So I finally went back to the west coast! Not the American one of course but in Ireland! Megan and I headed to Lahinch in County Clare for a weekend of surfing!
We left Saturday morning from dublin at around 9:30am and were expecting to get to lahinch at around 15:30 after all the bus changes. Unfortunately, our first bus to Galway was so slow that we arrived an hour late and missed our first connection so we had to wait for another bus that would take a total of two and a half hours to get us to Lahinch. We stopped in Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher before we finally reached Lahinch a little bit after half 5. Luckily, the bus stop was about two feet from the hotel we were staying in so we ran in, got our key and dropped our stuff in our room before sprinting down to the beach to make our 6:00 surf lesson!
So putting on our wetsuits took about half an hour and they also gave us little footie socks thing which took another hour to put on haha. Eventually, we were ready to start our lesson. We lucked out because it was just Megan and me and one other guy during this lesson so we had a lot of one on one instruction from Alan!
The weather conditions were pretty mild and not raining at all. The waves were pretty small so they were perfect for learning! I would basically belly flop on to my board when it was time to catch a wave so Alan got a laugh out of that. Glad I could keep our instructor entertained. By the end of the lesson I would say I stood up completely maybe about 4 times. Megan was really good though! Standing up more times than she bailed!
We walked back to our hotel with just our jumpers on because we were just going to hop in the shower really quick. Of course we got a few stares but you know we kind of expected it haha. Oh yeah and it was raining on our 2 minute walk back to the hotel. We got showered and dressed and then headed out to find something to eat. We stopped at a pub full of very friendly people and great food. We even got free drinks from the manager because we were pretty Americans! We then went to another pub that was full of people of all ages which was the coolest thing I've seen so far here! Love that that's what happens in the small towns.
So we settled up there and went to the nightclub that was supposed to be popping. It was literally the smallest nightclub I had ever been in but I guess for a small town it was considered big? Well we ended up staying until it closed and really enjoyed ourselves! And it was so nice to only have to walk two minutes to get back to our hotel!
The next morning we woke up at half 9 for our breakfast then went back sleep until about half 11. Our surf lesson was at twelve and we looked outside and saw how choppy the waves were and were kind of freaking out. Our group this time was full with a total of 8 of us and the wind kept blowing our boards, we literally had to hug them to make sure they didn't fly away. Eventually, it started hailing and my arms were so exhausted I literally had no more muscle to push myself up with. So when Nills, our instructor for today, said last wave, I gave it my all and had my best surf of the weekend! I was overall pretty impressed with myself.
Megan and I retreated back to the hotel for our showers then had a lovely lunch at a little cafe. We headed back to just relax a bit on our holiday and I fell asleep until like 7 haha. Then we went to get some food and found a nice little Chinese restaurant which we weren't too impressed with. We went back to the hotel again for a little breather and ended up watching the finale of Britain's Got Talent before we headed out for the night. Back at Kenny's from the night before, I ended up putting my two step skills to use and was impressed to find some Irish guys who actually knew how to dance! Super impressed! I went back to the nightclub from the night before and saw all the same people including Nills, my surf instructor from that day. I definitely had fun, needless to say I didn't get back to my room until 4 in the morning haha.
The next day we dreaded the long journey home which took me a total of 3 buses and 1 taxi within a 9 hour span. It was so nice to go back and sleep in my own bed and I even got a lie on the next morning.
Lahinch stole my heart and if I were to come back to Ireland to live I definitely think I could settle there, at least for a little while anyway.
Well, my next adventure will be Germany with Helena during Father's Day Weekend so I'll catch up with you all then!
Slan for now!
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| Lahinch Beach |
New suit mom bought me
After surfing on Sunday
