While at the waterfall, we met a fellow named Michael from Tralee and his dog named Tina, who insisted on carrying a stick with her everywhere – Michael said it gave her confidence. Incidentally, Tina was named after Tina Turner; Michael seemed surprised that we did not immediately see the resemblance. Anyway, Michael took us up a path beyond the waterfall rather sprightly and chatted with us on a variety of subjects. He promised a viewpoint that was spectacular (each time we stopped for a breather, we were not sure if that was the view he referred to). Eventually, he stopped climbing, but gave us instructions of how to continue on to the final viewpoint. We said goodbye after I snapped a quick picture of he and Tina.

As we hiked down, we met a gal from New Zealand that I had met and chatted with earlier back in Donegal. It was the third time this trip were we met someone more than once, separated by many miles in between. In Doolin, we saw a couple from the US Midwest that we had stayed with in Howth. And in the Kilkenny castle, we met a couple and child who we flew over from London with. Small world, Ireland is!

Right next to the cottage was yet another Meeting of the Waters. This one, however, was much more pastoral than the one we saw near Avoca at the beginning of the trip. Here, a river split and simultaneously fed two lakes. One of those small things that I saw that day that has stuck in my mind ever since was seeing the wind travel along the lake. You could hear the winds coming down from the mountain and they would hit the still surface of the lake nearly vertically, as you could see the slight ripples emanating outward from a circle near the lake’s shore. They would then spread out over the lake – it was quite a subtle, but beautiful display of nature’s grace.