moving north to Doolin

on the road again - this time north toward the Shannon River where we would board a ferry to take across to the next stop on the trip for three final nights in Doolin. 

above a "Tidy Town" where we stopped for coffee and bathroom break- then we were on to the ferry

the view as the bus left the ferry and headed up into the hills overlooking the Shannon River-

Our lunch stop is Milltown Malbay - a renown music capital where there is a festival every year in honor of Willie Clancy, the most famous Uilleann Pipe player in Ireland (statue shown below) - We had a lunch much better than you could find in a town that size in the U.S. and then time on our own to explore town and listen to music in pubs that line the main street (only street? LOL)

every town has a store where you can buy instruments!

and at least one pub where the musicians just stop in to play pretty much any time - this was a Sunday so the afternoon was open for most folks - and they had quite the session going on at Lynch's as we arrived in town...

after we arrived in Doolin we met a pub for dinner and music including a guy named Blackie on the pipes and another guy who showed up at 10:30 PM to play with Blackie - apparently the wedding he came from ran long or something LOL

the next morning we were out and about and got to the Cliffs of Moher early so no crowds Yea!

the symbol on the monolith below was that used for the "Wild Atlantic Way" which has come into use since 1997 when my mother and i explored the west coast of Ireland on our own and without the exponential growth in tourism that this marketing campaign has brought to this area of Ireland- a boon to small villages that were losing population and jobs - so overall a positive thing for them I think - although to my mind a tad fewer people touring was a better thing- 

next a drive into The Burren and the sights there-

including a sheep dog demo - always a fun thing (my third after Patagonia and New Zealand south island)

the 21 year old retired queen of the pack...

that night after a very scenic drive back to Doolin we headed to the best meal of the trip for us- at Cullinan's

Then we went across the street to "Fitz's" pub to the meeting room upstairs where we had a concert just for us by Luka Bloom a terrific entertainer who watched the entire group to gauge the interaction and when he found us a receptive audience just kept on going ..... photo from the Internet-

The final day was spent on an island... no I know we were already on an island but this was an island off the island- so more - one more post on the trip.... to follow