The Hills Are Alive...

...With the sound of music.

Friday, a group of girls (including me) decided they'd like to visit a cove and possibly go swimming since it's so hot here right now. But everyone else has the same idea. The beaches are packed.

But whispers were heard of another cove. A secret cove, that practically no one else knows about. All I heard was that you have to park at some point and walk the rest of the way because it's really remote.

Okay, no problem. I can handle a walk. We packed a picnic supper, piled into a van, and away we went! We drove on back roads that were no wider than my parents' driveway until we got to a small lane. The middle was covered in grass, and to try to drive on it would have been to kiss our van's oil pan goodbye. So, we parked, gathered our bags, and began our walk.

The hedges grew high on either side and blocked the steady breeze from reaching us. In the stillness, the flies found us and enjoyed a feast. Finally, we turned off the lane and crossed into a pasture.

And we walked. And crawled under or climbed over several fences in the process -- both electric fences and barbed wire fences. At least the fields were uninhabited.

Finally, we caught our first glimpse of the cove (of which I've forgotten the name...sorry!)

It was breathtaking. Or that might have been the walking -- either way, it was beautiful. There was a fresh water (not actually sure...I didn't taste it) stream flowing down into the cove. 

The tide was out, and some of the girls intended to swim. I just waded a bit since I didn't bring my swim stuff to Ireland with me. The water was mostly warm and the bottom was flat and sandy. Very pleasant. 

I found some treasures -- some limpet shells, and the top of a porcelain figurine.

After I waded for a few minutes, and collected some treasures, I went and sat on the big flat table rock there, and sang a few songs out of the songbook I'd brought along. Before long, the others joined me and we sang a few songs together -- the cove rang and our voices echoed back to us. Finally, we ate our picnic supper of wraps, veggies, fruit, and granola bars. After we ate, two of the girls decided to climb one of the grassy hills that made up one "wall" of the cove. It looked nearly vertical, but I didn't venture up myself, so I'm not sure.

All good things must come to an end, so finally we had to admit it was time to head back. We had quite the walk ahead of us. This time, the fields had herds of cows in them that stared placidly at us as we invaded their territory.

Back in the van and headed home, we met this sight:

There definitely wasn't room for us and them to be on the road at the same time, so what could we do but pull over and wait? They marched unhurriedly past while we admired them and remarked on how big they were! Some of them stopped and stared in the windows at us! The herdsman came behind, and we told him that we were admiring his cows and he remarked that we were welcome to some of them if we wanted them! I don't think he was serious....

And that is the tale of another Ireland adventure.

Oh, one more picture before I go.

This is one of the two abandoned kittens (about 4-5 weeks old, I think) I heard mewing piteously out on my driveway. I am most certainly my mother's daughter, so I rescued them. They are currently living in a cardboard box in my bedroom and dining well on canned cat food. I've named them Donna and Loki.

Thanks for reading!