Day 28 The Cliffs of Moher again

Moira at the Cliffs of Moher

As you can see from the picture above it was another perfectly splendid day in Lahinch. It is my last day here and I have to admit that going back to the Cliffs of Moher was not my first thought. But Ellen is in a little singing group that was performing up there to raise money for local charities, so Marie, Ellen and I went up there for the afternoon. (Patrick and Pat went to Kilrush for Patrick's dancing competition.)

The first thing you noticed was the traffic. It's Saturday and the sun is out and I think every tourist in Ireland came to the Cliffs today.  It took us 15 minutes just to get into the Car Park - it was chaotic!

Then once we actually got over the road and into the Cliffs of Moher Park, there were just millions of people. I tried to keep away from them, but that was a bit hard! But there were lots of attractions to look at and lots of people collecting money!!!

I think Marie knows every single person in the area, so she met up with her former boss from when she worked for a short time at The Cliffs.

Joe and Marie

Here's a small sample of what was available!!

Marie went for the cars!!!

This Morris Minor was complete with Mr Bean!

And of course there were lots of crafts to have a look at...

Spinners

And of course you could always have a look at the actual Cliffs of Moher!!

Cliffs of Moher

But what we had come to see was the young people singing..

Ellen's singing group

Here's a small selection of their performance

That one was called "Clare my heart my home" and a lot of the Mums were singing along too!!!

Ellen on the fiddle

There was also a  group from the Clouna school and they sang great little song, which they had made up themselves. It was called "In County Clare we have it all" It received a great clap at the end!

When I asked one of the Mums if that was the entire school, she said "Oh no, we have 51 students"

I think one of the first classes I taught had nearly that many students in it!!!

Clouna is about half way between Lahinch and Corofin.

Here's their song - it's a ripper!!!

So after all that musical entertainment, Marie offered to buy some drinks, but the queue was just too long. Even the toilet queue went forever!!!

So we stopped and had our photos taken with the virtual background..

Cliffs of Moher Background

O'Brien's Tower

We stopped at the tourist shops on the way out and Ellen selected a necklace with her name on it!

Ellen and Moira and the necklace

Ellen and Marie

Then to compensate for not being able to get some refreshments at the Cliffs we stopped on the way home at Liscannor and Marie and I both had a half pint of Smithwicks! It was lovely and cold after all that  thirsty work.

Ellen and Marie in the pub. 

So that was my last day in Lahinch for now... and what a way to spend it!

I meant to mention I was up very early again this morning to watch my footy match. It was on here at 4.30am

Have to admit I don't mind getting up early if we keep on winning. What a match!!!

So it's been a very full day and it's still not over. I'm going to Mass at 6.30pm then I taking pizzas up to the Shannons for our last meal for this time.

Then tomorrow I'm on the road to Dublin - actually to Balbriggan - from whence my maternal Grandfather came. I'm not planning on doing much family tree stuff there though - we've gone about as far as we can go with him.

What a wonderful month this has been. I have been so blessed with family, with the weather, with so many people in the village who were kind to me and suggested places I could go. I feel very much at home here and hopefully I will return one day to continue the story!

PS Had a lovely dinner with the Shannon family - think I've nearly convinced them to come to Oz!!!

Beautiful sunsets from their house''

Patrick Pat Marie Ellen Shannon

Sunset over Tullygarvan