Day 13 - Recovery

 After my big day out yesterday, my plan today was to do lots of nothingness! And so far I have succeeded pretty well!

When I eventually arose this morning, Patrick came back from the hairdresser, with his revised hair style.

Patrick's new hair style

I think he could easily play for the Hawks with a haircut like that!

I was happy just to sit down and watch the weather come roaring in through the big windows in the conservatory. The rain came in belting waves and the wind was fierce. My decision to stay home was a good one at this stage. So I read all the comments on the blog and read all your emails and tried to respond to them all.. I just love receiving them, so thanks to all those who send them through!

Then, of course, I had to read all about the mighty Hawks and their glorious victory. That took a little while.

Eventually I was ready for the big excursion to town and my coffee. I had a chat with Pat about the best place to park, given the weather. There are a couple of possibilities.... 

The first is the car park at the top of the town which is free but involves about a 5 min walk into the village. Can be tricky if it's raining.

The second is street parking in the main street, but that is pretty dodgy, as there are hardly any vacancies and also the spots are very small.

The third is the car park down near the swimming beach, which costs €2. Pay and display. So Pat (God bless him) gave me a couple of €2 coins to save mucking around with credit cards etc.

So I thought I would start with Option 3. 

Bad mistake!!!  It's Saturday of course and there were people everywhere, including  about 10 buses and all their passengers, as well as thousands of cars.... Anyway, I went right down the end of the car park, away from everybody and took my coins to the nearest machine. There were a  few people in front of me and none of them could get the machine to work. So we moved along to another machine and still no luck. So I thought that was a sign and took a few quick pics and headed for the top car park.

Lots of traffic in the car park

Wild Atlantic at the Beach car park

It was really hard to take pics, because the wind was so fierce. I could barely stand up in it, and the camera was shaking all over the place.

Anyway, I reverted to Plan A and parked up on top of the cliff. I think the wind was even stronger there, but it was creating beautiful waves! Again it was hard to hold the camera steady...

Wild Atlantic from the cliff top

Wild Atlantic from the cliff top

Wild Atlantic from the cliff top

Wild Atlantic from the cliff top

So I managed to make my way down to the town without being blown into the ocean!

By this stage I was getting a bit peckish, so I dropped into The Atlantic for a toasted sandwich, and it was lovely.

And as a bonus, they had lit the fire, so I was given a table right beside it..

Open fire in the Atlantic

So, that's been my day of not doing much. I'm home now writing this blog, and then tonight we are going to the Atlantic for dinner. Sounds like a plan to finish off a lovely recovery day.