12 hour journey across Ireland

We took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher today. Pick up was at 0650. Brutal. We were up frequently last night because of the revellers leaving the pubs. Even though our hotel is on a side street, we're greeted every night by folk leaving the Hairy Lemon at the end of our street. So we get to our pick up spot. DL did not stop for coffee - bad move. Nuff said. I was under the impression we'd be on one of those big obnoxious tour buses, but was pleasantly surprised by finding out we were going on a large van. All women - except for Joey our driver from Derry. 2 women from Romania, 3 from Italy. Everyone smoked except for us. Joey is a very cheerful & energetic fellow. He sang Irish songs to us. DL & I were not impressed at 0700, with no coffee or chai onboard, & a restless night of sleep. We did eventually warm to him - but that was hours down the road. It took 4 hours to drive from Dublin to the Cliffs. Some of the drive was on nice smooth highways. A lot was on very narrow roads that looked better suited to driving sheep on than cars & tour buses. More than once we remarked at how impressed we were that Peggy Campbell & Susan Eggleston drove here. There's no way on God's green earth I would ever attempt it, DL either. Okay, I know we can't see as much as you can if you drive yourself, but at least this way we will live to blog about it. The cliffs are spectacular simply put. It's very windy, but at least it wasn't raining. For you Harry Potter fans who have seen the latest installment, "The Half-Blood Prince" the scene outside the cave was filmed here. Very cool. Stopped to see the Burren, a desolate rocky landscape with alpine flowers growing in the cracks. Saw people surfing in Galway Bay. Must have been from the local mental institution. Even with a wetsuit I can't imagine how cold they must have been. I slept a bit & woke up as we drove up to the Corcomroe Abbey. http://www.burrenpage.com/Corcomroe.html Beautiful & serene. Great photo op. Then back to Dublin. It was quite a day. FYI petrol here is €1.17.9/L, about $1.65 USD/L (about 3.9 L/gallon.)