Oh, by the way, we did have a wonderful “sit-down” dinner at an Italian restaurant in Kilkenny, and another in Blarney so perhaps the cafeteria style is more prevalent in the big city.
I was wrong in my last post about not doing as much driving. Today’s itinerary was to traverse the peninsula on the Wild Atlantic West coast called the Ring of Kerry. The circuit was 110 miles by the book. We must have gone further, for, in addition to the lovely landscapes of the peninsula, we got hooked by the “Ten Minute Walk to the Most Spectacular View in County Kerry.” Once parked, we discovered our ten minute walk was going to cost us 4 euros a piece! As Beth commented, it's all about the marketing.
The walk was more than ten minutes, most of it uphill, but the view of the cliffs where the Atlantic crashes into the island was magnificent. We went all the way to the topmost viewing station, with Jon and Beth linking their arms with mine to help me move forward and upward against a very stiff wind. The signs pointing the way to the coast just show wavy lines, like 3 Ws linked. I say it should be called the Wild Windy West. Once up there we had to admit that all the level concrete and fencing that had been done to provide a safe viewing station made the price appropriate. The cliffs were scoured out by the ocean and the drop to the water was a couple hundred feet. I was intrigued by the lovely wild flowers that clung to the sides of the hills, even some growing from what seemed could only be rock. It was the high point of today’s trip, though we saw many lovely valleys and many old stone houses with the roofs gone, but the stone walls and chimneys still standing. The Irish certainly know how to build with stone.
The walk was more than ten minutes, most of it uphill, but the view of the cliffs where the Atlantic crashes into the island was magnificent. We went all the way to the topmost viewing station, with Jon and Beth linking their arms with mine to help me move forward and upward against a very stiff wind. The signs pointing the way to the coast just show wavy lines, like 3 Ws linked. I say it should be called the Wild Windy West. Once up there we had to admit that all the level concrete and fencing that had been done to provide a safe viewing station made the price appropriate. The cliffs were scoured out by the ocean and the drop to the water was a couple hundred feet. I was intrigued by the lovely wild flowers that clung to the sides of the hills, even some growing from what seemed could only be rock. It was the high point of today’s trip, though we saw many lovely valleys and many old stone houses with the roofs gone, but the stone walls and chimneys still standing. The Irish certainly know how to build with stone.
I had not seen a single wooden fence post until we were headed west today.. All the “fences” were rock walls, or dirt berms on top of which hedges grew. Looking out across the valleys, one saw land divided into 5, 10 and 15 acre fields, separated by what looked like walls or hedgerows only. Today, sometimes I saw fence posts inserted into rock walls and also into the shrubby berm. to add wire fencing. I thought these fences were added for the benefit of cattle, since the rock walls probably worked for sheep, but today, in some places, I realized the higher fences were for People!
I enjoyed watching the sheep with their lambs. I saw several herds of cows, Brown Swiss, Holsteins, Guernseys and a few mixed herds. And today we saw black faced sheep for the first time. Lots of sheep, perfect for the rolling, rocky pasture land.
Coming back into Killarney, we saw the Jaunting Cars. They are two wheeling carts, drawn by ponies, the local version of the horse and carriages of NYC or Cincinnati.
Our B & B host is a friendly Irishman, Patrick. At breakfast, he brought Beth some extra yogurt because he had seen her returning from her run this morning and thought she should have the extra calories. I miss my morning oatmeal. I am surprised they do not serve it here. I have yet to have it in Ireland. We get cereal, dry oats or muesli combinations, toast, coffee and orange juice here at the B&B. Then we have a choice of eggs, various sausages, beans, fruit, yogurt, or cheese. Patrick does all the serving. We can hear his wife in the kitchen with at least one helper, but we have not met her. The B&B has another party of 4 guests, besides us, right now.
Lovely, Mom! Following you all along! Sweet joke, too! A windy pull up a wind-y way, eh?
ReplyDelete