Beara Peninsula

Yesterday started off brilliantly with the stone circle at Kenmare, just a short walk from the town centre. The first one I've ever seen and it's a beauty. About 20 metres across and all 15 stones are still there after 3000 years.
From there I decided to travel around the Beara Peninsula - the most southerly of Kerry's three peninsulas. The lady at the hotel told me it would only take a couple of hours and there'd be little traffic as it's not as popular as places like Dingle. Ha. Ha. Ha. I managed to find another stone circle: the Uragh circle up yet another narrow, twisty, hilly road. A gravel road takes you to a gate where an old man sits to collect 2 euros. Then you walk a little way up a hill and there it is.



It's much smaller than the one at Kenmare - only 6 stones; one large one and five smaller ones. Somehow, out there in the middle of nowhere, it seemed more authentic.
From there I headed west along the coast road. Mostly all I could see were towering hedges along the roadsides and these got closer and closer together as the road got narrower and narrower. The little car struggled a bit with the steeper sections of road. Coming up one such steep bit, approaching a left hand bend, I was suddenly confronted with a convoy coming the other way. There wasn't enough room to pass so I had to go back down the hill, backwards, till there was room to pull over. I gave up then. Turned round and headed back to the main road and drove straight through to Glengarriff where I found somewhere to stay for the night. I just wasn't enjoying the stressful driving on those roads. Consequently there are a couple more stone circles and other things that I missed. Oh well.
Today the plan is to head into County Cork.

Later....

Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry

The Dingle Peninsula, in County Kerry, is Ireland's most westerly area. And it's quite gorgeous too. From Limerick I headed towards Tralee, originally on my way to Killarney. But, as usual, I saw a sign and went off in a different direction - to Dingle. Good choice!!
The road heads up through the mountains, through the Connor Pass - parts of it are closed to large vehicles like buses and HVGs (whatever they are). I'm not surprised as it gets pretty steep, narrow and windy. There's one whole section of road, up top of the pass, that is only wide enough for one car at a time. Scary. But great scenery!!



Dingle itself is at the western end of the peninsula. It's built around a harbour which has two functions: 1. fishing, 2. dolphin tours. 25 years ago Dingle was nothing more than a small, sleepy fishing village that no-one knew about. Then someone spotted a dolphin. 25 years later that dolphin, Fungie, is still there and Dingle has prospered. Boats leave the harbour every half hour to take people out to see the dolphin. 16 euros but if the dolphin doesn't appear there's no charge. The tour takes about an hour and was worth every penny. The scenery is worth the trip alone - ruined tower, lighthouse that's too cute to be true, cliffs with caves - and then there's Fungie. The boat cruises around where the dolphin hangs out and we didn't have to wait long. At first he appeared away from the boat, just gently surfacing every now and again, always in a completely different place. Playing with us. Then he started racing alongside the boat, surfacing only when the boat slowed down. It was like a game - race, jump, race, jump, race. Until he'd had enough and then he wandered off to rest till the next boat arrived. Awesome!



From Dingle I headed eastwards, along the south coast of the peninsula, to Killarney. There's lots of historical stuff around Killarney - Ross castle, cathedrals and churches, etc. But, I arrived in town at the end of a major funeral service - 4 teenagers were killed during the week (car accident) (two of them were brothers). The whole town seemed to be in mourning. I decided it wasn't appropriate to wander round playing tourist so left.
So yesterday and today I travelled the Ring of Kerry, a road that runs around the perimeter of the Iveragh Peninsula - the other half of Kerry. I got some great sunset shots at Cahersiveen last night.
There also seems to be a lot more trees in this area. I saw a thing today that said that by the 1910s Ireland has only 1.5% of its forests left. That has increased to 7% now. Still not a lot. I'm not sure where all the wood has gone as it's not used for housing - all buildings seem to be made of stone throughout the whole country. Maybe it was all just cleared for farm land? Exported? Dunno.
Tonight I'm in Kenmare and will head into Cork tomorrow.

Later....

It's a long way to Tipperary

So I think I'll go somewhere else. Actually, it's just down the road but I think I'm going to head for the coast today. Had enough of urbanity for a while.
Limerick is surprisingly shabby, particularly the "medieval quarter" around the castle. I had a look at St John's Cathedral yesterday - impressive. There were a number of people inside but the silence was overwhelming. I felt a bit embarrassed by the echoing noise of my camera. Great stained glass though and exceptionally ornate altars. The central altar is made from some lovely marble.



St John's Church, directly across the road from the cathedral, has an interesting graveyard but the church itself is empty. It looks like it's been turned into a meeting/music type venue. Maybe a youth club - it had that look about it.
Most of the other medieval places were closed. I was looking through the gate at one place and a guy got out of his van to tell me, "We might have a key in a couple of hours." Right. This is a crazy country :)

Time to hit the road while the sun's out...

Later....

Limerick - sort of.

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster photography-wise. I went off to have a look at King John's Castle and several other attractions in Limerick. But I committed a cardinal sin and didn't check the camera's batteries first. I got some shots of the castle before the battery went flat - no probs, I've got another one. Flat too. Grrr! Not only that, but I also didn't check camera settings and got a bunch of shots of pure whiteness - using indoor setting outdoors. Gawd. Send me back to beginner's class.
Anyway..... the castle itself was a bit disappointing in that there's not much there except the shell. There are two round towers and the main entrance but the insides are empty for the most part. There are a couple of displays in the towers but not much else. Perhaps I shouldn't have seen it so soon after Bunratty which is chock full of stuff. Mind you, the castle was built in about 1210 so I shouldn't really be surprised that most of it has gone.
What is interesting are the archaeological digs on site. One is outside in the main courtyard where they are uncovering what they think might be the great hall as well as a road to the river. I could be wrong here though as the pic I took of the info board was one of the pure whites. The other dig is below ground, directly underneath the souvenir shop. Here they've found evidence of a sally port, defensive walls and pre-Norman dwellings. I wanted to be an archaeologist when I was a kid.
Anyway.... today is another day. Camera batteries are both fully charged.

Later.....

On to Limerick

Haha, I'd planned to drive straight to Limerick and spend yesterday exploring the city. Haha, it took me all day to get here. I saw a sign to Bunratty Castle, followed it and that was it for the day :)
Before that I'd come across a megalithic tomb on the road from Ennistymon to Ennis. There was no information provided about the tomb but I think it's a portal tomb. No idea of its age.



I love how these things are just there on the side of the road. Just about every bend in the road brings something new to look at. And there are plenty of bends - no such thing as a straight line in Ireland!
Sadly though, there's not always the opportunity to stop and have a proper look: the roads are narrow and winding and places to pull over and park are few and far between once you get out of the towns and villages.

Just as I was about to get on the motorway I saw a sign to Clare Abbey. So off I went down a narrow little road..... The abbey is mostly a ruin and at least one of the towers is leaning rather precariously. The gates around it were all locked so I couldn't get inside for a decent poke around. I thought about climbing the fence but the field was full of scary cows. I suspect the abbey is now on private land.



The only way to get back to the motorway was to back up all the way I'd come. Did I mention the roads can be narrow?

A few miles down the motorway and I saw a sign to Bunratty Castle. Detour again....
15 euros to get in. I thought that was a bit steep at first but the castle is fully open to the public and comes with a whole village spread over a number of acres. It's definitely a place to spend several hours, if not all day, so 15 euros isn't so bad after all.



I spent the whole afternoon wandering around the castle and the grounds. The castle itself was crowded with tourists (duh!) which made taking people-less photos difficult. There are signs everywhere asking people not to use flash photography - to protect the tapestries, etc. There are also signs on all the stairways: Entry Only and Exit Only - to keep the traffic on the narrow spiral stairs one way only. Ha! Both sets of signs were routinely ignored by most. Idiots. Traffic jams on the stairways were immensely annoying.
There's a lot more room to move outside and all the buildings are open. They're kept in as original condition as possible - peat fires make them very smoky and most dwellings were small and dark. Interesting nonetheless.



Most of the cottages are white but a couple were painted different colours.
I got sucked in by the touristy thing and ended up buying a certificate with the history of the family name, coat of arms, etc. Apparently Strahan originated in the Donegal area up in the north of Ireland. Shame I'm heading south.

Anyway, after several hours at Bunratty I had a coffee at Durty Nelly's, a 1620 inn just outside the castle, and then got back on the motorway to Limerick. I'm now in the Greenhills hotel until Friday. I decided to spend a couple of days in Limerick as there looks like there's plenty to see. Going off to find King John's castle once I've finished here.

Later.....

The Burren

The Burren is an area in the north of County Clare that's just fascinating. Megalithic portal tombs, medieval ruins, Celtic high crosses, etc. An archaeologist's wet dream. I've been here for two days but have only seen a fraction of what's on offer. The portal tomb at Poulnabrone is impressive - I was amazed at the size of it. It's fantastically well preserved. The limestone landscape is interesting too.


The Cliffs of Moher are worth seeing too but........... the wind! Gale force. 8 euros to park at the cliffs.


Kilfenora Cathedral has a collection of 11th century Celtic High Crosses which are also worth seeing. The carvings have been worn away in some places but, overall, they are remarkably well preserved. They stand under a specially constructed protective roof now. Makes the cathedral look like it has a greenhouse, but it's all in a good cause.

Only the larger towns in these parts have ATMs and many smaller villages don't have credit card facilities. It's wise to keep a stash of cash in reserve.

Ireland is a strange land. It's kind of in the real world, yet it's not.

Later....

Mayo into Galway

Of the two counties, so far I much prefer Mayo. The Galway coast is very pretty - postcard villages, etc., but once you get away from the coast it changes. I've followed the road around from Westport, through Leenaun, Kylemore, Roundstone and on to Galway city. The road down to Leenaun (Leenane) is amazing - it runs alongside a couple of lakes (loughs) surrounded by hills and mountains. There are a couple of Famine monuments along the way which provide a sobering reminder of the hardships this country has suffered. The hills around the lakes are covered in small rivulets running down the hillsides to keep the lakes full. Very pretty. There is a great shortage of trees so I guess the water has nowhere else to go.
Kylemore Abbey is a showcase attraction. 12 euros to get in though. There's also a gothic church on site and both it and the abbey have been fully restored. Lovely stained glass window in the church.
It's only a relatively short distance to Kylemore but it took me most of the day, stopping to take over 300 photos as I did.
The Rosleagh Hotel in Kylemore has pretentions to be 5 star accommodation - grand is the word. But the Fawlty Towerisms made it quite loveable too. The formal dining room is impressive - proper table settings, chandeliers, etc - but the beef fillet was tough. The bedrooms are big and airy but watch out for dead birds on the staircase. Etc.
Yesterday's drive to Galway wasn't nearly as interesting. I quickly got tired of the endless landscape of rocks. Occasional patches of wildflowers and the odd sheep here and there break it up a bit but, overall, I found it to be a bit depressing. The coastal areas are definitely a step back in time. No internet in most places, no phone reception either. I heard a lot of Gaelic being spoken and, in some places, there are no English translations of signs.
Galway itself is one of Ireland's biggest cities and all of a sudden I was faced with something I haven't experienced for a while - traffic! Jammed traffic. I made my way out of town, slowly, and found the Connemara Coast Hotel. A bit pricey but very comfortable. Excellent view from my room, I'm looking right over the bay. Nice. Good food and service too.
It's raining today so I might go into town and do some shopping. Nothing's open till after 12 though, it being Sunday, so there's no hurry.

Later....