Skellig Islands. Etc.

So on the 22nd, we were in Dingle. Dingle is a small peninsula in eastern Ireland, and has a lot of traditional music, is decorated like an impressionist on crack, and is gorgeous. We biked around the entire peninsula. Thats... well, about 30 miles. It was wonderful. First, it was a ton of exercise. Which is fun. Second... it was absolutely beautiful. There are going to be so many damn pictures when I get back to the states, its going to be completely ridiculous. There are tons of cliffs, small stone forts from the (you guessed it) stone age, and a host of other stunning sights. It blew my mind. Google it, I suppose, because you wont be seeing my pictures for a while. The next day we just chilled for a while. We were tired, and biking wears out your ass like its nobodies business. Especially 8 hours of it (we took our time).

We left Dingle on the morning of the 24th. We took a bus somewhere, then somewhere else, then to Caherciveen. Which, by the way, was amazing. So... within walking distance of our hostel, there were two ancient stone forts and a castle. A large, ruined castle. The first night, Karla, Splinter, and I went off to explore. We met this woman (Mary) from Texas, and invited her along. So the four of us went to the forts and explored, climbed a bit in these random tunnels, and climbed around a large ruined castle (by the way, the castle in Braveheart? Well, one of them. It was that castle). Mary was cool, very chill, and she eventually began to keep up with the ridiculous bickering of me and Splinter, and chipped in with a few dirty jokes of her own. Fun stuff. On the 3.5km walk back, a dog followed us all the way to the hostel. I'm a bit worried about it, I hope its ok.

Then we went and got a boat out to the Skellig islands. They're these large chunks of rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. And are... well...... impossible to describe. They jut out of the ocean as if god threw a spear into the sea. It was fantastic. We walked up hundreds of carved stone stairs to the summit, took more pictures that your body has room for, and ate lunch. On a fucking rock spear. Damn straight. Theres actually an old monestary there, which is very cool, and quite interesting. People lived on that deserted island.

Also... little Skellig is protected. No boats can land there. As we approached it, we thought the top half of the rock island was a different colour than the rest... it was white, not grey. Then we realized that the mile long island is actually coverd with tens of thousand of birds. Yeah. That fucking many. It was amazing. And Karla drove the boat on the way back! And I got to jump from the boat to a ladder on the pier (a rusted metal affair) because the captain asked me to stay behind to help with the engine. Oh god it was exciting. Incredibly so. The next day... well, today, we made our way to Glendalough. Its a small town south of Dublin, and it... well, it epitomizes the rugged, romantic Ireland so many people imagine. We're going to go hiking around tomorrow. I'm... quite excited.

Woozy the Stoked