Wednesday Killarney to Ballinskellig

We had heard a few tales that made

us a little nervous about the road but it was fine really. After the Caha it was practically a piece of cake.

Gassed up in Kilorglin. They have a goat with a crown whose name is King Puck. They also have a big river and a festival once a year.

Maureen did very well on the traffic circles that she had to navigate as she sang 'we are going to Kildenny'.

We were on the N70 which was a narrow road but not as bad as some. Every town that we went through had a big church. Too big for the size of the town it seemed.

We went through a little town and there was a farmer on a tractor.He was using it like his car.

Maybe it was his car. Such a stereotypical picture of an Irish farmer. Rubber boots, jacket, tractor. I loved it.

The weather had changed back to what it was earlier, cold with grey skies and very windy. We came to this little bridge that was only wide enough for one way traffic. It was a very short bridge and we wondered why they didn't just widen it or build another bridge.

From that point on we were following the coast and the water was as grey as the skies.

We saw a strand of sand going out into the bay between the Kerry and Dingle peninsulas. It was very cool. Someone had told us that from the far tip of the sandbar you could see the Dingle peninsula.

I didn't think so that day as the weather was making any visibility over any distance difficult at best. Passed the Kells turnoff without seeing the town.

We did see sheep on the hills. This time they had blue dots or no dots at all. suddenly they seemed to be everywhere.

The road started to move inland away from the coast and it changed back into more of a goat trail type of road with lots of twists and turns.We came up on a tractor on the road and we passed it. Maureen was really starting to get the hang of it by then.

The views were very nice and we decided that now was a good time to listen to Van Morisson. Brown eyed girl in the Irish country side . Could life get any better.

Spoke to soon. There was this bridge that was very narrow. I sure hoped no buses had to navigate that one. The sun tried to come out but the clouds were winning. They were hanging on the top of the hills like a blanket. The road almost went under a train bridge but it fooled us, it was a hairpin turn.

Cahersiveen was our next town and it was lovely too. It is on the river Fertha which flows into the Valentia Harbour. With the Beentee mountain at its back it was very picturesque even in the rain.

There were a lot of bed and breakfasts

in all of the towns that we passed so we were thinking that in the summer this place must be nuts.

I loved this towns very typical main roads with the two story buildings attached to each other in a variety of colours . It was like driving through a rainbow in every town. And of course there were great doors.

So much character. I wondered if the people living there knew how lucky they were or if they had become so used to it that it was just normal for them. Probably. Of course the draw backs are that the roads are so freaking narrow.

After Cahersiveen we went out into the wilds of Ireland,

off of the Ring of Kerry Road.

We found the Kilpeacan crossroads and then the R566 to Ballinskellig and drove through some pretty interesting country. The roads were narrow and hilly with what looked like sea grasses growing in the fields on both sides. There was this great bay with a long beach. We asked a young mother who was pushing her

stroller down the road if she knew where the hostel was and she said it was only about 200 feet down the road and up the hill.

We drove the 200 feet to the corner and there were signs.

Oh well, we were doomed from the start to look like idiot tourists for this trip. We went up the hill and located the hostel. There was a field with sheep next door and no one home at the hostel.

There were two other groups of people waiting for the proprietors too. they showed up and we got our room, a private with twin beds. The Hostel is new, only six years old, but it had a strange set up with three seperate buildings. sleeping quarters in two buildings and the kitchen and activity rooms in another. the latter each had thier own entrances so if you wanted to go from the activity room with the tv and computer in to the dining hall you had to go outside. and then to go to your rooms you had to go outside very odd.

we booked our boat ride out to the Skellig islands the next day and decided to go explore the area a little, try to find a grocery store and just to see what we

could see.

Wednesday Afternoon in Killarney

We walked the streets of Killarney looking for a place to stop and have a nice warm lunch. We found a great sweater shop. The most popular pattern in the sweaters is O'Brien so there were no more sweaters in that pattern. we looked around and got socks and gloves and picked up the O'Brien pattern so we could knit our own sweaters with the family pattern. We found a burger king in Killarney. It was the only burger king we had seen in the country but we didn't go there. we wanted Irish.Found a great little pub Murphy's and had tortellini in a cream tomato sauce

with a half pint of Killkenny beer and Maureen had a huge piece of cod and chips with same. It was very good and the bar people were very friendly too.

We looked at our walking tours card and found our way to the Franciscan Friary. I have always loved St Francis but then who doesn't.

A beautiful statue of him was in the front of the church. The Franciscans had been around that area for about 600 years.

Lets see, Canada was just discovered by John Cabot 600 years ago.

In the 1900's they built this church or added onto it.

It was very nice. Yellow with lots of wood.

Full of stunning mosaic tile walls and stained glass windows by famous Irish artisans. There was also a bell, very nice.

We wandered back to the car, picking up some Van Morrison and traditional Irish music Cd's on the way.

We headed out to the Ring of Kerry. Earlier we had found out that the tour buses all travel the Ring of Kerry only going in one direction.

This makes a lot of sense as, if two buses meet on these roads it would be impossible for them to pass each other. We had also learned that the buses travel on the inside lane so no scary cliff moments.

We wanted to follow the same route as the tour buses so we wouldn't have to worry a

bout meeting any buses coming toward us for the whole way. We did have a kind of Freudian slip of the tongue, we called it the ring of Scary.

My granddaughter Aurora would love Ireland. All the horses.

Wednesday Morning in Killarney

I did have dreams of curling toes and woke up to a heck of a wind and rain storm. It woke both of us up and we closed out window which seemed to have opened up during the night. We both went back to sleep. I got up around 7 and went into the hostel proper and made myself a cup of tea and caught up with the journal. Joe , a teacher from Dublin, was up and starting to get things organized for his 100 students who were on a bicycling tour. He was a very calm man for having to put up with what he had to put up with. He was a cyclist, teacher and cook.The hostel had signs up that you could stay for free in exchange for work.That would be something to check out in the future.

Maureen came down and we had a lovely breakfast of tea, cheese and bread planning the days activities.

We had pulled card number 37 from the village walks and were going to park at St Marys and walk from there.

We headed out to town. St Mary's cathedral was our first stop.

It was truly impressive in its neo-gothic style and was huge.

It was built in the 1840's and is the only cathedral in County Killarney.

It had a giant redwood tree planted outside of the church that was actually to mark a mass grave of famine victims.

The stained glass windows were spectacular. We lit candles in the church and took a lot of photos.

A short walk across Cathedral street and into Killarney National Park to walk down Cherry tree walk and we saw a jaunting cart.

Well that was the coolest thing we had seen so we asked one of the cart drivers where we could get a cart. He gave us directions and we headed there lickety split.

We found the jaunting car area set up across from the theater in town and booked Bob the Horse and John the Driver.

John had been doing that for 32 years and Bob for several. John was very knowledgeable in his history of the area.

He brought us into the National Park and along the lake. It was a bitter wind that was blowing that day and We were glad for the blanket and tarp that covered our laps.

We saw deer up close and cattle in the distance that are only raised in the park.

Ross Castle was very cool. It was the last stronghold in Ireland to fall to Cromwells army. We stayed there for about half an hour. there are tours that you can take but we did not have enough time to go on one so we just bought some postcards and poked around the outside of the castle.

Then back onto the jaunting car and out to the road by Muckross and into town.

We did pass a racetrack but there were no races that day.

We let John and Bob know that enjoyed our jaunting car experience very much when they dropped us off back downtown. We decided to find a place for lunch before continuing with out tour of Killarney.

Tuesday - On the way to Killarney

We went back to the highway and headed towards Killarney. you have to love the names of little towns in Ireland.

The river Sheen was very wide.

We stopped at a little weaver shop that had a sale sign out.

Joan and Jean were the proprietors. We met Joan, a sweetheart of a lady. While attempting to get down a sweater that we wanted to try on, she slipped off of the chair she was on and hurt her leg.

We felt awful. When she told us that they didn't take visa as it cost too much for them in their little business, we knew that we had to get some cash and come back.

So with some directions like the shop was in Killabanone then there is the area of Banone

but we needed to go to Kenmare which was just 8 minutes up the road we headed off. We found Kenmare about 15 minutes up the road, a really nice little town that was having a horse show that week.

Found the bank with no trouble and checked out a sweater shop on the corner. Then back to the weaver shop in Killabanone. My sweater was a lovely teal blue and Maureen's was grey white. We got 2 scarves, mittens for Rose and 2 hats. What a great little shop. The ladies must be in their 70's and they still knit everything. Joan also told us about one of the terms they use,' bumpfree' was junk mail.

When we went back through Kenmare we saw two kids. Now this is noteworthy as we hadn't really seen any kids on this trip yet. Where were they all?

We saw a sign that said Killarney was 32 Km. We started to see cyclers. Most were single file but a few were side by side on a narrow road. I went through a small rant about inconsiderate bicyclers in the car but was over it fairly quickly.

The road was becoming very narrow and curvy again and going up into the hills with more traffic. There were some great views but it was not nearly as scary as the Caha.

Molls gap was a break in the rocks literally.

There were sheep with red dots this time in very rocky fields. Lots of sharp corners in the road and lots of sheep both sides of the road up on the hillsides.

Very pretty. The sun was trying to come out but only succeeding every so often.

Lakes started to dot the lowlands below the road and became one long lake winding its way far down the valley.

We entered the Kilarney National Park. It looked rugged with craggy rocks and no more little fields with stonewalls.

We came around one corner and there was a little

lamb in the middle of the road. Maureen slowed in time to

not hit it and honked the horn to try and scare it off the road or it probably would get hit.

It was so darn cute. We pulled off at a viewpoint and got some great pictures of the park. The road brought us through a few tunnels and down to follow the lake.

The trees alongside the road were big all the way to Muckross and into Killarney. Killarney is literally at the edge of the Killarney National Park.

When we came to a traffic circle Maureen mentioned that she was always a little unsure of which way to go as in Canada we go the right and here we had to go to the left so I said If you want to know which way to go just go to kill Denny referencing of course my position in the car.

We both enjoyed that one.

Killarney has great roads, wide roads, clearly marked roads. We followed the ring road along a river and by a very large church.

We located the orange pub and then the Killarney International Hostel. We saw bunny rabbits on the way up the driveway. Everything was going great until I went to check us in and they said our booking was for the next night. They were booked up solid with a school tour and had no rooms available.

I was very sad and confused as I had booked us in . In the end they did find us a great room and after we settled in we went for dinner to the Gold Nugget (the Orange pub) just down the street. Maureen had corn chowder and I had fries and we both had harp beer. I like harp . Sleep came quickly once we got back to the hostel.

Tuesday Afternoon - Bonane Heritage Park

We walked up to the entry and found a little pond with a little house in the middle, like a stone age house boat. the sign called it a Crannog. It was very cute. From the Bronze age it could only be accessed by either walking through the lake, by a boat or sometimes by stepping stones just under the water that only the occupants knew about.

The fellow manning the admission booth that was actually a good size room was very pleasant and had an accent so thick that I could not understand him. It took a few times repeating before I realized that he was telling me his name was Andy. I felt so bad. He must have thought that I was mentally challenged or deaf. I am not so good with accents.

We picked up our guide information and he drove us to the upper end of walk so that we would not have to walk all the way there.

We must have looked as frazzled as we felt.

It was a marvelous walk, well laid out with 6 points of interest explained very well on the guide display boards.

The first was the ring fort that we walked all around. it was from the Iron Age, It was fascinating.

Next we discovered the Standing Stone and that is what it was, a standing stone.

The Bullaune stone was a large kind of squarish phallic looking stone from the stone age.

Next was the Fulacht Fiadh or cooking pit from the Bronze age. kind of like a giant fire pit in a raised horseshoe of earth.

There was no one else there so it was quiet too.

Just what was called for. The scenery around the park was kind of wild but there were fields on the hillsides cleared

for sheep.

The stone circle was next and it was really interesting, from the Stone and Bronze ages.

There was the altar up on a hill across from the stone circle that could predict when the moon would be at its most southern rising point. This only occurs every 18.6 years. How could they have figured that out? Did they even live that long?

It seems when this happens the moon follows the ridge and looks like it is floating up the mountain. I would love to see that.

The last site to see was the was the famine ruin,

The story broke my heart and you could almost see a family trying to live there. It was such a small building.

Haiti came to mind and the small homes that the families live in there.

We wandered down the Druids walk back to the parking lot at the bottom of the the hill to find Andy had left or was busy doing something else. We felt so much more relaxed and renewed after our quiet walk. We headed for Killarney.

The Caha pass on Tuesday

Maureen's father is a golfer so every golf course that we saw we took pictures of the sign, if we could, Bantry 's Golf club included. Our drive brought us along the lovely Bantry bay and we began to rise above it. There was a minute or two of discussion as to wether or not the word signage was a real word. I said there was good signage on the road. Maureen did not think it was a word.We saw two men laying beside the road. it would be a risky job, road maintenance that is.

I thought those men were having a break as they seemed to be happy and chatting.

The road was bringing us higher and there were

sheep with blue dots painted on them. The road got to be quite bumpy and then we saw more sheep but they had green dots. Maureen says they mark their sheep so that everyone in the area knows who's sheep they are. It makes sense.

Glengarriff was very picturesque. I could easily have stopped there for a few days to explore the area. Next time I'm in Ireland I will. It would take years, I think, to see Ireland properly. We continue on our way over the Caha Pass.

The sign said 80 KM. We decided that these people were insane which is too bad. They were such nice people too. There were big trees and the road became like a snake going over leggo, lots of curves and bumps.

We saw more blue sheep, well sheep with blue dots. I did not think it possible after the last bit of road but the road got even bumpier!

We past a sign for a tunnel. Tunnels could be fun, I like tunnels. Turners Rock Tunnel.

We drove up higher and higher, no trees there. The road felt way too narrow for the speed we were going and how close the oncoming cars came to us. It felt like inches apart as they passed us.

I saw a hawk a eye level which told me that we were way to high. There was little or no barrier on the edge of the road which was on my side of the car!! The part of the car that, at the beginning of our trip, Maureen had said was not in her frame of reference when driving, as in Canada her car ended at her left side. Caha pass was terrifying!! With its high straight cliffs down I was having a heart attack. the views were spectacular and I just wish I could have enjoyed them more.

I was positive that everyone was driving way too fast. We reached the top and passed through an actual break in the rock ridge. With that we were going down the other side. There was a lookout that I am sure many people stop and take advantage of but we did not see it in time and just wanted to get out off of this high place and down to the normal bad roads. I unclenched my toes.

We went through the tunnel which I missed getting pictures of as it was dark in there and my camera was not 'at the ready'. I did get photos of the next tunnels. We did the obligatory narrow road with lots of curves coming down the other side. It was like the reverse mirror image of the other side but with trees. Going down was still scary. It was still a narrow road with people driving way too fast for our comfort, but it did not feel as bad. Maybe we had become desensitized. Another road side stop at Molly Gallivans. We did not stop.

At what could have been the bottom was a bridge over a ......might have been a river. We didn't actually see it, what ever it was. Passed the Gortnabinny sign on a rather straight, nice piece of road. We were going 80! Maureen was getting braver by the mile.

Came to a village so had to slow down and it was, of course, lovely. By the time we got to Garrymore we were laughing to relieve the stress. Then there was a bus on the road coming toward us. This always put us in a panic as the road is not wide enough, but, it was a miracle with inches to spare.

The stress level was pretty high in that little car so when we saw the sign for Bonane Heritage Park, next right ,we took it. The turn off of the National Road brought us onto what we would call a lane-way and they set the speed at 80!!! We managed to get to the little park intact for our well deserved break. Our plan was to stay long enough to settle our frazzled nerves.