplying it FOC. once again waking with a thumping head, we headed north across the peninsula and through the wonderful connor pass, to a fantastic site on the beach at brandon bay, where nays found a friend in a rather exhibitionist dog and a fantastic sunset was a fine backdrop to a few drinks on the sand. the following day we moved on to lahinch, the only dissapointment of the stay. however, the one good thing that you can always rely on in ireland - the guiness - was in abundance. our next stop was the city of galway, (via an eery drive through the burren and round the north coast of co. clare), a whole lot more lively an affair, a fantastic city full of life, however a great evening still remains a blur....but the guiness was good. friday came and was spent heading round the coast northwards through the rugged mountains of connamara, where we stumbled upon the most fantastic white sand, turquoise watered beach, practically empty on a beautiful summers day. surely one of the things that makes ireland so special. form here we headed up to dromahair to spend an evening and a day with the carney family, nays getting particularly excited to meet her new nephew, and it was great to meet her grandad for the first time...and then on to boyle to spend a night with the gilmartins, michael cooking a fantastic meal of the irish staple...potatoes. so, all carbed up we headed out early through dublin and the ferry to holyhead, a nightmare return leg not tainting the fantastic time we head in a place that has had a more profound effect on me than anywhere i have ever been.