West of Ireland

Met A. at Heathrow and flew into Shannon airport, where S. picked us up in a hire car. She said the weather had been appalling all week while she'd been travelling around, but the sun came out just in time for our visit.

Drove to Ennis for lunch (ham and cheese toastie and chips - plain but very enjoyable considering we were so hungry) and then hit the road for the West Coast.

Spotted the sea near Spanish point, then headed North along the twisty, turny roads until we reached the Cliffs of Moher.

They really are quite something, and you can totally see how people have been blown off them occasionally. The wind whipped our hair into our faces, so I had to hand out hairbands to the girls. We all looked like Bam-Bam from the Flintstones.

We climbed the cliffs (from the sloping, land side, obviously!) and took many MANY photos. S. told us that you used to be able to go right to the cliff edge and shuggle out on your stomach to look straight down. There were big signs and barriers telling people to keep away from the edge, but it didn't seem to stop most people.