Weds 4th Aug : Day in Doolin

Started the day by going to the pier to see about getting a boat to the cliffs.

I watched boats come and go and then, at 9.35, walked over to the booking office (about 10 metres away) to book onto the 9.45 trip.

"Oh, that went 5 mins ago".
"Huh. At 9.30? The sign says 9.45. Im 10 minutes early" I said.

"Ah, well" she explained " we only have one sticker that says 9.30 and we used that for the other trip". Makes perfect sense now.


There are 4 booking offices on the pier. One claims to have the biggest boat (there are only 2 boats and they are identical). Another that the trip costs 10 euros. Turns out this is for a child one way. What, is that for youngsters planning to emigrate to the cliff, or who plan to swim back? And they all claim fares cheaper than the rest. Again, they all charge exactly the same. Simples.




I also spent a few hours repairing the gears to my bike. I think leaning it against the wall must have knocked them somehow out of kilter. The cable from the handlebar was also very frayed so I cleaned that up a bit.

After my trip I went into the village.

The bar had the ultimate in leisure drinking. No need to waste time standing at the bar waiting to be served.

In the UK bar staff frown when I ask for ice in my pint (its just so much nicer ice cold). They dont in Ireland; and in some places they have draft lager chilled to -5 (I guess the alcohol stops it freezing?) and serve it in glasses chilled in a special cabinet at -10. So there!

In the evening I returned to O'Connors where Mickey Mouse...sorry, a man who looked like the aged manifestation of a leprechaun crossed with Shane MacGowan was performing some sing-a-long tunes, accompanied, of course, by fiddly diddly music. (My dad says it should be 'diddly' diddly music cos there are only 2 notes, but its played on fiddles so I think it should be fiddly diddly).