Ireland in the rain

We are at Ballina on the west coast of Ireland in light rain. Our next stop going south is Galway on Galway Bay and then to night we are booked for 3 nights at Milltown Mal Bay, the ancestral home of the Mullinses.
After a catastrophic end to our time in NY, we are still anxious to know if Amanda caught her flight and is home safely. The shuttle to the airport (which the conceirge said would take about half an hour took one and three-quarter hours). We had a good flight on Aer Lingus but we were tired when we got to Dublin - picked up the car and got lost. We asked a man for directions and we have realised since that he was probably the Archbishop. Brigid Moynihan's B & B was a marvellous old terraced house, very pleasant - Brigid (a little vague) assured us we would find a B & B in Sligo on the west coast - NO bother. We drove through lush green countryside up to the Giants Causeway through Northern Island (Londonderry, Coloraine). The causeway is an extraordinary sight. Then we pushed on to Sligo, where every B & B was booked out because (1) it is the Bank Holiday weekend - the first long weekend after the long winter and (2) a lady from Sligo was being buried and willed her body to the University, so everyone from the Uni came up for the funeraland stayed in B & Bs!! After some wild situations (one where we ended up at a castle which took guests and Ray wouldn't go in because he feared the cost, then we tried to book ourselves into a truck stop and they were out, then also considered sleeping in the car), a kindly B & B owner phoned a friend and we got a bed on a farm just north of Knock with Joan and Sean - spotless with a large loop-pile wallhanging of John Paul II and our other guest was Fr Dan, an American of Irish roots. We are moving south today. Missing everyone and hope Solomon, Gill, Judy and the troops in Washington are all well. Much love, Mum