Castles, Coves, and Cats

 

Last Thursday marked the beginning of my first official Irish adventure. The girls didn't have anything going on in the afternoon, so we took advantage of their free time and took a little pre-tour before our big adventure on Friday. We started in Ballydehob, a tiny town of about 400 people that's about five minutes from here, and explored its magnificent twelve-arch bridge. The bridge was originally used for railway purposes, but was closed down as a railway in the 1950s due to lack of business. However, I was very glad to find that people are still able to visit the bridge and enjoy the incredible view from the top. After Ballydehob, we grabbed some ice cream from the petrol station (you'll be laughed at if you say gas station), and the girls drove me to a beautiful little cove called Audley Cove on the other side of the town. It was my first time near the water since I had gotten to Ireland, and I was absolutely amazed at how crystal clear it was. I was a little chilly, but the girls both kept saying how they wanted to jump in and go swimming. I thought they were crazy! I can't imagine swimming in anything cooler than 80 degree weather, and it had to have been as low as 60. But I've learned quickly... that is warm for the Irish! It doesn't get much warmer than that here, and if it's sunny and at least 60, people are shedding their clothes and ready to dive in.

Luckily, the girls decided to hold off on swimming (due to lack of swimsuits and the promise of the beach the following day), and we got back in the car and continued our tour. We stopped by a few other places - some coves, harbors, and piers - hidden at the end of windy, steep roads that were fantastic practice for Meg to drive on! It was fun, and we were all buzzing with excitement for the next day's real adventure.

On Friday, our first stop was lunch (that's usually about the time we get out of bed and get going here...). We went into Schull and picked up some picnic food from the tiny supermarket in town and headed to our first stop: Sharon's grandfather's house. She had told us what a neat location it was and that we absolutely had to see it. When we arrived, I understood why. As we pulled up the path to the house, the trees closed in around us, leaving only a small circular view of the house through the break in the tree branches. For a moment, I thought we were in the Shire and expected a little hobbit to come running out from inside the quaint old house. While there were no hobbits, there was an overly friendly dog that seemed way too interested in the pizza I was trying to eat. I made the mistake of carrying the pizza with me out onto the property, and in turn had a very eager and relentless friend following me the whole time, and not without the occasional jump in the air to take part in my delicious food with me... or just take period...

Sharon warned us to watch out for charging bulls. That made me comfortable. But as I followed her through the hills and around the shrubbery, I knew it would be worth our risky little jaunt. I strolled up onto the top of the hill and was absolutely amazed at the incredible sight. I had no idea that we were even near the sea (but then again I'm living on a coast with multiple peninsulas, so the sea is pretty much every direction you turn), but when I came up to the crest of that hill, the blue waters shone endlessly on the horizon, dotted with bright green fingers of earth stretching out every here and there into the vast midst of the water. Ireland is truly a beautiful country.

We didn't stay long on that incredible hill (partly due to the crazy dog that was jumping all over me), but the few minutes we spent there were spectacular. Before leaving we walked down to the small pier that overlooked the little cove near the house and took a few pictures. The next stop on our journey was Barleycove Beach, apparently one of the best beaches around here. Meg and Sharon's friends were all at the beach, so we were planning on meeting up with them once we got there. Everyone was out to celebrate the first day of summer, right after all their exams had ended the previous day. On the way to the beach, we passed two or three other beaches that looked like really nice beaches - bright blue waters, rocky and sandy shores, kids playing everywhere - and I wasn't sure why we weren't going to those. I understood when we got to Barleycove. We drove up a massive hill (quite fun to watch Meg practicing her awesome driving skills in a manual car) and parked on the street somewhere. I still didn't know where the beach was at that point, but we started walking down a huge grassy green hill, through some reeds and bushes, and out on the other side to a huge white beach. To get to the beach, you had to walk over a bridge/buoy thing that seemed to stretch on for eternity. It was sunk into the ground, but apparently it rises up with the water when the tide comes out.

We finally made it down to the beach, and I realized that of all beaches, this was the place to be. It was full of people, although we couldn't seem to find Meg and Sharon's friends. Another group of people told us they were on the other side the hill that was next to us, only able to be reached by going through the water. None of us were dressed to swim, but Meg happily gave me a piggy back across the water so that my pants wouldn't get wet. On the other side, there was another beautiful cove with tons of people laying out and running around in the sand, including the friends we had been looking for. We sat there for awhile... it may have been an hour... maybe two, just talking, visiting, and enjoying a rare thing in Ireland - sunshine. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and there was no better place to be than the beach. After some time, the friends started leaving, so the three of us decided to continue our adventure on to our next destination: a castle.

Meg drove us once again through the hills of West Cork, stopping every once in awhile when I would shout out in excitement and something I just had to take a picture of. Finally, the castle was in sight, my first view of a real Irish castle. Dunmanis Castle not a big one. It's not anything like the ones you are thinking of. It's more like a tower...but it's hundreds of years old, and it's in the middle of the hills, overlooking the ocean. What an amazing location! We walked inside and found a large open room a whole lot of dirt and rocks. There was a tall ladder perched against the wall with a small opening at the top. I hadn't even noticed the ladder when Sharon peered from around the opening and beckoned us to come up. I looked at her like she was crazy. She laughed and said she sometimes goes up places before she thinks about how it will be to come down...






Five minutes and a few squeals later, Meg and I had joined Sharon at the top of the rickety old ladder to stand up in the top level of the castle. There wasn't a whole lot of moving or shifting for fear that the floor might give out but, of course, we managed to take a few great pictures from the window sill that at least promised sturdiness. A whole other room branched off the other side of the hallway we were in, but we were content with looking rather than exploring. Then came the time to go down. Like Sharon had said, sometimes you don't think about what the way down is going to be like when you're only on your way up...

I'm a chicken so I was second down. Sharon was waiting for me at the bottom and Meg was steadying the top. I gazed down at the ladder from the top and had that one common thought we all have thought before: "There is no way..."

I turned and twisted and repositioned until I finally situated myself in the safest way to retreat. One rung at a time... one step... don't look down... AH!!! Don't look down!! One more step... that's it... phew!! Made it! I took a breath and just thought about how cool it was to climb down an ancient ladder that was actually used to get around a castle at one point. I tried to imagine what it might have used to look like in that castle or who might have used to reside there. I'm not really sure what it was used for, but I do know that it was a fascinating thing to see and hang out in!

Wandering around the outside to explore more, we got a text message from Amanda: "KITTENS!!!"

Enough said.

We literally dropped everything we were doing and RAN.

We sped home and burst through the door, ecstatic to see what we had been waiting so long for! Amanda told us that she hadn't seen the cat when she had arrived home, but heard some purring when she went to go get dressed for the evening. Deep in her closet, hidden behind a rack of dresses and shirts, three newborn kittens were nestled up in a big ball of fur, feeding from their mother's belly. The mom had knocked some scarves off of Amanda's shelf and hidden herself in a barrier of clothes to prepare for the birth. We didn't get to see them come out, and really didn't know when they actually did, but we were there only a few hours after and relished in the precious sight of brand new kittens.

It was the perfect way to end our adventure. :)