Insert Irish Joke Here...

Day 5

The Witte is grumpy. The weather was unbelievably bad last night. Combine a leaky tent, an absorbent sleeping bag, wet clothes, and little sleep, grumpy is really an understatement. To top it all off, the car had a flat tire due to a slow leak (yet another victim of Ireland's deceptively treacherous roads...). Thankfully, by 9:00 AM, we had a new tire and were fairly none the worse for wear. I also discovered how widespread (and parasitic...) Tim Horton's truly is...

It seems ironic then (or at least weirdly coincidental...) that we would see some of the more depressing parts of Irish history. Lunch was taken in, after yet another (however unappreciated this day...) picturesque example of Ireland's landscape, at the memorial of the Famine Walk. For those unacquainted with the event, in the 1840's (during the Great Potato Famine...), 600 starving Irish walked 12 miles to beg for food from the lord of the land, and were subsequently denied. 200 or more died on the return trip, hence the memorial. Many, many years later, Nelson Mandela made the same walk to honor the dead and for all the symbolism that the distance meant. You may think it's a little odd to stop and have a meal at the site of dead and starved Irishmen. It is...

Our journey took us to the town of Murrisk, where another Famine memorial had been erected. This one, rather than the standard, respectful cross monument, was a stylized, artistic bronze ship, laced with floating skeletons. I have to say, I took the standard memorial much more serious than the artistic one. To each their own...

Due to the inclement weather the previous night, a B&B was in order and boy, were we looking forward to it. We spent at least an hour hunting one down on our route (probably more than an hour...) and we finally settled on one in Drumcliffe (the town W.B. Yeats is buried in...). A little pricey, but after last night's disaster, the B&B comforted us, both physically and psychologically. Hopefully, the next day will be better than the last...

June 17, 2009
Nicholas C. Witte
Guinness Count: 4

P.S. European TV has lots of boobs...

As usual, more bonus pictures for your enjoyment...