Day 4 – Adare to Kilkenny

We awoke at 7:30 am (later than we wanted, but only because our host wouldn’t prepare breakfast any earlier than 8:30 am).  It was a beautiful sunny morning…a little cloudy…but perfect cool morning temps.
We hit the highway (picture of what a highway is in Ireland) headed for Cork and the start of the Ring of Beara – a rugged and scenic drive that passed through several small towns (with names like Clonakilty,  Skibberdeen, and Kenmare) with lots of interesting/cute houses.
       
It took us through Killarney National Park (the first national park established in Ireland (1932) – 25,000+ acres) up through the pass at Moll’s Gap with great views of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks (12 mile range including the highest mountain in Ireland – 1038 meters).
   
The Ring of Beara turned out to be a great side trip through the amazing countryside and peninsula.  There were too many views to stop and take pictures of.  The GPS once again came through and took us on the great small roads.
Looking back at our trip, we agree that this was one of our favorite drives of the whole trip.

 

 

Seriously!

Funny note here:  There is an “Adopt-A-Sheep” program in the area whose goal is to preserve the Irish heritage of mountain sheep in and around the Moll’s Gap region.  For $75/year you can become an “adoptive parent” which covers the cost of maintaining one mountain sheep which you get to name – you receive a certificate with your name on it and the tag number of your adopted sheep.
   
 

As we approached the town of Bantry, we discovered a cool cemetery with LOTS of markers located right on Bantry Bay.

The town of Bantry was once traversed by waterways instead of streets (like a mini-Venice).


They eventually dredged the bay and filled in an area which is the present day downtown.

We’d been on the road a while and determined that Erin does need to eat lunch or she gets cranky – it’s hard to judge when you are hungry after a huge breakfast.  We found a brick oven pizza place and had on ok pizza and sandwich.

 


Bantry is quite pretty.  We ducked into an internet café to check email and send an update.  
On the way back to the car, we did some quick shopping at the SuperValu (grocery) for road snacks and batteries (which we are burning through at almost two pair a day) for the camera.  Note to future Ireland visitors - - - buy your batteries in the US and take them with you, they are expensive in Ireland.

Back on the road and we end up on our smallest road yet, with grass in the center no less.  No worries…it’s completely driveable (love the GPS).  We side track to a ‘castle’ that turned out to be nothing more that a not-so-old ruin acting as the entrance to some swanky hotel?  More pretty horses along the way and finally got to run into a flock of sheep - - - as in almost ran into a flock of sheep as in they were in the middle of the road and we had to stop to let them go by.  They were followed a couple hundred yards by the “Dog in Charge” and his master.
 

John had to stop the car to let Erin pet a golden retriever that was ambling down the road with his mom.  Saw a sign for a Stone circle and hit the brakes.  Quick reverse and then a traverse up a road barely wider than the car upon which we met another car coming down the hill - - - some creative maneuvering and about an inch and a half to spare and we got past each other only to find that the road ran out and the walk to the circle was longer than John felt like doing at this point in the day (we’ve already been to the largest stone circle in Ireland…so what’s the point, right?).  Erin walked up a little bit and took a zoomed picture of what may or may not have been the stone circle in question.

   
We did find the Children of Lir mythical site (a story involving druids, magic, spells, children turning into swans, etc.) which was really nothing much more than stones with pennies- turned out to be some white rocks with, supposedly,  swans buried under them and memorial pennies piled on top. 
 

The roads today definitely got...  
 

...more and more...

 

...TINY tiny tiny...
   

...and twistier tiwstier tiwtseir!
 

We rolled into Killarney and checked into the Ardree House B&B, which was very nice.  Took a little time to do trip planning, changed clothes, and hit the town.  Killarney is very definitely a tourist town (tourism is its largest industry).  Even more so than Dublin was (at least on the day we were there).
The history of Killarney dates back to the Bronze Age (2000 BC) when the inhabitants mined copper until about 500 BC when successive waves of invaders over the next 900 years began changing the area – until the Gaels finally established their power and held it until 1583 when the English took over.

 

 Quick stop at Buckley’s pub (recommended by internet web page) for a pint.  The joint was completely empty but the bartender was very nice and we found out that he is from the Urkraine, used to live up near Galway, but now lives and works in Killarney.

We watched a little of the French Open and then moved on to Murphy’s pub which was full of people and good food smells.  Everybody is watching the ‘football’ and John is still trying to get Erin to stop saying “soccer”.
After Murphy’s, we walked back to the B&B for about six hours of sleep.

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