Derrymore Strand, Visit #Two

I got up this morning to a wildly windy wet day and decided it would be a good day to go to the ocean, rather than visit Dartfield Horse Museum. I love beachcombing, and stormy days can cast up some wonderful treasures. I stopped in Limerick to take a few photos of the church I’d visited and then was on my way.

I soon discovered that my map was still with Carolyn, which was a little dismaying. I had a poorly marked tourist guide that I hoped would substitute. I was overly optimistic it turned out!

I managed to stay fairly close to the coast, most of the time. At one point, I was driving on a road that was just a few meters from the water, when a large wave hit the breakfront, sloshed over the road, and my car as well. Quite exciting! It was still raining, and raining harder and harder, when I finally decided that it was time to let common sense take over. I headed for Tralee, where I would eat lunch and turn around. I love the beach, but it was cold enough that I didn’t want to walk the beach and get soaked too.

Of course by the time I got to Tralee the sun was out, it was gorgeous, and what in the heck was I thinking to turn around and go home? I found a pub and finally tried mayonnaise eggs. Hard boiled eggs under a huge mound of mayonnaise! It was kinda gross, and I managed to eat the eggs, but not all the mayo. A beer and chips and rashers rounded out my healthy (not!) meal. Anyway, it was an interested exploration of Irish cuisine!

Since I couldn’t find the beaches I’d planned on visiting, I decided to go back to Derrymore Strand. I knew where that was, and it would be easy to find again. Besides, it was a lovely beach and I’d only gone one direction from the car on my previous visit. So there was still more to see.

My hunch paid off, and I found a huge, complete, unchipped scallop shell almost as soon as I was on wet sand. And for the icing on the cake, it was topped with a small oyster shell. I found quite a few more shells, though nothing like my last visit. The surf, rather than depositing lots of shells, had cleaned off the beach. Well, I had plenty from my last visit!

The wind was really, really whipping, and I greatly regretted not bringing one of my trapper’s hats with me. My poor little ears were really hurting, and my windbreaker hood was not cooperating. I walked down aways, and finally turned around, with the wind at my back. More comfortable, but I still missed my hat.

I went past the car park, and kept going. I could see rocks in the distance and thought I’d better investigate and see if there were any tidepools. The wind was making lovely patterns in the sand, pushing water, foam, and tide into interesting shapes and textures for my photographic pleasure. So, even though the beach was fairly well scoured, I was still going to bring home an armload of treasures.

The rocks up ahead were beautifully textured with limpets, barnacles, mussels, seaweed, and probably a good many flora and fauna that I can’t name or didn’t recognize. I had a wonderful time framing shots and snapping away with the digital camera. After a couple of hours of wandering around, my ears were hurting badly enough (and I was dreading uploading all those photos!) that I decided it was time to head off home.

Tony and Gracie were feeding when I got home, so I stopped to see the new lamb born early in the morning. She was a lot more lively now! Gracie was quite interested in her, but not too sure about Momma, and was content to look over the fence rail. The wind had died down by now, but it was still chilly. I was happy to go inside and relax in the warmth.