“Skibbereen” … if you have ever had dreams of Ireland, doesn’t that name make you want to go there? “Old Stone Cottage near Skibbereen” … and wouldn’t you want to stay there?

After much (I repeat, much) review of houses for rent in Ireland on the internet (www.dreamireland.com), we settled on the house named. Far south in County Cork, not on the water but near, this house had just the right features for a group of 3 couples, with 3 bedrooms and 3 real bathrooms – no one had to sleep on a hide-a-bed or share a bathroom. All of us being in our late 50s/early 60s, those features are top priority.

But first, we had to get there from the north/central west coast of this small-but-big island. Let the games begin…

We had a rental car reserved with Budget, intended for 6 people plus luggage, to drive ourselves across the island. They have an office in Galway City downtown on a main square, near the bus station. A very fortuitous location as it turned out. The car was the largest available for rent, and it would fit either 6 people with a bit of hand luggage, or 4 people with all the luggage. And, being experienced adventure travelers, we had packed lightly! We brainstormed all possible solutions:
• Rent a second car…none available;
• Ship luggage home…shipping companies impossible to locate;
• Mail luggage home…post office closed on Saturday;
• Ship luggage by train to Skibbereen…not possible without a traveler;
• Send luggage by bus to Skibbereen…ditto, not done in Ireland;
• Strap luggage to the top of the car…no luggage rack or straps and no hardware store nearby;
• Split up the group and use two modes of transportation.
Luckily, the timing was good and a bus was leaving for Skibbereen in about an hour, so one couple took the bus while the others drove, agreeing that the drivers would find the bus station in Skibbereen and pick them up, once luggage had been deposited at the Old Stone Cottage.

With only one or two round-abouts double-circled, we exited Galway City and got on the correct highway for our destination, via Limerick and Cork. The weather was rainy off and on, but not so stormy as to delay our travels. We stopped in the small village of Croom for lunch … toasted specials all around! Both Limerick and Cork are very big cities; we tried not to leave the highway if at all possible. Success in Limerick, but not so much in Cork, because the highway just seemed to disappear into the city streets. Traffic was inching along, bumper to bumper, as all hands aboard peered out the windows for helpful signage…or any signage at all. After only one missed turn, and one round-about redone, we were once again on an actual highway heading for Skibbereen. Despite previous thoughts of returning to Cork during our week, we quickly abandoned any thought of that, not wanting to spend precious vacation days struggling with long drives and headache-inducing traffic.

Throughout the day and the drive we delighted in the green fields, gorgeous flowers, large churches seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and a mostly-good highway system with good signage (except when smack in the middle of Cork, a huge city – oh, did I mention that already?!!!). We arrived in Skibbereen in the late afternoon in time for a quick pint while we waited for the property manager to guide us to the house. “Near Skibbereen” turned out to mean, about 5 miles outside of Skibbereen, in gently rolling hills of pastureland divided up by stone walls covered by blackberry vines.

Our home for the next week now “ours,” we followed sketchy directions to a market, bought provisions to get us started, and headed for the pub which serves as the bus station. How nice! Mind you, none of us are big drinkers, but the pub experience in Ireland was one of the highlights of the whole trip. The bus arrived on time and our companions were on it! The luck of the Irish, one might say, and I qualify by heritage at least. We were all exhausted – too tired to eat out, and too tired to cook, so we picked up take-away food around the corner and headed through the growing twilight back out into the country, for home.

Part 3 coming soon – around and about Counties Cork and Kerry.