We rented a car in Gallway, for our final 1.5 hour drive to Carna, on the rural west coast of Ireland, our final destination. This was quite an daventure. The steering wheel was on the right side, and the stick shift on the left! I last drove a stick as a teenager. There are speed limits in Ireland, which are not rigid. Typically the country roads are posted 20 mph higher that in the states. The roads are very narrow, making it quite a challange to stay in your lane, with cars whizzing close by, in the opposite direction. The lines on the road are opposite, with the white center line and the yellow shoulder line. Usually there is no shoulder, just thick growth. Add that to the fact that I had probably had 4 hours sleep in the last50 hours or so. I could not get close to going 60 mph, in this scenario. This would produce frequent tailgaters, further raising my blood pressure. The closer we got to Carna, the windier the roads became. Then came the sheep. they would be standing eating and sleeping at the edge of the road. You would pass them at high speed, witha foot to spare. As I was later told, the ones that stood out further in the road were probably being genetically weaned out. I will now admit I had quite a few episodes of head shaking, just to stay awake. Finally, we arrived in Carna.
above: Rainbow in Connamera, near Carna,
Our home in Carna, from the ocean, lobster float in foreground,
Stephen, on 3 hour bus ride from Dublin to Galway
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