Road Stories

The night above us was a bit restless. The two men from upstairs returned quite loudly from the pub after midnight, and one of them apparently didn't handle the food too well. He was so vocally engaged with the toilet that we could hear him. Overall, he probably just drank too much - no sympathy from us!!!
We started the morning leisurely with porridge, fresh Irish blackberries, and coffee. Looking outside, we know that we don't have to hurry. Rain gear on and off we go through the rain heading north along the Wild Atlantic Way. The Eurovelo route does not follow the coast but goes inland towards Limerick. However, we want to take the ferry towards Galway and therefore do not follow the Eurovelo. The roads are relatively quiet, not very spectacular, rather boring - flower or stone hedges, forests, farms, cows, sheep, oh yes and rain not to forget.
Today's goal is the town of Glin, not Gin ;)
When there is nothing to see while driving and your head is pulled in because of the rain, you start to look at what lies by the roadside. In the case of Ireland's roads, quite a lot of litter. Anja tried to count all the cans for a day, specifically the can deposit. After some time, it was already several Euros. One starts to wonder about all the things seen, asking what goes on in the minds of people. Just throwing everything out of the car window without thinking about what it might do to the cows standing behind in the pasture. Today, there was even a pregnancy test lying by the roadside in the rain. The drive is monotonous, and there's plenty of empty space in the head for daydreams and thinking. Who threw it away? Does the indicator show one or two lines? Did it end up by the roadside because of one line or two? For us, there will be no answers. We hope - if there were two indicator lines - that there will be an answer for the mother....
In Ballylongford, a small coffeehouse saves us from the rain and in Tarbert a pub with a late lunch. The pub was once again a surprise in itself. It had a bar and a restaurant area. In front of the bar stood a few young men smoking, and an older couple went into the restaurant. Do we go or not? A heavy downpour took the decision from us. Inside, we were welcomed by a kind of huge living room with a large blue floral wallpaper, the time had stood still, and the guests all seemed to come from that time that was frozen. We felt the age difference significantly; everyone knew each other, but no one minded us. There was hearty Irish food: lamb roast, mashed potatoes with lots of gravy, kale, and carrots. Sometimes it takes a bit of courage to open the door and not know what’s behind it, but those are the very experiences you later tell about, maybe in the small pub 'The Swanky' in Tarbert....
The rain comes and goes, and we reach our B&B (one of the few here in the area) in the evening. It is a large manor house with a rather eccentric 'housekeeper' and serves as our stopover for the ferry tomorrow to Killimer (County Clare).
There aren't many photos from today, neither of the pregnancy test, nor of the housekeeper, or the pub. Hopefully, it will be a bit bluer in the sky tomorrow.
Route: Ballyheigue - Tarbert
Kilometers: 55
Elevation: 490