These one and a half lanes will take us anywhere

Mike here.

West Ireland. Scenic. Very, very, very scenic if you use your mobile GPS unit rather than a map or follow the road signs. Perhaps we're too technology dependant. First, if you have not driven in Ireland before - like Gena says, it's like driving in Vinton County. Fair enough. Throw in the variable of being on the wrong side of the road. Throw in another variable of having stone hedges on your left side. And throw in the variable of Irish drivers, who are used to the roads and doing 100 km/hour (about 60 mph) along said roads.

After about 5 hours of driving, I actually got used to it and was moving along at a decent pace. You drive about 14 miles to make a mile of progress as the crow flies as a result of the winding roads and slowdowns to avoid oncoming traffic.

But the Garmin did us wrong. I think we can safely say we've been on roads(?) that no travel writer has ever been on. Making our way to catch a ferry over to Dingle Peninsula, we were on, essentially, tractor trails. If you're familiar with the alley's in Columbus (how they're really just meant to get your car into your backyard/garage), we'll then this little trip would be equivalent to taking the alley's from Clintonville (where we live) to the Columbus airport. Just to take in the scenery. Thanfully, the only car we encountered in this trip backed up to something of a grassed shoulder to allow us to pass. He had to go about 75 meters or so to reach that point.

All the travel guides say don't drive in Ireland in the dark. Well, we couldn't avoid that. What we could have avoided though was climbing Conor Pass in the dark. And on the road there, it started to rain. Then about halfway into our ascent, a heavy fog that made the brights useless.

This, I will fully admit was my mistake. We recognized when we didn't take the correct turnoff, and Gena wanted to turn around. In my defense, from the driver's side, it was almost impossible to see any turnoffs in the dark until we had passed them for quite a while after the turnoff. And, other cars were coming in the opposite direction so I figured they had lived to tell the tale, so we should be able to as well. Plus, I didn't want to lose the precious few kilometers we had gained since missing the turnoff.

Bad idea. We stayed pretty silent most of the way up. With the exception of Gena saying "we're going to die" a few times after we realized how close the passenger side of the car was to the mountain face. Though I kept driving at a snail's pace, I didn't disagree with her. However, my primary worry was what we would be facing on the descent, even as our little rental car was giving it the ole college try getting up this road in the rain/fog...windshield wipers clapping time.

As I expected, the way down was, um, scary. Inch by inch, I stayed in the middle of the road, straddling the "two" lanes to make sure I kept the car on the road.

I'm sure the view from Conor Pass is lovely. We'll never know, first hand, though.

What is a lovely view, though, is the Cliffs of Moher. All the pain of the driving was worth this experiece. It's where the country/island/continent ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins, in quite dramatic fashion. We took some pics, and Gena says they're all posted now, though I'm sure Google will turn up wonderful quality pics of the place (as well as Conor Pass). Pics won't do it justice though, I'm afraid.

Today we tour Dingle Peninsula. Dingle is a pretty seaside town. We're going to try to stick to sea level today.

P.S. No sheep on the roads so far!