Just checked the maritime weather forecast for the Irish Sea. It's currently violent storm force 11 and going to reduce to gale force 8 for our ferry crossing on Monday. Yippee!!
Day - 1 We all managed to get onto the same train but from different locations. The train was so busy that we didn't meet up until our arrival at Manchester Piccadilly. The train to Holyhead arrived in ample time for the ferry to Dublin, which was delayed on departure because of the extreme weather conditions in the Irish Sea. The ferry crossing was rough - gale force 8. Fortunately, no one was affected by these conditions. This delay in sailing meant that we were late disembarking in Dublin, and that if we had used the bus which had been laid on to take us to the railway station, we would have missed the last train to Galway. We therefore used a taxi. We arrived in Galway at about 22:00hrs, checked into the hotel, and ended what had been a long day with a couple of beers, or so.
Richard and Graham collected our hire minibus early in the morning. We headed for the Cliffs of Moher, stopping off at Dunguaire castle for a photo-op. Leaving here, continuing our journey we stopped at Monks Cafe in Ballyvaughan for elevenses, which we hoped would have been tea and scones. Unfortunately there were no scones, so chocolate biscuits had to suffice. Still heading for the Cliffs of Moher, we made a detour to Doolin Pier. It was obvious that a lot of damage had been done during the recent storms. Leaving here, we stopped just down the road at Patrick Conner's for lunch, and very nice it was. Eventually reaching our destination we had a walk along the cliff tops before looking in the visitor centre. Returning to base, Peter F and myself availed ourselves of the hotel swimming pool, Jacuzzi and sauna before we all headed into Galway for the evening. We had a super meal in the Cellar Bar before finishing the night in Taaffes Bar where there was an Irish Duo playing music. Superb!!