Gram came downstairs, and mentioned that there wasn’t any hot water. Bronte got Trevor to boil water for a bath for her, and Mom had one too. I showered yesterday so I went with the dry shampoo today! The landlord, the fab pink sweater vest man showed up and apparently the pilot light was out…. Oops!! He got everything back up and running though! Today was an adventuring day!
We took the car on the scenic route to the town of Schull, West Cork. We then left for Goleen, where dad and I stepped into the visitor center to use the restroom and ask a few questions. We bought a 25 cent tiny laminated map and got the information that the Mizen Head lighthouse (the southern most point of Ireland) was closed on weekdays, but there was a castle to explore nearby! The woman recommended the Three Castle Head area. He said to just go to the end of the road and park in the field and just walk. Proobbabblllyyyy the best directions ever! We came back to mom providing us with great bakery items from the shop across the street! YUM! We took a stab at it and drove the single road that led the direction she said.
The sheep have different color spray paints to show the branding; we came across bright pink and bright green!
The road literally just ended, just like she said it would. We used a driveway to back in to the end of the road so that we could get out in our huge van. (Smart move Dad.)
Frolicking ensued. The gray, choppy water was crashing on the rocks, it harshly juxtaposed the soft green grass moving in the wind that grew right up to the rocks, so pretty! We left gram in the car, and spread across the land exploring. Dad, Joe and I set out for the castle up over the hills. We were told it was supposed to be at least a 25 minute walk. We hunkered into our windbreaker jackets as the wind pelted our faces.
(This is where I pass the writing to Joe!)
Tanner, Bronte, Trevor, Payton, Michael, and I took soo many pictures on the rocky Irish coast. The latter 3 finished much sooner, and decided to head to this mysterious castle to see how far away it was.
The adventure began.
At first, more pictures continued to be taken along the grassy hills of this beautiful countryside, but soon enough Michael and I were running (galloping or frolicking as we continued to describe it) up the ankle-thick meadow. We just wanted to find the castle! We reached the crest of the first hill, and we were disappointed, yet reinvigorated, to find that a large valley and then another hill lay ahead of us.
Giffy continued to frolic, while I fell back out of breath and began to walk.
Halfway through the valley there was a large amount of standing water. I had to tip-toe to avoid any kind of sock soakage, even though my attempt ended up being futile…as my feet were drenched by the time we finished.
We made it all of the way across the valley, along the beautiful coastline, but then there was that dreaded hill. It was at least a 45-degree angle, so I just decided to run up it. At the top of the hill, and out of breath again, I laid down on a large boulder. Michael was ahead of me and almost to another crest, while Payton was behind me. I figured it was a perfect time to take a little breather.
Within 5 seconds of my head hitting the stone, Michael gave out a victorious yelp.
Newfound energy flowed through my veins and I chose to quickly get up and sprint across this second fluid-filled valley toward where Michael’s war cry was heard.
Squish, Squish, Squish was all I heard as my tippy-toes made their way toward the edge of the cliff.
I took a look behind me to make sure Payton was still alive, and then glanced at the valley before me.
An unbelievably green basin with an ancient castle that lay in ruin, and an ice-blue lake lay below me. “Screw Payton” I thought…I’m going to that castle now.
On the walk down the hill and reaching the castle, the wind was whipping. It was strong (in fact, it almost pushed Mr. Gifford over the cliff into the ocean at one point). Our ears rang in disagreement, but we continued on and made it to the relic.
We climbed, explored, and entered the ancient castle situated on the gorgeous lake.
Eventually we thought it would be a smart idea to head back to where we began the journey to make sure everyone else knew where we were.
We chose a much simpler route now that we knew where our start and end points were.
¾ of the way back to the van, we saw 3 figures in the distance… they were strolling up to that same swamp/valley that we had trekked through minutes earlier.
It obviously was Tanner, Bronte, and Trevor so we pointed them in the correct direction and continued on to the car.
More wet feet and running ensued, but we made it.
We debriefed Gram and Jenay then took off all of our sweaty/wet clothing. It was only about 30 min until the other 3 adventurers peeked over the hill.
^That was all Joe, writing on behalf of the large group we are traveling with. Thanks for reading. I’m going to hand it back over to Payton now, so she can finish the story of our day!
Heyyyyyy guys. Payton again. So it’s getting late so this will be pretty quick! We all hopped back in the car (I was smart and brought new socks, those who were not fortunate enough to think of that this morning sat with swamp feet .. cough Bronte cough Joe cough cough!)
We took the turn for Mizen head (the southernmost point) and drove out to the lighthouse lookout even though it was closed. We hopped the short fence and made it to the gate of the bridge at least! Then we took the 99 steps back up to the top! It was beautiful! We left Gram in the car so we made it back quickly and followed the skinny road to Crookhaven where it was recommended to eat at O’Connel’s. BEST toasted fresh crab sandwiches ever. I know Joe hates this.. CANT EVEN right now…..
Rounds of irish coffees, beers, baileys hot chocolates and amazing food later, we were on the way back home. We picked up a bottle of red wine for the landlord, he went to the house while we were out to make sure it was warm for when we got back. Seriously, above and beyond! He deserves that bottle of red!
Of course, the day ended with buttery popcorn and Nutella spread on cookies!
We leave for Galway tomorrow, YAY the castle house! That means leaving at 8:00 am though… so rough but worth it!
Love you!
-Payton (and Joe) on behalf of Bronte, Tanner, Michael, Jenay, Grandma Leah, and Trevor!)
We took the car on the scenic route to the town of Schull, West Cork. We then left for Goleen, where dad and I stepped into the visitor center to use the restroom and ask a few questions. We bought a 25 cent tiny laminated map and got the information that the Mizen Head lighthouse (the southern most point of Ireland) was closed on weekdays, but there was a castle to explore nearby! The woman recommended the Three Castle Head area. He said to just go to the end of the road and park in the field and just walk. Proobbabblllyyyy the best directions ever! We came back to mom providing us with great bakery items from the shop across the street! YUM! We took a stab at it and drove the single road that led the direction she said.
The sheep have different color spray paints to show the branding; we came across bright pink and bright green!
The road literally just ended, just like she said it would. We used a driveway to back in to the end of the road so that we could get out in our huge van. (Smart move Dad.)
Frolicking ensued. The gray, choppy water was crashing on the rocks, it harshly juxtaposed the soft green grass moving in the wind that grew right up to the rocks, so pretty! We left gram in the car, and spread across the land exploring. Dad, Joe and I set out for the castle up over the hills. We were told it was supposed to be at least a 25 minute walk. We hunkered into our windbreaker jackets as the wind pelted our faces.
(This is where I pass the writing to Joe!)
Tanner, Bronte, Trevor, Payton, Michael, and I took soo many pictures on the rocky Irish coast. The latter 3 finished much sooner, and decided to head to this mysterious castle to see how far away it was.
The adventure began.
At first, more pictures continued to be taken along the grassy hills of this beautiful countryside, but soon enough Michael and I were running (galloping or frolicking as we continued to describe it) up the ankle-thick meadow. We just wanted to find the castle! We reached the crest of the first hill, and we were disappointed, yet reinvigorated, to find that a large valley and then another hill lay ahead of us.
Giffy continued to frolic, while I fell back out of breath and began to walk.
Halfway through the valley there was a large amount of standing water. I had to tip-toe to avoid any kind of sock soakage, even though my attempt ended up being futile…as my feet were drenched by the time we finished.
We made it all of the way across the valley, along the beautiful coastline, but then there was that dreaded hill. It was at least a 45-degree angle, so I just decided to run up it. At the top of the hill, and out of breath again, I laid down on a large boulder. Michael was ahead of me and almost to another crest, while Payton was behind me. I figured it was a perfect time to take a little breather.
Within 5 seconds of my head hitting the stone, Michael gave out a victorious yelp.
Newfound energy flowed through my veins and I chose to quickly get up and sprint across this second fluid-filled valley toward where Michael’s war cry was heard.
Squish, Squish, Squish was all I heard as my tippy-toes made their way toward the edge of the cliff.
I took a look behind me to make sure Payton was still alive, and then glanced at the valley before me.
An unbelievably green basin with an ancient castle that lay in ruin, and an ice-blue lake lay below me. “Screw Payton” I thought…I’m going to that castle now.
On the walk down the hill and reaching the castle, the wind was whipping. It was strong (in fact, it almost pushed Mr. Gifford over the cliff into the ocean at one point). Our ears rang in disagreement, but we continued on and made it to the relic.
We climbed, explored, and entered the ancient castle situated on the gorgeous lake.
Eventually we thought it would be a smart idea to head back to where we began the journey to make sure everyone else knew where we were.
We chose a much simpler route now that we knew where our start and end points were.
¾ of the way back to the van, we saw 3 figures in the distance… they were strolling up to that same swamp/valley that we had trekked through minutes earlier.
It obviously was Tanner, Bronte, and Trevor so we pointed them in the correct direction and continued on to the car.
More wet feet and running ensued, but we made it.
We debriefed Gram and Jenay then took off all of our sweaty/wet clothing. It was only about 30 min until the other 3 adventurers peeked over the hill.
^That was all Joe, writing on behalf of the large group we are traveling with. Thanks for reading. I’m going to hand it back over to Payton now, so she can finish the story of our day!
Heyyyyyy guys. Payton again. So it’s getting late so this will be pretty quick! We all hopped back in the car (I was smart and brought new socks, those who were not fortunate enough to think of that this morning sat with swamp feet .. cough Bronte cough Joe cough cough!)
We took the turn for Mizen head (the southernmost point) and drove out to the lighthouse lookout even though it was closed. We hopped the short fence and made it to the gate of the bridge at least! Then we took the 99 steps back up to the top! It was beautiful! We left Gram in the car so we made it back quickly and followed the skinny road to Crookhaven where it was recommended to eat at O’Connel’s. BEST toasted fresh crab sandwiches ever. I know Joe hates this.. CANT EVEN right now…..
Rounds of irish coffees, beers, baileys hot chocolates and amazing food later, we were on the way back home. We picked up a bottle of red wine for the landlord, he went to the house while we were out to make sure it was warm for when we got back. Seriously, above and beyond! He deserves that bottle of red!
Of course, the day ended with buttery popcorn and Nutella spread on cookies!
We leave for Galway tomorrow, YAY the castle house! That means leaving at 8:00 am though… so rough but worth it!
Love you!
-Payton (and Joe) on behalf of Bronte, Tanner, Michael, Jenay, Grandma Leah, and Trevor!)