I intended to spend the night in Clifden, and so it wasn't going to be a long drive. I saw a sign for a lake and so I turned and drove for a bit before finding a spot to park. I grabbed an orange I had in the car, my Swiss Army Knife, my down jacket, water and cleaning wipes, found a spot to sit on and peeled and ate my orange with the most magnificent view in front of me.
From there I drove on to a town I think called Recess, and for some reason I stopped. There was a monument put there for no real reason as you can see from these photos:
And because the Irish are funny:
Love it. I reckon this town survives on tourists who have just stopped because they think it's an important monument!
And from Recess I just drove on to Clifden. I found where I was going to stay but couldn't actually check in till 3.00 so I went and grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby cafe (a vego wrap which was really tasty), then I had another espresso. Whilst I was having lunch it started to piss down, so when it calmed a bit I ventured out and checked in. Because it was raining I just had a rest in my room.
At about 5.00 I thought I should take a drive around 'Sky Road'. Once again, beautiful scenery, narrow roads. After just heading off and driving for about 5 minutes I stopped for a photo op, then drove on, and it was around this point that I had some thoughts (you think a lot when you spend so much time alone), that were along the lines of how boring my blog must be to any readers. I mean, I'm seeing some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, but through my blog, the beauty simply can't be expressed (or at least, I can't express it), and to you, it must all seem the same, and I don't know how to make it different for you. And also that, nothing 'funny' has happened. I mean, when I travelled the USA with Ros, there seemed to be lots of funny things to write about, maybe because when there is someone else there, you see the funny side of things, or you just bounce off each other. But this trip so far has been relatively uneventful.
Not five minutes later, there was a viewing stop on the 'Sky Road'. Now sometimes at these photo op stops, I leave the car running, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I leave the car running AND the door open. And I've noted, the size of the 'parking area' is usually relative to how much time I spend taking photos and enjoying the view. This particular area was quite large so I stopped the car, put the park break up, grabbed my down jacket and camera, got out the car and shut the door.
I spent a fair bit of time taking shots and was looking at the LCD of my camera when I thought I heard a car pull up from the right hand side. I didn't look immediately, but when I did look to the right. What do you reckon I saw exactly?
Well, what I saw, was MY CAR rolling forward FAST towards a STONE WALL! FUCKING HELL, I thought and jumped off the ledge I was on, and ran for it. A million thoughts screamed through my head. One, was that I wasn't going to make it. Two, thank FUCK I purchased the extra insurance. Three, even if I did make it, how the FUCK was I going to get in the car and stop it?
Obviously this was all happening in mere seconds. I reached the car, opened the car door, jumped in (somehow, but knocking my knee HARD on something), and simply slammed my right foot (it would have required too much brain thought to use my left, despite it being physically closer) down on the break, screeching to a sudden halt. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!! (And apologies to anyone offended at cursing The Lord's name or whatever it is, because that was my thought process!) Just in the knick of time!
I then sat in the car, one of my initial reactions being a giggle and thinking, 'well now you've got something funny to write about', but I seriously had to calm the adrenaline running through my body. I had to take a few deep breaths, and I was shaking! Then I wondered, "how the fuck did that happen"? And then I noticed that the gear stick was in neutral, and I can't remember if I had it in gear or not when I stopped the car - it's possible I had it in neutral because maybe initially I wasn't going to stop the car. Or could it have shifted out of gear itself? I then checked the park break, and it wasn't completely locked in. Well that answered the first question.
Then I started thinking how much I hated this stupid car I was given. I started remembering the number of times I've stalled it because I haven't adjusted to the clutch/accelerator balance on a hill stop. And how much I hate the doors because they are so god-damned heavy. Are they that heavy because it's a two-door and they're physically larger? I don't know but I hate the doors being so heavy. Then, I hate that I have to reach so far back to grab the seat belt every time I get in. I'm sure I'm going to get whip lash just from going for the seat belt FFS! And last thing, it is fucking UGLY. Who would buy a car that looks like that? (Apologies if you're reading this and you own a two door Megane.)
Rant over. May that never happen again as I still haven't quite fully recovered from the drama. This is how close the car got to the wall:
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Back in the town of Clifden, and I'm writing this at the restaurant of the hotel I'm staying at. Dinner was a comforting, chicken noodle soup for starters, and then Salmon on a bed of mash, with a butter sauce (or something of the ilk), and a red pepper condiment as well. And can I just say that the salmon was cooked to perfection. I have never eaten a more perfectly cooked piece of salmon in my life. Thanks to the French chef here! Yummo!
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