Now leaving Dublin..

On to Donegal!

First of all we were running a bit late to leave our rooms on day 3 of our expedition. Now I'm not blaming it on the late night in the Temple Bar District, but it could have been a factor. All I know is that when I got out of the shower and started to pack my bags Veep from downstairs called me and kindly advised me that we had missed their check out time. As a result I put out the alert to the troops that we had to get our bums in gear.

Joe immediately went downstairs and had Veep call us a taxi. What arrived was a "people mover" aka minivan. After loading all of our luggage we had to practically sit on each other's laps just to fit. It was worth it. The cabbie alone was worth the clown car ride to the rental car company. I can't remember all of the movies he advised that we watch, but he was kind enough to write down the list for us. He had us laughing the whole ride!

Skip forward to the actual rental car. We were entrusted to not one, but two Ford Focus Style cars. They are economy class cars. Joe's Focus is a diesel, mine is a petrol car. Either way you look at it, we are lucky that there are only 3 people to a car. If it weren't for that fact then our luggage would be an issue. As it is the "boot" is only large enough for 2 suitcases, the other luggage gets a seat where the 4th person would normally sit.

First challenge with the rental cars that we were worried about was driving manual transmission vehicles south paw'd. That however was not a problem in the least. As it turns out, caravanning was what we should be worried about. You see IRL loves their roundabouts and if one car makes the roundabout & the other has to yield, then quite possibly one might lose the other. This happened almost immediately. Luckily my car being the following car was able to stop and ask for some directions. Unfortunately what we never found the lead car, but we did find our way to Donegal. Upon arrival we checked in and about 10 minutes later our friends made it. Turns out that our car went one way at a detour & they went the other way.

Now before we went we read a lot about how the roads may be narrow etc, but what we were not prepared for is that "narrow" means that in some places in order for 2 cars to pass one of the cars has to dive for the non existent shoulder. When Joe's car arrived at the B&B it was black (the actual color of the car) & it had green pin-striping (the grass & shrubs stuck in his headlamps, fender & wheel wells). So far no major incidents with the cars and despite several heart attacks from passengers thinking that the driver's are about to hit walls all parties involved in the driving experience are doing well.

Our B&B is beautiful to say the least. It is a working sheep ranch. Our host informed us that in the morning her husband, Patsy, would be putting on an exhibition with their working ranch dogs. Sure enough, the next morning after a lovely traditional Irish breakfast we were treated to a show with the herding dogs. Aparently the B&B just recently agreed to a deal to put this exhibition on for the local tour buses in the area.

Now remember what I said earlier about narrow roads. I'd like you to please imagine a road that is so narrow 2 cars can barely pass. Now the tour coach is so large that it drives the center of the road & both sides of it hit the greenery on the side. I pity the fool who has to drive a mile in reverse just to get out of the coach's way.

Other than that, Donegal was a somewhat quiet day trip.