How Driving into a ditch in Ireland was the best part of our trip

Imagine: You’re going to Ireland with your best friend. She’s always wanted to visit Ireland, and you plan a BEAUTIFUL trip before she gets married. You planned a road trip portion of the trip with a sunset horse and carriage ride through the Gap of Dunloe. You have a great start to your day and you’re heading to the Gap of Dunloe when you slide into a ditch.

That’s what happened when my best friend and I visited Ireland. We were on a tiny, rural road (like what you see in Ireland) and she tried avoiding a tractor. She ended up sliding off the side of the road and into a ditch. The two men on the tractors hopped off to check on us, along with the other cars who were behind us, and thankfully we were okay, just stuck!

Every single person who drove by stopped to check on us and see if they could help, and the two men on the tractors stayed with us while we called the rental car company. One man stopped and said he had a tow truck and could help, then looked at our car, said he couldn’t help actually, but knew someone who could. So he gave us the number of his friend, who could help us!

While we waited for Ken to help us, the two men on the tractors said we crashed right in front of their house coincidentally and invited us inside for tea. We politely declined (as we were two women traveling and had no way of going anywhere if anything went wrong), and they understood and said to please come up to the house if we got too cold. Less than 10 minutes later, his wife came down and kindly gave us no choice but to come up to the house for tea :)

As we walked up to the house, I noticed some movement in the back… I asked if they had turkeys or other animals, and Miriam replied, “aye, we have cows. We’re a dairy farm with 160 cows.”

Prior to this trip, I had texted my best friend this:

The universe said “heard!!”

When I asked Miriam if we could please see her cows, she seemed a bit confused but very kindly let us borrow some muck boots and showed us around the barns. The cows were so precious and curious, and reminded me of cats in the way they were curious but did not want to be touched until they “sussed” us out some. They showed us around the barn, told us all their cows were pregnant and about to give birth in the next few weeks, and let us meet all of their cows.

Noel showed us the milking machines, where they store and pasteurize the milk, and told us that from March through November, the cows are outside in the pasture. They were only in the barn then because it was wet and cold out and didn’t want them to get sick, especially while pregnant. They had one sick cow who was kept separate from the rest of the herd and we were able to meet her.

While he was feeding the sick cow, I asked if I could help feed the cows. He said he does that on the tractor and I got so excited LOL. I asked if I could ride on the tractor to feed the cows and he very kindly let me! Towards the end of my tractor ride, the tow truck arrived and pulled our car out of the ditch.

When we made it back to the USA, I posted this story on TikTok and it went semi-viral! One of the farmers ended up seeing the video, sent me a direct message, and now we’ve connected! He’s been sending me videos of the calves and mom cows and we are hoping to visit the farm again early next year in time to meet the calves :)