Ireland adventures

With the easter holidays followed up by a Royal Wedding extended weekend and therefore a three-day-work week in the UK, we decided that it would be a good idea to leave the country altogether and maximize the holiday vs time off work ratio with a little trip to Ireland. With a packed car, it is only a short hop (well, 8 hours all told) across the Irish Sea using the Guinness ferry with some 10-15 massive Guinness trucks each way. We had only a rough idea of what we wanted to do, so first we camped for a few days on the Connemara Peninsula on the West Coast.

The most remarkable event from that time was a one-day hike covering a nice little horseshoe consisting of six mountains in the 'twelve-bens' range. It was labeled as '7 1/2 hours, 12 km, 1670 m ascent, demanding' in the Lonely Planet hiking guide. We thought that sounds like a lot of fun, and how bad could it be. And it was fun. And demanding... The one thing I will keep remembering from this day is that we were sitting on one mountain and studying the way up the next. First of all, here is C on one of the steeper strolls:

Next, we are sitting on top of Benbreen (Ben #4 that day), looking back at Derryclare (left) and Benbrack (right) where we had been a few hours earlier ... 

... and we are also studying the way home:

Turns out that the way home was maybe a little excessive, both of us could feel our downhill muscles for a few days after. 

Anyway, there is more to tell, and I might get around to that later when we have access to the pics on C's camera. Right now we are back in Liverpool, having arrived early this morning. Most of the laundry is done and half the car (e.g. the outside) has been cleaned, so we are all set for going back to work tomorrow ...