Published: 09.07.2021
Hello dear ones
As mentioned in my last post, we were in Connemara National Park. In a small town called Letterfrack, we found a small hostel where we stayed. The craziest hostel I've ever been to. It looked very special from the outside, with something standing around everywhere. An old metal bathtub, bicycles, tools, an old bus, and much more. But the best part came when we were inside. The first thing that caught my attention in the hostel was the smell. It smelled exactly like my best friend's house from kindergarten. A little bit like incense sticks, old wood, and old books. Everything was crooked, ornate, painted, or glued, which gave it a true hippie flair. The fairy lights in every corner added to the atmosphere. Since none of the owners were there, we just planted ourselves in the living room to take off our wet clothes and get some fresh air from the drive. We explored the hostel a bit more and were absolutely amazed. Even in the (not so luxurious) showers, there were blue fairy lights. And a disco ball. You could have a perfect Goa party in that house. I could already see all the drunk and high people dancing in every corner of the house. It would have been funny. After a while, we called the owner who tried to explain to us where our room was in this maze-like house. We found it. That evening we cooked a vegetable soup (finally vegetables) and went to bed. The next morning, we wanted to visit the national park, but it didn't work out. The rear tire of one of our bikes was flat. So I unpacked my repair skills (thanks to my dad❤️ and Werner who showed me these things as a child), propped up the bike, took off the tire, and checked if there was a hole in the inner tube. No luck. So I put the tube back in, put the tire back on, and tried to pump up the damn thing again. It worked. We started riding and after a few meters, we realized that now the tire was damaged. Damn it. So we had to go back with the bike. Despite all my handyman skills, I can't repair a damaged tire, so we had to find a bike shop. The nearest one, however, was 15km away. From my own experience, I know that hitchhiking works fine in most cases. So I promptly stood at the edge of the village with Hannah, sticking out my thumb, smiling politely, and waited. Who would drive past two such enchanting beings like us? 🤷🏼♀️ After about 15 minutes, a middle-aged man (named Michael) stopped and gave us a ride. Our saviors for that day. He drove us to Clifden and on the way there, he told us how incredibly terrible the water quality in Ireland is. So it's better to avoid drinking tap water when you're in Ireland. It tastes awful. In Clifden, we bought a new tire and were about to hitchhike back when we saw Michael at the gas station where he had dropped us off just a few minutes before. He saw us too and offered to drive us back to Letterfrack. 😂 Of course, we took a photo with him as a souvenir. Hitchhiking is great. Back at the hostel, we changed the bike tire but still couldn't manage to inflate the tire. Either it was damaged or we were just stupid. After another half an hour struggling with the thing, we gave up. We were absolutely fed up. So we decided to hike up Diamond Hill, which wasn't too far from the hostel. The view on the way up was wonderful. Unfortunately, the summit was in the clouds, but that didn't stop us from climbing all the way to the top. So the day wasn't completely lost and not as depressing as we feared in the morning.
Until the next entry
Slán🐑