May 25, 2012

Day 5: Clonakilty, Co. Cork, Ireland

This morning, we woke up and decided to make a bit of a bigger breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. After the morning tasks of the dishes and cleaning the fire, we got ready right away to go into Clonakilty. Tina and John had some errands to run, and also had to go to the airport to pick up her sister  and her sister’s boyfriend later on in the afternoon who flew in from Brussels for a few days!

Zoe and I spent the afternoon wandering the little streets of Clonakilty. First we went to the Friday farmer’s market where we split a crepe that was filled with strawberry jam and lemon. I also picked up a bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice, which was incredibly fresh/delicious! I love farmers markets, all over the world J

We went into a second hand thrift store (higher end, much like a Second Time Around), into a natural foods store, into a party/costume shop, etc. I picked Rob up some blinking shutter shades and a neon yellow lei for his birthday as well!

Some shots from town:

One of the town's main streets

Michael Collins lived here!

After we got a good feel for the town, we started our walk out to the beach. There were signs directing us to the beach from town so we thought it would be a relatively short walk. We thought wrong. About halfway there, we decided to try to hitchhike the rest of the way. That didn’t work out either but we resolved to hitch a ride back instead. We actually took a shortcut (I think) away from the road and waded across some sand dunes that had been cleared with the low tide to get to the beach. When we finally got to the big beach, we went for a very refreshing dip in the water and hung out on the sand for a bit.

A GAA complex on the way to the beach

The empty bay- low tide

Beautiful field along the walk to the beach

More beach shots

Ahhh, gorgeous!

If you know me, you know that I love beach hair, and this was certainly the highlight of the day. After we swam, we went over to the car park area to try to talk to some locals and hitch a ride back; this time, we were successful! After getting back into the town, we went to O’Scanaill’s for a few drinks and to meet Tina and John.

We were there for a bit (had some Bulmers and Beamish!) and then decided we were quite hungry since we didn’t have much of a lunch. We ran down the road to a local take away shop, got some burgers and chips, and went back to the pub, wehre Tina, John, Rob, Alex and Julian had arrived! We stayed there for a bit longer and had a few more beers, and then all piled in the van to go home.

A beautiful sight on a warm day :)

<3

Once home, we sat down to a late dinner of pork chops, leftover lenteja, chips, salad and delicious sauce that Tina made from the pink pepper that her sister Alex brought over for her. Yum!!

We listened to John and Rob play some music for a while (including their favorite song.. big hairy titties. I’m hoping I can catch a video of it to put up here at some point; it’s hysterical), had some Irish coffees and at some delicious brownies that Rob and Zoe made.

Was a great night overall, but the sun really wore me out! Turned in around 2a and fell asleep almost immediately. Big party for Rob tomorrow!

Favorite part of the day: definitely the beach. I love summer… and beach hair J