Today was a long day. We started off at 8.30, after a 7.30 breakfast (which was not as good as at the Stillorgan, I thought). Today I had two fully charged camera batteries! And they were necessary!
First stop was shopping at Moriarty’s. I refrained from buying a thick jumper yesterday since I’d have no use for it at home, but it was so cold this morning, I thought I might as well buy one, even if it’s just for here and Great Britain. I’m sure it will be just as cold in Scotland, if not more so as it gets later in the year. The jumper I found was half price, at 60 Euro, which I thought was pretty good. It wasn’t even made in China!
The scenery today was pretty spectacular. However, the water views were all on the right side of the bus, while I sat on the left today. Instead I got some nice pictures of mountains and trees and rocks…:
We drove past the Oghan Standing Stones – I was quick enough to jump to the other side of the bus and hit the trigger to get a photo of them:
Next, we drove through Stillorgan and its pretty bridge:
Next actual stop was the Kerry Bog Village, which charged 5 Euro admission. I’ve always wanted to see and smell ‘bog’ so I went in for a look (and smell). One of the houses had a fire lit, and the bedroom air was thick with smoke, though the fire was in the other room. The bog was stored by the side of the house after being cut in the spring, so it would be dry by winter. The stuff is really light, even though it looks like a clod of earth. It smelt nice, burning, but still – can’t have been good for the lungs!
Then it was off in the direction of Kells (not the one famous for the ‘book of’) for some sheep dog trials, and beautiful views of Dingle Bay, past ruins on the fields. Apparently the reason for the abundance of ruins is that they’re from the time of the Great Famine (1845-1848) and people leave the abandoned houses as a mark of respect. The population of Ireland before the famine was about 8 million. Now it’s only around 4.5 million – people being lost to famine and immigration.
This rugged landscape was between Killorgan and Kells:
The Sheep Dog Trials were next, but this was nothing I hadn’t seen before, though the shepherd did make it amusing and introduced several varieties of sheep to us, including the ones with 4 horns instead of 2. Then it was onwards towards Port Magee, driving along the lakes (though on the wrong side of the bus for me!). Port Magee was a pretty colourful town which we didn’t actually pass through but photographed from the other side of the lake at the Skellig Experience. This ‘experience’ was probably the biggest let-down of the tour. It was nothing but a video documentary about the monks living at Skellig Michael (a little island not even visible from the ‘experience’ site) and the ruins that are now all but inaccessible. But the scenery around here was worth the visit. Just don’t pay for the ‘experience’!:
Then it was time to head off towards Scariff and O’Carrolls Cove:
The scenery around here is just spectacular, and we got this view for lunch at very reasonable prices too:
Next stop was Sneems. This was basically a stop for good ice cream. Since I don’t eat ice cream, I went for a wander around to photograph places in town instead, like the river and the church:
After this we headed through Moll’s Gap, back towards Killarney. This is rather a tight winding road along here, but the scenery is very rugged and beautiful:
The roads were so tight, that before we knew it, some guy in a campervan had smashed the side of the bus right by Betty’s window. It gave her quite a fright, and of course it held up the works (and all the traffic on both sides of the road!) for quite a while during which Dave looked like he was getting into a bit of a disagreement with the driver of the camper. But there was only damage to the bus and no people, so all was well. We got a new bus the next day so it was like nothing happened.
We headed on to Lady’s View for a view of the Lakes of Killarney:
Now it was just a matter of getting back to Killarney via Muckross House (also in Killarney), as we were running a bit behind with the accident and all. The next pictures shows a little of how tight the roads were, and how much it was worth it:
Muckross House was quite a nice building (though I didn’t go inside), but the gardens, while extensive and pretty, were nothing extraordinarily beautiful:
After this we headed back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, Cathy took me for a walk around town so I could take some photos until it got too dark. While we were wandering the back-streets, we heard a piteous miaowing coming from under the car, so we investigated. The cat came bounding up to us and wound around our legs and demanded petting and miaowed its little heart out. We continued on up the cul-de-sac and it kept following us and following us. When we turned around and it kept following us, we started to become concerned for it. But it finally stayed away after we told it to go home a few times, thank goodness!
Then we dropped into a pub for a quiet Guiness before I headed back to the hotel for some quiet time with my photos and blog and pack my suitcase for the next (and final) day.
