Exploring the Emerald Isle

 As per usual on this trip, we found a less well travelled way back to Dublin today...or maybe not as less well travelled as we had hoped. Getting out of Kilkenny sure was easier than getting into it yesterday.  I suspect all the 'fat heads' from last nights night life might have been the reason.  Nobody was up and at it! Like coming into Kilkenny yesterday we saw lots of diverse agriculture.  And again it was reasonably flat.  Beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, and lots of signs of grain growing dotted the landscape. The Wicklow Mountains are just outside of Dublin.  They have been linked to Dublin in so many ways forever from conflict after conflict to todays tourism. Heck Guinness pipes its water in from the Wicklows!  It is a barren wasteland made up primarily of peat bog.  Our route cut right through the centre.  The road was narrow without any sign of guardrails or stone fences.  It was challenging but not as much so as some of our ...

 Our drive today across the south of Ireland compared to so many others on this trip was almost boring.  The terrain was reasonably flat but the roads were anything but straight.  We saw something other than sheep for a change.  It was obvious that we were travelling through 'dairy' country.  Holsteins dotted the landscape and for the first time we actually saw evidence of grain growing and even a few corn fields. As we were sitting enjoying our bottle of wine in our room last night (bought downstairs in the hotel bar), we decided that we should visit the Rock of Cashel.  This is a castle built originally in the 12th Century and given to the church by the local 'king'.  It is somewhat of a mythical religious shrine.  Extensions were built in the 13th and 15th Centuries.  It is now of course a ruin as most of these old castles are today.  The architectural abilities and workmanship of those long ago days puts our buildings today to shame....

 Once again we decided to take a couple of peninsula drives.  And once again we were rewarded with some special moments.  Ireland's west coast continues to be amazing. Even if we are now in the south! But when we decided to get serious about getting ourselves to Kinsale, we hit a couple of roadblocks...literally!  It seemed like we 'could not get here from there'.  Our route had a road closed sign.  So we decided (I suppose we really had no choice) to follow the 'Redirection' signs.  It took us up and away from Kinsale.  And low and behold if the 'Redirection' route did not have another 'Redirection'.  What should have been about a 20 minute drive turned into well over an hour.  You have to realize that in Ireland you just can't go around the block like we are used to at home.  There are no such things as blocks here in Ireland. Upon arrival in Kinsale we were surprised by the location of our hotel and even more so at the location o...

 Another day, and oh what scenery.   It was more varied than any other day so far.  We started by driving across the inland portion of the famous Ring of Kerry.  We chose not to do the whole of the Ring of Kerry partly due to timing and partly to avoid the hordes of buses that we were assured would be out there.  It turned out to be a great decision.  Our route took us through Killarney National Park.  This area is like nothing else we have saw in all of Ireland.  It is a forested area.  Some of the trees would rival in size the ones in our own Algonquin Park.  We were not expecting this.  Better yet, Sue got to see a pretty impressive waterfall within the park.  While hiking up to it, we got to chat with a couple of New Zealand tour cyclists.  They had just arrived in Ireland by way of Romania, Italy and France.  After leaving Killarney National Park we were treated to another pass, this one called Moll's Gap....

 This morning we went for a drive around, up, down, up again and down again the Dingle Peninsula. What a treat! As we were leaving, it started to rain.  It does that a lot in the west of this country.  The direction of Connor Pass looked like it would once again be shrouded in fog so we decided to  take the Slea Head Drive.  This is the coastal route out to the tip of Dingle Peninsula.  The scenery was amazing and I continue to marvel at how rugged Ireland really is.  And to think that they continue to farm most of the area.  Amazing! Upon returning to Dingle we decided to take another shot at Connor Pass.  Of course it was raining but the cloud cover remained high enough that the views were spectacular.  Now I have to correct something that I said yesterday.  Connor Pass is spectacular but it is not even close to the experience of driving the 'Going to the Sun Road'.   It is narrow and single lane at times but not a match...

Unfortunately it rained today.  Driving is never as easy when it rains, especially here in Ireland. For months now I have been looking forward to the drive to Dingle.  Connor Pass is considered by all tourist guide books as one of the top, if not the top, drives in all of Ireland.  As we started to climb we soon realized that our views were going to be limited.  The pass was 'pea soup' thick with fog.  That made the drive just a touch more challenging and definitely more dangerous. With what little I could see, the road reminded me of the 'Going to the Sun' road in Glacier National Park.  And there were some other people driving up there today that had trouble understanding that it was foggy and that the road was narrow. So to say that the drive today was a letdown would be putting it mildly.  However, tomorrow is another day and it appears that the sun might make an appearance.  I expect to take another run at Connor Pass in the morning! Dingle h...

 A boat ride was in store for today out to Inis Oirr.  Inis Oirr is the smallest of the Aran Islands.  It is one desolate piece of rock.  They have very little soil.  They make more soil by mixing seaweed with sand and spreading it around.  Can you imagine?  The island has 300 permanent residents.  The island has 500 to 600 cattle.  They graze in fields the size of postage stamps. Daily they are moved to a different field.  It makes no sense! But our tour was a fun one.  We took a horse and wagon tour of the island.  Thomas was our guide.  He has lived here his whole life.  Toby was our horse.  To say that Toby had an attitude would be putting it mildly.  He moved at his own pace and as Thomas said, "he cannot be persuaded otherwise but he is a good horse'!  While other horses and wagons were galloping past us, Toby just plodded along!  It was a fun experience. On our way back we were treated to a ...