We are timing everything just right, by luck, and we were able to drive right on the Shannon ferry. 
Coming off the ferry we ended up on a road with an "L" designation. "M" stands for motorway and I believe that "L" stands for lane (which is being really generous). This tiny little road was so narrow that the mirrors were scraping the hedges on both sides. It also had grass growing down the middle and we kept scaring the farmer's cats and chickens off the "road". 
The lesson to be learned here is--Do not set your GPS for shortest route unless you are OK driving through fields! Oh, and while we were going about 10mph on this road, the speed limit was 80 kilometers per hour! Are they crazy?
We have noticed the difference between Irish speed limits and US ones. In the US the speed limit might be 55mph and people tend to do about 65mph. Here in Ireland we have had speed limits that were 100kph and we were doing 54kph and felt nearly airborne. We wonder how much Guiness was consumed on the day they decided the appropriate speed limit for a one lane, two direction winding road, with no shoulder and no lane markings--they decided on 100kph!
We arrived at The Cliffs of Moher just as the sky got ominously dark. 
So we scurried up to the top of the hill and grabbed a couple of photos and then Francie and I high-tailed it to the visitors center just as it starting spitting with rain. The guys wanted to go up to the tower, so they arrived at the visitors center 10 minutes later soaked through. 
At least they didn't follow the guys in the restroom and strip out and run their wet shorts through the Dyson hand dryer. Just as we had decided to give up and move on the rain stopped just long enough for us to see the other sites. We were treated to some thunder and lightening as we went back to the car.
From there we traveled mostly along the coast, through some quaint small towns, to Galway. We did have some incredible down-pours where the visibility was so bad we seriously considered stopping at the next pub until the rain quit. And don't you know it, in the land of pubs, there's never one handy when you need one!
Once again we had a challenge finding our B & B because nowhere in Ireland has a street address! I strongly suggest that if you are traveling by car you get the owner of the B & B to give you directions from exactly where you are coming from--and get them in the most excruciating detail you can! Many of the landmarks they use are not in a GPS, and you can't use intersections, yellow houses, service stations and neighborhood or housing development names either. B & B owners are you listening! It's like giving directions to downtown Seattle by saying--just past the big mountain on your right, watch for the plane company on your left, then, after Beacon Hill take a left and it's there!
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