Well, the sunburn on the arms is not fun, but still not enough to ruin my mood. I got up early today, gave some laundry to Toni here at the B&B1, and went for a nice walk before my tour.
This is the church at the centre of town – the town being Killarney.There are some nice statues in the Killarney town parks, including one of Johnny O’Leary, a renowned accordion player……and of Jesus.
Then I made my way down to the Deros offices to get on my tour of the Dingle Peninsula.
Boo Boo guards the door at the Deros offices. She’s a very nice old dog.
There were apparently more people signed up for the tour than expected, so I wound up on the second bus, leaving about a half-hour later. It was a small bus, with only about a dozen of us, so we got a lot of personal attention, and a more flexible, looser structure to the tour.
Inch Beach is a peninsular beach made by ocean drift, stretching almost all the way across Dingle Bay from the Dingle Peninsula to the Iveragh Peninsula.It’s a pretty impressive stretch of beach, especially with the low tide the way it was today.There’s a neat little cafe at the beach, with the mountains of the Dingle Peninsual rising behind it.On up the coastal road is a little spot called Fahan. It’s got great views of the Dingle Bay cliffs.The cliffs are pretty dramatic.Up the hill a ways from Fahan is a little neolithic farmstead, with stone fences and a surviving beehive hut.The beehive hut is still standing. Some of the other structures are undergoing some restoration.The rough coastline here is near the Blasket Islands.The Blasket Islands are, by some measures, the westernmost part of Europe. They had folks living on them up until 1953 when the last of them left.They are beautiful, rocky, remote islands.The land on the Dingle coast opposite the Blaskets is still pretty rugged.Then it was back down to Dingle town, a very pretty little coastal town.Dingle is a working harbour, mainly with fishing boats.One of the things Dingle is famous for is Fungie the Dolphin, who has lived near the harbour mouth since 1983, and is known to come in and play with swimmers and follow the boats around.There’s actually a store called The Dolphin Shop on the high street, dedicated to Fungie memorabilia.
And then it was back to Killarney, and not being on time to pick up my laundry.
This is my last night in Killarney, and my last night at Larkinley Lodge. Larkinley is a great B&B – Toni and Danny are great hosts, the room is beautiful and comfortable and quiet, and the bed is very comfortable.
But I’m looking forward to moving on to Kilkenny.
Laundry service here is Toni taking the laundry to the laundrette, and me picking it up at the end of the day. Unfortunately, my tour got back late, and the laundrette was closed. I’ll have to pick it up tomorrow morning before I get on the train. [↩]
It was beautiful weather today – sunny, just a few puffy clouds, a bit of a breeze. Seeing as I was spending most of the day outside, this was wonderful. Except, of course, that I forgot to put on any sunscreen. Yep, I got some pretty good sunburn on my arms and a bit on my face.
I was up fairly early because I needed to go down to the Deros Tours to find out which tour I was on today – I had booked both the Gap of Dunloe tour and the Dingle Peninsula tour, but I had lost the e-mail that told me which day was which. So, I had to go down early and find out which tour I was taking.
And then I walked around the High Street for a while, waiting for the tour to start.
The town centre of Killarney is very pretty. Killarney is pretty focused on tourism, and everyone is very friendly.
The time came, and we got on the bus, and went up to Aghadoe to take a look at where we’re going today.
These are the lakes we’re going to be boating on later.The lakes are very beautiful from above.There’s no wonder that Killarney area is a popular tourist destination.
Then we were on to Kate Kearney’s Cottage.
This is the start of the trail up through the Gap of Dunloe. There are a number of men with horses and traps there to drive you through the gap if you don’t want to walk the seven miles through the mountains.So we started up the gap, me and two charming Irish ladies, and the driver.The steep walls lining the gap are studded with limestone outcroppings, looking both forbidding and picturesque.The first and deepest of the lakes in the gap, this is Black Lake.The road crosses and recrosses the chain of tiny lakes and rivers on similar rustic bridges as it switchbacks up the gap.Looking back down the Gap of Dunloe towards Kate Kearney’s Cottage.The last lake in the gap is Serpent Lake, said to the be the place where St. Patrick eliminated the last snake in Ireland.At the top of the gap, looking down the other side into Black Valley. One of the most remote places in Ireland, with about thirty families living there. They just got electricity there in 1976.The road down is a little less steep and far greener than the road up.And the horses get a well-deserved rest at the end of the trail.The bridge to Brandon’s Cottage, where we got to have lunch and board the boats.This tower is the original Lord Brandon’s Cottage. It’s not open to the public, because it’s not safe. But it is cool.This is just an awesome tree.
I don’t have an interesting picture of the current Lord Brandon’s Cottage, simply because it’s not that interesting a building. It’s a little cafeteria, with a lot of picnic tables.
Down at the boats, pulling away from the docks at Lord Brandon’s Cottage.The boats pass through three different lakes and a river as you circle Purple Mountain.
This is Purple Mountain. On our trip, we brought along someone who lives in the valley, who wanted a lift to check on some sheep. Apparently, his family owns a couple thousand scattered over this mountainside.The scenery is just gorgeous.The only channel out of the lake is through Coleman’s Eye, a gap in the rocks about twelve feet wide.The river winds around the mountain.We saw a couple of swans, a couple of eagles, and a few herons along the way. According to the boatman, there would usually be more birds and other wildlife, but several years ago, someone in Waterville imported a bunch of minks to farm. When they inevitably escaped, they started breeding in the Kerry Mountains, and are a real problem for wildlife and sheep.Looking back as we enter the next lake.This bridge can apparently sometimes be underwater if the lakes rise too high, as they can if the rain is high.This bridge, leading into the big lake, doesn’t get covered by water.Inisfallen is an island in the big lake that has the remains of an abbey/university from the sixth century on it. It was, apparently, one of the great centres for learning in Ireland.We dock at Ross Castle, about a mile from the town of Killarney.Ross Castle is a 14th century castle. Ross is the Irish word for promontory, so this is the castle on the promontory.
Then it was back on the bus and back to Killarney. I wandered around for a bit, had a nice dinner at Quinlan’s – a fish place that catches its own fish. I had the special, which was John Dory with chips and salad – I’d never had John Dory, or even heard it, but it was tasty.
Walking back to the B&B, I grabbed a homemade honeycomb caramel ice cream cone. I had a lot of pictures to process at the B&B, many of which were not very good, as taking pictures in the back of a bouncing horse trap is not conducive to getting unblurred pictures.
Now, bedtime. Tomorrow, the tour of the Dingle Peninsula.
Today was a travel day. I was up early to catch the bus to Galway, and then the train to Dublin, another train to Mallow, a third train to Killarney, then a cab to Larkinley Lodge. Now, I found out that Larkinley Lodge was within easy walking distance, but my iPhone had drained its battery while I was reading on the bus and trains, and couldn’t use the GPS to find the place. Now I know how to walk from the Lodge to the station, so that’s fine.
But really what that means is that I don’t have a lot of pictures today. Here are a few little things.
I just realized that I haven’t shown you the inside of McGann’s Pub, except for the musicians. Here’s the actual pub part.This is Larkinley Lodge. Very nice folks here, and a very nice room. Good recommendations for dinner.The room is lovely. The B&B is new-built, and a nice mix of modern and traditional feel to it.
I went for a nice walk around Killarney, found the pub – The Laurels – that they recommended at the B&B, and also found the place to meet for my tour tomorrow.
Today was mainly a travel day. Bus from Cork City to Killarney, then wait four hours for the bus to Cahirseveen1, and finally take a taxi from Cahirseveen to Portmagee. I got here shortly after five, just a little too late to make it across the bridge to the Skellig interpretive centre on Valentia Island.
I’m staying at The Moorings, which is a very nice guesthouse. The room here is bigger than at either Ariel House or Garnish House, and looks a little more like a North American hotel room.
The Moorings, where I’m staying. It’s right on the water in Portmagee.This is directly across the street from my guesthouse. It’s where I’m going to take the boat tomorrow morning to get to the Skelligs.Across the water, past the boats, is Valentia Island. The low stone building is the Skellig interpretive centre. I got here too late to check it out tonight; maybe tomorrow after the boat trip.Looking down the harbour towards the sea. At 10:00 am tomorrow, that’s where I’m heading.
The Skelligs Package here at The Moorings is really quite nice. Not only do you get the room and the trip to the Skelligs, but you get a voucher for a dinner, a packed lunch for the trip, a free special Irish Coffee2, and some very nice Skellig chocolates.
Apparently, according to the taxi driver who brought me here, the boats were not able to land on the Skelligs last week, but did land this morning. Weather looks promising, but the announcement will be made in the morning at breakfast whether or not the boats are going out. I hope they do, obviously.
Now, to sleep. I need to be rested for climbing the 660 steps on Skellig Michael tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
I gotta say, I have no idea if I’m spelling that right. I have seen four or five different spellings, many of them in this past day as I was trying to get there. [↩]
Which I’m not really interested in, but still. [↩]
Things started off substantially better today. I actually made it to my tour bus on time, and was off on a tour of the Ring of Kerry.
One important word about this tour: if you are planning on taking a bus around the Ring of Kerry, and you are at all susceptible to motion sickness, take something before you go. I rarely get motion sick, but the narrow, twisting roads and the rocking and bouncing of the bus had me feeling nauseous fairly soon. And I was an idiot; I kept suffering through the bus ride portions between the stops, feeling worse and worse, then getting off the bus into the fresh air and feeling a bit better. I finally broke down and got some pills at a pharmacy in Killarney on the way back, and the ride back to Cork City from Killarney was fine.
Anyway. Word to the wise. I’m just even more glad that I didn’t sign up for a guided coach tour for the whole vacation.
So, our first stop was a replica 19th-century bog village.
Here’s the lane of the bog village. That big pile of black stuff is cut turves – chunks of peat ready for burning.So, there’s this town near the bog village called Killorglin. It celebrates Puck Fair every year, wherein they crown a goat King Puck, put him in a cage on a pedestal and proceed to have a party. No one’s sure why. We didn’t get to stop at the official King Puck statue in Killorglin, but they had one in the bog village.The village also had a couple of Irish wolfhounds. These dogs are huge, and beautiful. I understand why they need to keep them in a pen away from the tourists, but I really wish I could have got closer.Here’s a look at the mountains from the bog village.And here’s the view as we leave the bog village and head into the mountains.
We went on from there to a stretch along Dingle Bay that is obviously a popular stretch for pictures. The narrow road that wraps around the mountainous coast had a number of little nooks on the water side where cars and buses could stop for pictures. And they were mostly full when we stopped.
Looking across Dingle Bay.Here’s the end of Dingle Bay, peeking around the shoulder of the hill.Looking towards the mouth of Dingle Bay. Can’t quite see the ocean, but getting close.The little farms across Dingle Bay.
We stopped for lunch in Waterville, a very nice little village on the end of the peninsula.
This is the main street in Waterville. Very picturesque.Apparently, Charlie Chaplin and his family used to vacation frequently in Waterville, so they’ve put up this statue. The also recently had a Chaplin Film Festival, approved by the Chaplin Family.
This is the shore in front of the Waterville main street.Looking out into the bay at Waterville.
After lunch, we were back on the road for about fifteen minutes, getting to this little overlook above Waterville.
Looking down the valley back toward Waterville. Can just barely see it.Looking up the mountain above Waterville, into the clouds.Looking down the other side of the overlook, out to sea.Some neat rocks on the mountain above Waterville.These stone fences are everywhere in the area, dividing the various fields. This one is unusual because it has a gate – apparently, the standard practice is to fill the opening with more stone after you get the animals onto the field.
We then drove on to the village of Sneem.
The Sneem River runs through Sneem. It’s a lovely little river. And saying Sneem is fun. Try it. Sneem.So, there’s a traditional song called “The Stone Outside Dan Murphy’s Door.” This is either the place, or it’s a place based on the song. It’s also in Sneem.
We drove off through the mountains, up through Moll’s Gap, and on to the Ladies View, above the lakes of Killarney.
We stopped last in Killarney, but only in the heart of the city. Not a lot of really interesting picture material, but it is a very nice city to walk around in.
Really, the tour was great, but it was also kind of a tease. There were dozens of times when I wished we could have stopped to take a picture of some thing, but we didn’t. Sometimes there just was no place to stop a whole bus load of people, and the time it took to unload and reload all the people for a photo op was substantial. So, the driver picked a few very good spots.
Still, there was a beautiful view with interesting things in it pretty much around every corner. The Ring of Kerry is a beautiful drive, and I heartily recommend it.
