Driving! Cong!

Friday, we leave the Aran Islands, driving across Ireland to the north and Belfast...

After dropping off our bikes on the Aran Islands, we hop the ferry for the ride back to the mainland (as much a mainland as you could call the island of Ireland) to reclaim our van and make the seven-hour journey north to Belfast.

Tony and Meru on the Ferry

As you may or may not know, the island of Ireland is split politically. The northern six counties are still part of the UK, while the rest make up the republic of Ireland. Still, we didn't have to cross a proper border, or anything like that, which I found rather surprising.

But, I get ahead of myself... for much of the drive, the travellers in the back seats (me, allison, Tony and Mel) slept while Meru drove and Kristian rode shotgun.

We did make a few stops, the most notable in a small town called Cong, home to a lovely old monestery.

Mel at the Cong Monestery

It was a good place to stop. We all got out and rambled around the ruins, me making jokes about zombies.

Eventually, I wandered away from the ruins towards the gardens, which was a very good place to wander. The air had that lovely earthy smell--it just felt clean and was a joy to breath--and the lawns were perfectly green and soft. Just a few minutes from the ruins, down a path shaded with massive trees, there was a softly flowing creek spanned by a bridge.

I could have quite happily sat there for hours, watching the water slip by from the bridge or from an old stone building once used by the monks for fishing. It was very easy to imagine monks hanging out, meditating or chilling or whatever it is monks do.

Cong Monestery Grounds

After that we hopped back in the car and continued our long journey to Belfast. While it did kinda suck to spend so much time in the car, it did give us a good view of the countryside, and Kristian did take some hilarious video of Meru driving. (Think of speeding along a twisty, winding on the wrong side of the road, trucks careening much to close to us, the green Irish countryside flying by outside... then set this all to The Sorceror's Apprentice, which just happened to be on the radio. So funny. It will hopefully find its way online...)

Once it was darker out, Tony treated us to a slide show on his computer of the photos so far. Pretty funny, that we're looking at pictures from me and Kristian, as well as video, all while still on the trip. It was a photog geek moment, that's for sure.

And then, close to midnight, we finally arrived at Belfast, home (and a lovely home at that) to Kristian and Allison...

More Cong pictures: http://njkobie.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=2800042