DAY 106-107: Traveling to Gort - Hans and Ute's

Our next destination for WWOOFing was Poulataggle Organic Egg farm in County Clare. This was an organic chicken farm located on the West Coast of Ireland in an area called The Burren (pronounced "the burn"). To get there, Oliver dropped us off in Navan. We took a bus from Navan to Dublin, then Dublin to Galway, then Galway to Gort (which was the closest town to Poulataggle). In total, this took us about 6 hours. We were exhausted from all of the traveling and were excited beyond belief to meet Ute at the bus stop in Gort waiting for us.

We drove about 15 minutes from Gort to Ute and her husband Hans' farm in the middle of The Burren. As it was about 6:00pm and pitch dark out, we were unable to see much of the area. When we arrive at their lovely cottage, we were greeted by their adorable black labs Abbey and Gibbs who were named after the NCIS characters. We then met Hans who was excited to meet us and we sat down for dinner.

Hans and Ute were both Germans who had moved to Ireland to start their farm about 25 years before. Hans had rebuilt the cottage almost entirely himself. The kitchen he built Ute was magnificent! And she put it to good use. Her cooking was some of the best I have had since my mother last cooked for me.

Ute then showed us our new digs! Instead of living in a spare and sparse room in a mobile home with Oliver, we now had our own mini apartment. Our own bathroom (with constant hot water...), a mini kitchen, a small living area, and a queen bed in a loft. Lizzy and couldn't have cared less about having to share a bed. We had our own living area! And unlimited wifi! Sweet baby Jesus, this felt like the Ritz Carlton compared to our last location. We fell asleep quickly in our warm comfortable bed that night prepared from some exploring tomorrow.

Sunday morning brought the sun! We immediately set off down the road to explore a bit of The Burren.

FUN FACT #69: The Burren is composed mostly of limestone pavements with criss-crossing cracks throughout. The limestone was created created 350 million years ago when it was part of a tropical sea. The landscape contains fossils of coral and sea urchins because of this. So its a pretty cool landscape.

We walked a bit down the road and looked at the crazy cool rock formations throughout the landscape. We kept walking until we came upon an old monastery, tower, and cemetery. I swear, Ireland has more ruins than any other place I've been. Every time I turn around theres another abbey or church or what have you thats falling down.

Nevertheless, Lizzy and I took pictures because it was such a beautiful day. I could not tell you the name of the this place or if it was at all significant, but I can say it was pretty. We walked back in the pouring rain and relaxed for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is our first day as chicken farmers!