In Ireland for the Willie Clancy Summer School

My first stop after getting off the plane in Dublin was Galway. There were some concurrent festivals going on, but the biggest was to celebrate the end of the Volvo international boat race.

Fairground with some old boats hanging out.

Some of the Volvo boats close up.

The thin red line is the race route.

Some final racing off in the distance, low tide.

Some of the strange seaweed on the Galway beach, with floaters incorporated.

Symbol of Ennis, I believe. They really like cormorants apparently.

Then it was off to Miltown Malbay for the Willie Clancy Festival. The first night I camped next to the beach at Spanish Point, on top of a bluff.

Just moved my tent, was previously next to some rowdy punkers.

I saw lots of live music every day, the first festival night had a big concert sponsored by RTÉ, the Gaelic radio station in the area.

Some performers at the RTÉ concert.

I also spent plenty of time wandering the area, sometimes walking in the once or twice walking over 20km a day.

Some of the rocky part of the beach at Spanish Point.

Looking off at the bay.

My regular route to my paid campsite, with ocean in the distance.

With my mandolin I took part in the banjo classes every day, which seemed to work out all right. Below you can see all of the banjo teachers doing a group performance at the banjo recital. My teachers were Joanne O'Connor, Kieran Hanrahan, and Brian Scahill.

Willie Clancy 2012 banjo teachers.

I also tried to play at least two sessions a day, wandering around until I found groups I felt comfortable participating in. Occasional free beers were drunk. Some of the faster sessions, of course, I just enjoyed listening to.

A group that included who the teachers called the "whiz kids", who could easily memorize 8 tunes a day.

A session in the back room of a bar.

On Saturday it was back to Ennis to stay at the Rowan Tree Hostel (very pleasant), and some tourism.

The ruined Ennis Friary

The Hostel is the light pink building on the right.

One of the main shopping Streets in Ennis.

On my last full day I headed off to see the Cliffs of Moher. I'm very glad I did so. I spent about 3 hours walking to the end of the cliffs and back to the main area.

An overview of where I walked, the tower is a faint blip in the background.

The nice viewing tower.

Some visitors enjoy making stone piles, or adding to them.

A natural arch far below.

My only self portrait during the trip.

A slab stone fence with the path going through it.

Out of principle, some cows and stone walls (everywhere here).

An example of a moderately treacherous path (somewhat officially blocked, but everyone ignored it).

If you open this one to full size, you'll see people on the cliff for scale.

The ruined tower I walked to.

Peeping out of the ruined tower.

The next day, I took my Aer Lingus flight back to Berlin. Overall, it was a great experience. In the future, I might try to acquire a bicycle of some sort (I did a ton of walking).

A bunch of Aer Lingus planes. Everyone told me to avoid Ryan Air, so I did.