13/9/18 day no 7, Going underground

Today was going to be a bit of an unknown, Callum is afraid of caves, or so he says. Not sure if this has come from a book he's had read to him or a film he's seen. And today we were going to do a cave tour. We got up a wee bit later than planned and had a leisurely breakfast and completely redid the van as we were again in a campsite-we will hopefully be back in the wilds for a couple of nights now so having full water on board, an empty loo and a clean van is good.
We headed back over the border into Eire and then a mile further on were back in Northern Ireland, the border does some strange twists and turns around Belcoo and  Blacklion. A few miles further on and into the hills and we were at Marble Arch caves and Geo Park. There lots of interesting walks to do here also but today was a trip underground for us. As a side note at this point, we are mostly following the coast, I like the wild seascapes, love the sound of waves crashing on the shore, and live always in hope of landing a nice big Pollack a rocky fishing spot for tea. However County Fermanagh and Omagh looks like a really interesting area to spend a bit more time. Enniskillen also looks to have a lot to offer. The castle looks well worth a visit.
We got booked on the 12 o'clock tour, and were told at this point that unfortunately because there had been a fair bit rain the wee boat trip that normally starts the tour wasn't running today, the water level's were too high to allow the boats to run, this is an active cave system with a river running through it and sometimes it can't even open, I asked the guide during our trip how long it can take for the cave to flood if the rain is heavy enough and he reconned about an hour!! So instead of the boat we had to descend a  whole load of stairs to get into the cave system. We had been trying hard not to mention to Callum that we were going to a cave today, but he's not daft and knew where we were going. The guide also did his job and told it as it was- a cave..However, we need not have worried, Callum was fine, he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and only asked the once who or what lives in caves, lol. Its a very good way to spend an hour or two, and its very difficult to grasp the timescales involved in creating a cave system and also the the stalactites and stalagmites that adorn them. It takes 1000 years for a stalactite to grow by 1cm.....the longest in this cave is 2.5 metres long making it 250,000 years old.....During the time that the cave was being prepared for the public in the 1980's vandals broke in, and by throwing stones at it, broke the end 30cm off, that was 30,000years worth if growth. The snapped off piece was found downstream and Belfast university developed a resin to reattach the broken off piece which they did. In about another 70 years they are going to remeasure the stalactite to see if it has grown, if it has it should be 1mm longer!! We had a nice chat with a more elderly couple from New Zealand, they were doing a big European tour which started in Frankfurt, they picked up a car there, headed east, and into the UK, had a week in Scotland, and were now touring Ireland. I commented that they probably had similar caving type trips at home and they do, the reminisced about a guided caving trip they went on which involved wearing wet suits, and carrying head  torches and carrying big rubber inflatable rings. They hiked into the cave into a big cavern which was full of Glowworms. The guide then told them to put off their head torches and allow their eyes to get accustomed to the (lack of) light. Then they got onto their rubber rings and floated all the way back out the cave system.....now that sounds like fun!!

After a quick and easy lunch at the caves it was time to hit the road and head somewhere west. As I have said, we have no definite plan, but have sort of decided that we should be in or around Galway by Saturday to give ourselves a reasonable amount of time to get down the south west corner.
We decided that somewhere around the Westport area would be a good target, and headed back through Sligo and then out through Ballina-this is another interesting looking town with quite a funky one way system going through it, we got lost needless to say, lol. We have been using an App called Motorhome Parking Ireland to try and find good free parking spots. Its quite good and seems to be endorsed by the Irish tourist board. So after a fuel stop, and a fair old hoof out west we have found ourselves in a cracking spot at Rinroe point, right at the top north west corner of County Mayo. We are on a wee spit of land with waves crashing to the west of us and a slightly more mellow sweep of sand and waves to the east. Logan and I went for a wander while Mum cooked up tea using the last of the scallops, while old square eyes watched something on the iPad :-((. As daylight slipped away Callum decided he wanted to go for a walk, (why can't he just go when the rest of us are??))...I took my tripod and camera out as well and got some not too bad shots of the sun setting  and waves hitting the shore. Simple pleasures!! Boys bedded and its beer and  scrabble time.......things are looking up for me. Trailing 4-3 after tonight's game.....that's the first week gone out if 3......…..Time, there's just not enough if it.