Transition Day via Dingle Peninsula

Saturdays never seem to be a good day to be driving in the UK or Ireland, largely because of the number of people who come into the city.  There are the local residents who come from rural communities to market which brings more auto and foot traffic to the narrow village streets.  Today would be an especially long day of driving, a mix of needing to get to where we’re next staying and taking in some of the sights along the way.

Dingle Peninsula and the Slea Head Drive are said to be some of the most scenic in all of Ireland.  We did not have the extra three and a half hours to do the full Slea Head Drive, but we did drive as far as the point to get a bit of the flavor for the area.

 

Dingle Peninsula starts just outside of Tralee so it was very convenient as we started our morning.  Tralee was already bustling with people at 10am, but once to the other side of the city, we had a leisurely drive without much in the way of other cars until we arrive to the town of Dingle about an hour later.

The drive was through mostly sheep and cattle farms on expansive stone walled pastures.  As much as I wanted to stop for photos of the sheep with their spring lambs, it was really a challenge.   It wasn’t until later in the day that I would really have an opportunity to get out and snap some shots.

Dingle is a town right on the waterfront and seemingly caters largely to tourists.  I’m sure the folks living in this area also come into town for their weekly shopping needs but as we drove through, I couldn’t help but to feel most of the people were not from the area.  (Their driving is one good clue about this!)

Leaving Dingle, we headed northwest to the Slea Head Drive.   It was amazing to me how the land changed from largely grassy fields to that of stone and craggy rocks seemingly unfit for any living creature!  There were numerous turnout points, as much for the views as to allow for vehicles to pass one another on the often narrow one lane road.

At one point, we pulled over so that I could take some photos of this lovely stream that ran right over the roadway.  Within minutes, a huge motor coach tour bus came lumbering up the hill to this hairpin curve.  David had our rental car tucked in the corner of the curve, which apparently was the bus’ swing point necessary to make the sharp left turn.  Within minutes it became malfunction-junction with us, the bus, a small 12 passenger van filled with tourists and a cyclist!  As the bus drive maneuvered his turn, the cyclist popped through heading downhill as the bus went up. 

I think we passed 20 to 25 cyclists during the Dingle Peninsula & Slea Head part of our drive.  I couldn’t help but to think that these brave souls were really taking their own lives into their hands with the narrow roads and tourists driving on the opposite side of the road.

After the Slea Drive, we continued along the northern and more scenic route on the Dingle Peninsula heading over the mountains there was a nice vista with parking lot that allowed for viewing on either side of the mountain; Dingle Harbor to the left and Tralee off in the distance to the right.  On the Dingle side of the parking lot it was chilly and breezy . . . the Tralee side colder gale force winds made it next to impossible to hold the camera still enough to get a decent photo!  It was amazing just how just 20 or 30 meters made such a difference.

Continuing along back towards Tralee, I was lamenting about not getting many decent photo opportunities with sheep and was hoping for an experience like we had in Scotland a few years back when we turned a curve and there were sheep all over, in the road.  Not two minutes later, there was a ewe and her two lambs walking in the middle of the narrow two lane road.  As we approached she led them over to the side of the road.  David was able to pull the car over into a driveway to allow me to get out and snap a few photos including this with one of the young nursing.

Not too much longer we came upon signage for the Kilcummin Strand, so we took the side trip down a narrow road.  It didn’t stay “road” long as soon we were traversing a very rough and rocky path that brought us right to the shore.  There we watched the waves of Brandon Bay splash on the sandy beach.  We even baja’ed with the rental car!

When we left there, we were back on our way to County Galway and our next lodging destination in Recess.  This is probably as good a point as any to discuss the use of our Garmin GPS.  In anticipation of this trip last fall, we went ahead and bit the bullet and bought a Garmin Nuvi 1450LTM from Amazon.com for around $160.  Given that renting a unit through Thrifty Car Rental would be roughly $200 for our 15 days, a purchased unit was in our best interest.

We took it to the Florida Keys in November and I used it extensively on my recent Montana trip.  It was easy to learn and very helpful in navigating unknown areas.  Although at first, it had difficulty in getting us out of our own neighborhood in the most efficient manner, we’ve learned to adjust and communicate with “her”.  Geesh just want we need, another complex relationship to deal with.

So far on this trip, having the Garmin has been about 80% useful and we’ve been glad to have it.  The other 20% however, has presented some challenges including our arrival day when it apparently avoided the M50 toll road in favor of taking us through Dublin City.  We have now given “her” a name . . . TOOTS.  After all, with David’s mom in the car with us, we can’t really call her what we’d like too when she’s really taken us a drift from our intended route or destination.

During our drive on Saturday from County Kerry to County Galway, I had frankly expected Toots to route us through Limerick as all of the maps indicate that being the most direct routing from Tralee.  Imagine our surprise when Toots blurts out “Continue 1.5 kilometers and board ferry.”

We immediately had to stop and look at our OSI Ireland Atlas just to see where Toots had brought us.  The ferry from County Kerry (Tarbert) to County Clare (Killmer) would be a 20 minute ride, saving us some amount of time and petrol.  More importantly as this point in our day, it saved David having to drive through yet another busy city on a Saturday afternoon.  The fare was €18 for autos plus passengers.

The ferry was actually an interesting experience with all sorts of passengers using it to cross the River Shannon.  Offloading from County Clare were mostly autos, but there was a couple of fuel tankers, a large lorry and even a tractor hauling a trailer.  On our trip over to County Clare, the most interesting passengers were a woman with her two well behaved dogs and an RV that was apparently from Germany (based on the license plates on the vehicle and the left-hand driving steering wheel).

I snapped this photo of the Clare Abbey as we entered the M18 motorway near Ennis.  It was a drive-by snap taken with my Canon600SD pocket camera.  I’ve been pretty happy with most of the photos I’ve been able to take from the moving vehicle.  Sometimes they are too blurred because something in the foreground enters the frame, but given the very limited availability of turnout spots to stop to frame a photo where you want to the “drive-by” method of photography will have to suffice.

We arrived in Oughterard which is the last little village before reaching our timeshare cottage in Recess, where we had dinner at Breathnach’s Bar, a quaint local’s pub that served meals from morning (breakfast) to night (lunch and dinner).    Ellie had been looking forward to Irish Stew and her she was able to fulfill that wish.  I had the fish & chips, while David had the beef lasagna.  Everyone enjoyed their dinners and with full tummies, we head across the market square to the grocery store to buy our provisions for the week.

By the time we reached our cottage, nightfall was approaching.  We dodged a pair of sheep trotting up the lane towards our evening’s destination.  Being an old rustic style cottage, the place inside was unbearably cold and took more than two hours to warm up . . . but that is for another (blog) time.

p.s.  Sorry for the formatting but I'm at a pub and all of a sudden my connection's gone spotty.  Until next time . . .

Ring of Kerry and Killarney

We had great weather today for our Ring of Kerry tour with O'Connor Auto Tours out of Killarney.  There is truly too little time to really do a good job with telling folks about all that we did and saw . . . that will have to wait for when I'm home and have more time to really do a good job of writing and processing photos to share.

The RoK Tour started at 10:30a and not only did the full circuit drive, but also provided stops and side tours at Kells Sheep Centre, where we learned about and observed dogs working with the farmer Brendan Ferris and his sheep.  We also visited Kerry Bog Village, a restored "famine village" dating back to the 1840's when so many potato crops were blighted and Irish people perished due to hunger.

The drive itself was spectacular, especially on a clear day.  We stopped for lunch at what is billed as "the best view in Ireland" although we were still full from our wonderful breakfast at Ballyseede Castle.

We returned to our car in Killarney at 4:30p and still had just enough time to drive a mile or two down Ross Road to the Ross Castle at the end of the road at the lake.

Tomorrow we get up when we wake up, have breakfast here again at Ballyseede and then head out to see the Dingle Peninsula . . . weather permitting.  If it is nasty or cloudy, we'll head directly to our timeshare in County Galway where we will be staying for several days (mostly probably without internet connection).

Sorry for such a short entry tonight, but it is after 10:00p and time for bed!

Fishermen in Killarney

Horse & Cart in Killarney National Park

Ballyseede Castle - Tralee, County Kerry

View of the sunset from our room at Ballyseede Castle on Thursday night.

Thursday - County Cork

We had a very full day today, spent mostly in Cobh, formerly known as Queenstown at the time of the sailing of Titanic 100 years ago.  After our two and a half hour drive from the cottage, we arrived in Cobh at around 10:00am . . . plenty of time to get a lay of the land and find parking.

Our only scheduled activity was an 11:00am with Titanic researcher and author Dr. Michael Martin.  He is the creator of the "Titanic Trail" tour and several others focusing on the history of this emigration port so prominent to so many Irish and Irish-American families.

We learned not only about Titanic but also about the role Queenstown played in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  We walked along the waterfront much the same as the 123 Titanic passengers who boarded here.  Dr. Martin explained that the buildings facing the harbor appear just as they did back in 1912.  It was a very surreal experience to walk in their footsteps today.

After our orientation with Dr. Martin, we went to the building that formerly housed the White Star Line ticket office.  The dock where tenders took passengers to the anchored Titanic out beyond the natural protective barrier island at the opening to the Irish Sea was immediately behind the ticket office.  It is here that the "Titanic Experience" occurs.  Here guests receive a ticket to Titanic as they assume the identity of one of the 123 Queenstown passengers.  Mom received one of the three first class passengers, ironically someone from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Dr. Martin had mentioned this family, a doctor along with his wife and sister.  The two ladies were saved; the doctor perished.

We took the Titanic Experience tour and found it very interesting.  A blend of audio-visual storytelling and recreations of what the cabins were like on Titanic allowed visitors to get a feel for life on the ship.  At the end of the main "experience" aspects, the final area provided several photos and story-boards telling about the Titanic, Queenstown and her people.

Our final stop while in Cobh was the Cobh Heritage Center.  A modern day blend of history and shopping, we enjoyed the self-guided walk through tour that was largely about life in 18th and 19th century Ireland, especially as her residents faced famine and lack of financial opportunity which resulted in millions of people looking for a better life in North America.  Initially Canada was the destination of choice until laws in America became more favorable to emigrants.

From Cobh we backtracked a bit to Midleton, the original location of John Jameson & Son distillery.   The old distillery built in 1780 was closed in 1975 in favor of a new more modern facility.  As so many buildings in Ireland, the buildings fell into disrepair until such time as money was invested to restore them and create the Jameson Distillery Experience.

I have to say, David and I have done a lot of whiskey distillery tours and this one was probably the best, largely because it was in the original old buildings dating back more than 150 years.  The guided tour provides an overview to the distilling process as well as the history of Jameson Whiskey and the Old Distillery in Midleton.  At the end is a taste testing for eight lucky tour participants, who get to compare the Jameson product with that from Scotland (Black & White Scotch) and American (Jack Daniels).  All guests received a sample drink, either straight or mixed as a cocktail.  I thoroughly enjoyed mine with cranberry juice!  Their whiskey was very smooth and not nearly as harsh as others that I've sampled.

After the Midleton detour, we head on to our next overnight point, Tralee and the Ballyseede Castle.  We did stop for dinner before checking in.  More on Tralee and Ballyseede, next time!

                                                  A man and his dog in Cobh

Relaxing at Our Cottage

I cannot say enough for our first accommodations in Ireland.  Ballagh Court is comprised of five cottages, including three that were part of the original farm built in approximately 1800.  Richard & Salva (our hosts) purchased this farm from his family back in 1999 to avoid having the buildings raised.  He has since fully restored the old stone farm buildings into very nice self-catering units.  He has also built two separate stand-alone bungalow dormer-style houses.

We were in cottage #1, which was a spacious two bedroom, two bath accommodation that also featured a large country kitchen and a wonderful living room complete with wood burning stove.  Our evening fires became a highlight of our time when we returned home each night.

As a working farm, Richard's grandson collects and sells eggs from their hens.  We kept our breakfasts light with cereal and toast, so we did not partake in Callum's Free Range Eggs.

I booked this accommodation last fall through Imagine Ireland, a UK company that handles bookings throughout Ireland.  If you are looking for a nice place to stay at a very reasonable price, I encourage you to look them up.  Of course, you can also book directly with Richard at Ballagh Court if you would like.  I think the pricing is comparable whether you book with the hosts or through a booking agent such as Imagine Ireland.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Maggie, their farm dog!  She was quite friendly, whenever we saw her. It was nice to see her when we came home each night.  While not a replacement for our Miss Heidi, I did enjoy having a dog around.

Self-catering for our first five nights in Ireland worked out very well.  With Ellie's late arrival over the weekend, David and I did dine out our first night.  After that, we bought groceries at what was about the same as a general store in the next town over from the cottage.  For roughly €60, we were able to buy food for dinner for four nights, along with the necessary items for breakfast (cereal, milk, bread, etc.)  David always travels with his own "home blend of coffee so we didn't have to pay the high prices that are commonplace throughout Ireland.

Today (Wednesday 25 April) was  rather miserable in terms of the weather.  It rained heavily throughout the night and much of the day.  When it was not raining hard, we did have on and off showers.  Add to that the cold damp wind, and we decided to stay with the plan of taking an easy day today, especially since tomorrow through Saturday will be rather active with quite a bit of driving.

Richard just left here about 20 minutes ago, wishing us well on our continued journey throughout Ireland.  I cannot say enough for how friendly he and Salva were during our stay.  He also provided us with a couple of suggestions for our time in County Galway where he knows several people including a pub or two where we can expect to find traditional Irish music and dance.

So tonight we'll be packing up our stuff and getting ready for an early (7:30a) departure for Cobh.  Back during the time of Titanic, Cobh was known as Queenstown which was the last port of call of the White Star Line's ill-fated luxury liner.  We have plans to take in a historical walking tour about Titanic and her people, as well as the Titanic Experience.

The plan is to check-in at the Ballyseede Castle in Tralee by dinner time.  I don't know when we'll next have internet service but will do what I can to blog at the next opportunity.

Another Wonderful Day of Exploration

On Tuesday (24 April) our initial plan was to head northwest to Rock of Cashel and then on to Cahir Castle and the Swiss Cottage.  Perhaps needless to say, we once again had a number of diversions . . . mostly good!

Shortly after we hit the road, we ventured by the medieval walled town of Fethard which today is largely in ruins.  Truth is, we could have probably spent the entire morning exploring the buildings of this Norman era village, built in the 13^th century and with fortification of the outer walls in later years.  We did spend some time snapping some photos and reading about the town’s history.  There is a great online article which tells the story of Fethard in greater detail.

Rock of Cashel was very impressive, as viewed from the other end of the city.  Unfortunately, this OPW historical site is undergoing a major renovation, which not only affected the photogenic features of this site, but it also limited access to the interiors of several buildings including the cathedral and the chapel.

The view from atop the hill was beautiful.  We were lucky to have decent weather providing for a view of great distances.  One could imagine why kings inhabited this location for several centuries before turning it over to the church.

The Rock of Cashel is also known as “Cashel of Kings” or “St. Patrick’s Rock”.  The round tower was built c 1100 and the chapel around 1130.  This was the site of a significant loss of life during the massacre by British Troops in 1647 during the Irish Confederate Wars.

It was especially interesting to walk around the grounds that contained several grave sites and memorials.  Unfortunately the older ones were not legible but many from the 19^th century were.  I was amazed to see a couple of recent grave markers dating the 21^st century.

Next on our tour was the Cahir Castle (pronounced like “care”) which was built in 1142.  This is another site with historical significance dating back to the Irish Confederate Wars.  Besieged in 1647 and 1650, the castle was surrendered without bloodshed to Cromwell’s Army.

Later the Butler family resumed occupancy of the castle and began an enlargement and remodeling effort that spanned three centuries (15^th to the 17^th).  The buildings fell into disrepair in the 18^th century with the Butler heirs partially restoring the buildings in 1840.

The last Lord Cahir died in 1961 at which time the property reverted to State ownership.

This castle or “manor home” as they were also frequently known, is one of the best preserved Irish estates from this era that is open to the public. It was interesting to see the various features built into the house and surrounding walls to provide protection from attack on all sides.

Further down the river that runs adjacent to Cahir Castle is the Swiss Cottage.  Built in 1810 by the Butlers, this “cottage ornee” was used largely to entertain guests.  The two story thatch roof house only contained four rooms and was never actually lived in.

The ground level had the tearoom and music room.  Unfortunately the house had been abandoned and left to the shenanigans of hoodlums, so much of the glass and rooms on this level were destroyed.  There was some of the original wall covering panels remaining in the tearoom, so archeologists were able to research and find replica printings to complete the restoration in the late 1980’s.  This piece of painted glass was saved by a local resident and returned when the restoration began.

While photos were not permitted inside the various rooms, I was able to snap this one from the outside through a window.  In the far right corner you can see a 19^th century harpsichord much like what I’ve seen in the restored areas of Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia).

The upstairs rooms were set up for resting and perhaps overnight stays; one for the Butlers and the other for their visiting guests.  Furnishings in all four rooms were either original pieces on loan from the Historical Society or period reproductions by local artisans.

 

This yew tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old.  The poor quality of the photo is thanks to the heavy rains we experienced as we were leaving the grounds.

Earlier in the day, during our drive to Cashel, we went by Waterford City.  Since the Waterford Crystal Factory was on our list of places to visit, but scheduled for the following day, I thought it might be just as convenient to go ahead and make this short detour.  Not being prepared with my paperwork and maps, we were dependent on the Garmin for routing which resulted in getting lost in this very busy city.  We stopped at a local mall in order to try to get our bearings and hopefully some instructions to the Waterford Crystal visitor center.

While I dealt with the Garmin and the big OSI Ireland Atlas, David and his mom went into the mall to see if they could find a sweater or something for her.  She had been cold since arriving in Ireland and our previous attempts at finding something for her came up empty-handed.

They came back with a beautiful €28 sweater that was on close-out for just €8.  After an hour of not really even knowing what we were looking for (we passed the Waterford Crystal visitor center TWICE!) we gave up.  The mantra for the rest of the day regarding Waterford City would be “but we found a sweater”.

While in Waterford City we did drive by Reginald's Tower, which was built on the riverfront for defenses against attacks in the 13^th century.  It later served as the mint, prison and military store.  Today it has been fully restored and houses exhibitions open to the public.  If we get back to Waterford today (Wednesday 25 April) I’m hoping we’ll make a stop here too.

Here are couple of other photos I snapped as we drove through the Irish countryside.  Not sure where we were or what, if any historical significance either has . . . but they were very interesting so I took the photo!