I will be arriving in Ireland at Shannon on Friday July8th. The plan WAS to travel straight to Ennis, where I will be From Sunday the 11th-Friday the 16th for Meitheal. However, I figure that since that Friday/Sat/Sunday is the last days of Clancy Week in Miltown, maybe I should go see what it’s like. Since I can find no accomodations in Miltown Malbay, I then figured that I would arrive at Shannon on Friday morning, take the bus to Doolin and stay there Friday night. Check out the music Friday night there, leave Doolin Sat. morning thru Miltown and stay there a few hours. Then arrive in Ennis late Sat. afternoon/Early evening to stay there and then of course see Ennis from Sat. evening till the next Sat. morning, going on somwhere else then till Sunday night.
Does anyone have a better plan? Keep in mind I must be in Ennis by 8pm Sunday evening on the 11th thru Saturday morning, the 17th. I also must be at the airport by 730 am Monday morning, which scares me since I have no idea how I will work that part out!
While waiting for the more knowledgeable to react, let me offer plan B, which is to travel light, and ‘sleep’ standing in the doorway of some pub, which is more or less what I did once during a Fleadh!
I have considered just not even booking a place for the first night’s arrival, Friday the 9th and just getting off the plane at Shannon and taking the bus up to Doolin or Lisdoon and then decide where to stay. Is this advised against?
I always leave on a Thursday night, with me tent and me groundsheet rolled up tight. I usually like to hit Lisdoon, in or around a Friday afternoon. This gives me time to get me gear together, I don’t need to worry about the weather. Ramble in for a pint of stout, you’d never know who’d be hangin’ about!
On my Willie Weeks, there was a tremendous change in the atmosphere in the weekend—>week—>weekend periods. Nice for the first weekend as everyone was arriving, great for the week as the pattern of classes, lectures, recitals, pub music happened, a zoo for the final weekend as more ‘outsiders’ come to Miltown for a great wild time with no thoughts toward traditional music.
Doolin would be a great base for a few days. You’d catch the folks ‘escaping’ Miltown Malbay for the final weekend.
Have you exhausted your search for housing in Miltown? I was able to find a place through a contact of a contact of a contact sort of arrangement… there are folks that live there that sometimes open up their homes as a B&B for students, thereby making a bit of pocket money, and the rate that I’d paid was comparable to any B&B.
Also, look at B&Bs in Quilty, though if you do, you’re now faced with the challenge of getting to Miltown and back each day.
Funny stuff there, Patrick.
PS: By ‘multiple contacts’ I mean that I was able to find housing by calling in at a B&B… they were full, but the woman of the house referred me to someone else, who referred me to someone else, who then put me on to the private homeowner right near the edge of town, who had opened her home for the week. It worked out well, and the walk into town was fairly easy each morning - couldn’t have been more than 1/2 mile into town.
Sorry. I pretty much figured it was, but I havent listened to that CD in several months. Since I may be going to Lisdoon soon, I suppose I should listen to it now!
Or your passport and your patience, Clare is under siege at the minute with blackhawk helicopters tearing over the roadblocks. Hig hsecurity situation for G.W’s visit tomorrow. They actually welded shut all manhole covers in a twenty mile area around Shannon. :roll:
You may not agree with every politician, but this is not the best place to air such comments. Peter simply let us know that there is lots of preparation going on right now and it’s a bit of an inconvienience to the locals.
You may not agree with every politician, but this is not the best place to air such comments. Peter simply let us know that there is lots of preparation going on right now and it’s a bit of an inconvienience to the locals.
Funny. You didn’t speak to this when people were offering their opinions on Raygun being a Hero. I guess hypocrisy isn’t just a horse in the 3rd circuit.
All I let people know is that I’m sad for poor Clare. If you’ve ever been there, you’d know the beauty of the county’s spirit. It’s sad that things are being changed for the visit of any statesman, much less one that can barely form a fully realized thought.
Let’s say, there won’t be a huge welcome from the locals tomorrow, if only for all the hassle the security measures bring with them.
But I think it also can be made clear that Shannon airport was port of call for the troops on their way to Iraq, the amount of planes passing through in the build up to the invasion was intimidating. This year alone 56,000 troups made a stopover, last year about three times that. Countrywide there is a very strong feeling of unease as to the consequences this has for Irish neutrality.
