June 15th

June 15th.

After speaking with the lady in Wicklow. About seeing Sammy the seal, I decided my mission was to find seals….with google in hand I started looking for the best places to see them…a article stated Howth was the best place. So after another high carb breakfast, and a pleasant morning with her and her 9 year old son I decided to head to Howth. Before I left Irene’s son seen a picture of the spinner fidget I bought myself…he thought it was really nice, so as an act of gratefulness to Irene for being such a great host I went to my room and retrieved the second one and handed it to him….he was so excited he ran and got his collection and offered me one of his. I told him to keep his collection and just add new one to it. He was so excited.

After I departed the b&b I headed to the train station and caught my train to Howth. When I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see the train ran along the docks, this would be perfect place to spot a seal….however; the town looked adorable also.

I walked by the docks armed with phone camera in one hand and regular camera in the other . …all of a sudden I seen a seal pop his head up, but of course it ducked under before either camera could snap….

A young man approached me asking if I wanted to buy a ticket to ride out to the Eye of Ireland…I said no that I didn’t know if I had time for that….(in back of mind I was thinking….take pictures of seals,explore a while, go to another town call Dalkey…) but as I continued walking I thought “wouldn’t it be more chance of seeing seals on an island without people rather than ones with people?” So I turned and asked the captain of the boat if I would see seals if I took excursion to island…he said that when he was there earlier the seals were laying on the rocks….enough said, I handed him 10euro and crawled into the little fishing boat..and off we go. Before we pulled into a stop near rocks on the little island, sure enough there were a couple seals playing in water and 1 laying on the rocks. He pulled the boat past the seals and a woman got out of the boat…so like a good little soldier I started following. The Captain stated he didn’t know I wanted to get out, that getting out and transportation going back at a later time was a different price….I told I was just following her, I didn’t have a clue what I paid him for…he said that I paid like the remaining riders just to circle around island. He said it will cost another 5 euro….I said ok Ill stay, then I said no Ill go then 1 more time I say ok Ill stay on island for a while….he had backed out before I told him this, but when I handed him the 5 euro he pulled back to the rocks.

As the boat pulled away I looked behind me of the slick rocks I had to climb from the sea to get to the level area. Then I looked down and realized I had a slick pair of tennis shoes and a pair of silky, flowing pants with a thin windbreaker…not exactly hiking gear!

What have I gotten myself into?…. So I start climbing the rocks until I reached the plateau. The other lady went one way, I went the other. I walked and hiked from the top peak on the island which was a pretty massive climb with slick tennis shoes on…the top of the peak was higher than the Seagulls nest. Along the cliff as you walked seagulls were sitting on nest…there was nest with eggs near my feet. At one point along the edge numerous of seagulls began having a squawking fit because I was near nest …when they started flying around me I had visions of Alfred Hitchcock’sh movie “Birds”.

I walked from the peak to the lower beaches…although there was a beaten path I still waded through thorns, sticky weed , thistle and chiggers. Silky pants doing nothing to protect my legs…at one point either something stuck or stung the back of my leg….to the point I could feel heat rising off it…

I found the ruins of what looked like a chapel…beautiful. All aound me was nothing but fields of of weeds and flowers….I would say I felt like Julie Andres in the “Soind of Music”but if I ever pictured myself as Julie Andrews in anything I would have to kill myself!

Somehow I had gotten off the beaten down path ..and had to wade through waist high weeds….at one point I was getting worried if I could get back to where I was….I took video and if I knew how to put up coordinates I would’ve sent to my family. After about 2 hours I made it back to where the other lady did where the boat had dropped us off. Her name was Claudia and we were talking about how rough terrain and weed/brush was. She had scratches too. It looked like it was getting ready to come a downpour because the wind was getting strong. When the little fishing boat arrived they were carrying 4 other ladies…and they were getting out. Claudia and I looked at each other in horror when the elder lady got out of the boat with dressy sandals on….we tried warning them how rough it would be on her feet ….but she went on and Claudia and I traveled back to Howth. The little fishing boat was hitting some waves due to the wind and we were getting rocked….rain came as we headed on but quickly stopped. We laughed about stupid movies it was reminding us of….sharknado, deep blue….etc..

When we got to the docks we decided we would grab lunch. We stopped at outdoor restaurant and had nice lunch. We chit chatted and had a nice conversation. She was from Belgium and said that when she travels she travels alone. Very nice lady. We began talking about the different types of weeds were on the island she stated one looked like this extremely poisonous one she was googling it and showed me the picture of results and the blisters that came from it…we figured it we woke up next morning with our legs black we will know it was that weed!. I was ready to get back to room because my legs were itching and I felt like I had weed residue on me….

I hopped off the train where I was suppose to catch bus back to room.

When I got to bus stop…it seemed to take forever….after about 20 minutes…I was about ready to give up…I took out GPS to see how far to my place…the route showed a couple of turns however my phone went dead..as I continued to wait I asked the gentleman beside me also waiting for bus if he knew where my street was…he ised his google and was tying it in…about that time here comes the bus….and there goes the bus….it completely ignored us and went on…left us standing there our mouths open with the wind blowing and sprinkling of rain. Dave, the gentleman finished googling my street for location…I could’ve actually already go to my place rather than waiting for bus. Dave stated he was heading that way also and I could walk with him. One thing I absolutely love about the Irish people I have met….they don’t give you directions, they take you there! This kindness amazes me..

..I rarely have experienced this in the US.

While walking along Dave saved me a couple of times from being plowed down by bicycles, because I kept wandering into the bike lane…

We chit chatted and talked about various topics such as climate change, politics, and different places I could visit…one which was Dalkey…I had actually planned to go there before I was attacked by the weeds of the Eye of Ireland. …
When we reached near the entrance of my street I thanked him for helping me get back to my place, lord knows where I would’ve ended up if not!

Off to my room, a extreme shower, and a little doctoring up of my wounds…..Yesterday may not had many adventures but today I surely did!

Author: kimmiestravelsblog

A special eduacation teacher....degree in police science, criminal justice, worked in call centers, as behavioral health counselor, foster care manager, worked in restaurants, factories, and many other things..for fun I refinish and refurbish furniture, remodel my house, arts and crafts, beauty pageant work, medieval reenactment, gardening, writing, traveling, movies, reading, beach combing, music concerts, photography......As you are probably seeing by this introduction, I am a little ADHD...I am the one who jumps from one thing of interest to another.....but the way I see it, that is what makes life interesting. View all posts by kimmiestravelsblog