Week 3: Donegal, Work, A Lunchtime Hike, Meeting Casey & Max, O'Neill's Pub and Back to Cobh

Monday, July 6 (Donegal)

I extended the long weekend and took the day off. I may not return home feeling like I had a true vacation just because of how my work weeks are playing out. But a five-day weekend was pretty great!

From Mary & Alo's, we headed off for Donegal. I had it in my head that I wanted to potentially double my Irish tweed jacket collection so we headed north — the long way, of course — for Donegal town. We also had plans to return to a restaurant we hit a few years ago, the Rusty Mackerel, for the best seafood chowder. 

The drive was beautiful, the mission to purchase another tweed jacket was successful, and the chowder was as delicious as we remembered (even if the portion of fish and chips had gotten smaller). 

When we got back to the farm, we were too exhausted to venture out and go to the pub. A first for us on this trip! 

Tuesday, July 7 (Work, A Run in the Country, Clancy's in Knockvicar)

It was a bit of a frustrating day of work due to having to cancel one call, changing up another one and having another one cancelled on me. I've been mindful of scheduling my work days so that I work for half my day in the mornings, then take a chunk of time off during the middle of the day — in hopes of fitting in some sort of an adventure — and then finishing up the second half of my day so there's overlap with my west coast colleagues for calls. Today, that didn't quite work out as planned when three of my four scheduled calls got changed around for one reason or another. 

Once things went sideways a bit, I took myself out for a country run to try and make the best of it. 

In between calls, I dropped John off in town so he could watch the World Cup. When my work day wrapped up, I collected him and took him to another favorite pub of mine in the area: 

I was grateful the day ended on a nice note, by John's side in a nice pub knitting with a glass of Guinness. 

Wednesday, July 8 (Work, Mullaghgarve Mass Rock Walk, The Thatch)

Today was the kind of day I hoped to have when I envisioned working while in Ireland. I got up and had a super productive four-ish hours and then took off for a daytime adventure before heading back to the farm for another four-ish hours of work.

I looked at the saved locations in my Google Maps and found a place I had identified that was only about 35 minutes away: Mullaghgarve Mass Rock. I was promised a "gentle walk" and spectacular views. John came with me and I can't say that he loved it, but he was a good sport about it. I'd say it was a bit more strenuous than a gentle walk and the views were spectacular, although it was a bit washed out so the photos don't quite do it justice. 

The views on the way up: 

Nearly there:

Made it to the top:

Because John was such a great sport, I treated him to a 99 (my first of the trip) before going back to work for the evening. 

After wrapping up my work day, and a handful of calls, John and I headed to the Thatch. It was a nice night of music and we closed the place down around 2:00 a.m. because we got to enjoy a long chat with Gene. 

One of my favorite parts of the night was when I was looking for Gene, who had disappeared. That is not unusual. In fact, it's so par for the course. When it does happen, it could be anything: going to pick up a pint of creme, borrowing a barrel of Guinness, falling asleep in his car/house, watering the flowers, etc. As it turns out, he was being interviewed for (I believe) the Leitrim Life magazine. I ended up talking for a while with the woman who came to talk to him, sharing the story of how we met and the crazy ways that chance encounter has made my life so much more interesting than I ever could have imagined. She ended up taking a photo of the two of us, so I'll have to find out if anything I shared with her ends up in the article. 

Thursday, July 9 (Work, Mullingar to Meet Casey & Max, A Run in the Country, The Thatch)

I got in a bit of work before John and I took the train to Mullingar. Because John is of a certain age and is an Irish resident, he qualifies for the Free Travel Scheme. While I don't mind driving in Ireland, I jumped at the chance to take the train. Not only did I not have to drive, but I could get work done while en route to meet Casey and Max.

The train couldn't have been easier and more convenient. We got off in Mullingar and had a bit more than an hour to kill. I gotta say, it's a bit of an odd place. I didn't love it and I'd be fine if I never went back. But it was the perfect halfway meeting point for all of us. 

I LOVED meeting Max and getting to see Casey. It's been crazy that we haven't connected before this, but with some of Casey's travel plans and the commitments I've had since being here, this was the best we could do. 

We walked around town, I stopped into the best toy store with the most impressive collection of toy tractors and accessories, we had a weird lunch in a place that could have easily passed for a convalescent home, and then we capped off the visit with a pint (for some of us) before going our separate ways. 

I had an evening filled with calls that kept me busy right up until quitting time. Plus I had some loose ends I needed to tie up since tomorrow is a day off. 

I was a bit (read: a lot) amped up after the second half of my work day and needed fresh air desperately. John was perfectly happy at home watching TV and waiting for the World Cup game to start so, in an unusual turn of events, I went out and he stayed in.

I parked my car at the Thatch, had Gene hold onto the keys, and off I went on a 3 1/2 mile run along the country roads around Gene's house that make me so happy. I try not to stop when I run, but when I stumbled upon this scene, I just couldn't help it.

I just smiled and laughed at the scene in front of me, feeling incredibly grateful for how my evening was unfolding. 

I had a great run that landed me back at the Thatch. Although it was a quiet night, I had a nice time nursing a Guinness and knitting while chatting with the handful of people who did come in. Apart from myself and Austin, there weren't any other locals in. Which just goes to show that you just never know what a night at the Thatch is going to be like! Regardless, I was happy and made it back home just a little past midnight. (Santa Monica Molly would never go to the pub around 10:00 p.m., nor would she regularly stay out past midnight. But sure, that's just kind of how it goes here.)

Friday, July 10 (The Long Drive to Cobh by way of O'Neill's Pub in Gowran)

I knew today was going to be a long day of driving. We were considering a few different options: heading straight to Cobh (about a 3 1/2 hour drive), going to Mizen Head in West Cork to explore a new to me part of Ireland (about a 5 hour drive), or going to Cobh by way of Kilkenny so we could pop into our friend's pub in Gowran and make a stop at Nicholas Mosse Pottery (also about five hours). 

I didn't feel up to Mizen Head and I didn't have the sense to go straight to Cobh for fear of having a day without a planned adventure (could you imagine?), so we headed off for Nicholas Mosse Pottery and would then pop into James's pub just about 10 minutes down the road. I wanted to surprise him, which I knew was a bit of a gamble. But I reasoned that the trip would be a success no matter what because I'd get something from Nicholas Mosse. (I was right). 

Luckily, James was there and we had a good couple of hours visiting with him, and his girlfriend Christina, in his beautiful pub. It's the type of place you could spend hours in. A few pints in for John and a glass of Guinness in for me, we had to make a decisionsettle in for the night and find a place nearby to stay or head off for Cobh. Shockingly, we made the sensible decision and continued on our way. Mostly because starting drinking around 2:30 p.m. could only lead to one sloppy outcome. 

We left there needing some food so drove up to the filling station just up the road and split a ham and cheese sandwich and some crisps in the car before heading to Tramore to take the Copper Coast scenic route to Dungarvan and continue onto Cobh. 

It was a beautiful drive, but after leaving Elphin at 10:30 a.m. we were looking at 10 hours in the car and I was toast. Plus, Ireland is experiencing another heatwave. At one point the temperature got up to 32° C (89.6° F). So, it was roasting. Uncharacteristically, I didn't do much pulling over to take photos of the beautiful scenes along the way. But below were the few I did capture before dropping John off at the pub.

I finally made it to Catherine & Eddie's where I unloaded the car before chilling the F out — a necessity with the massive headache I was nursing. Being in the car for so long and having to concentrate so much due to all the driving, plus not a lot of water and no real meal meant I arrived to the house in quite the state. 

It was nothing a little bit of time in Catherine & Eddie's company couldn't fix. Plus the always entertaining visit from Ter. 

It was a very good day, as I knew it would be, but by the end of it I knew I'd need a day off from being in the car tomorrow. 

John and I have one week left on our month-long trip home. The length of this visit means I'm not feeling all sorts of depressed about having just one week left. While I don't feel relaxed and restored, I still feel happy and grateful. This last week will be filled with a little bit of work, more exploring and plenty of time with friends and family. There's truly nothing to complain about.