Stay Safe - Eat Cake

Yesterday we walked the main streets in Killarney. There were the usual clothing stores and souvenir places, barber shop, SPAR (the Irish equivalent of 7-Eleven) and one other place that caught my eye, not for the first time - “Paddy Power/ Bookmaker/ Bet Here.” 

Early this morning, while Beth was on her morning run, Jon and I walked to the nearby park and walked the trails there. We saw red deer, common in this area, fun to see in the distance, but as Patrick remarked, not a happy sight for the golf course groundskeepers. Many other walkers were in the park along with some trail riders from the Riding Stable just up the street from our B and B. Also in the park was a family who had rented a horse and carriage and the father was driving the horse, to the delight of his children. 

Today we drove the Dingle peninsula, the next one north of the Ring of Kerry. I had assumed it would be quite similar but there were differences. The mountains were more significant, lots of windy roads going up, up, up, with many places to stop and see the view. There were “U-shaped” valleys, sculpted out when glaciers had pushed their way through the existing water courses, leaving behind long, broad valleys. And those valleys are home to many, many sheep. Whereas yesterday we saw small groups of sheep, today we saw flocks of 20 to 60 in pasture after pasture, and the far hillside’s checkerboard of fields all sported numerous white dots. 

There were bicyclists on the roads we traveled but Patrick says there are many, many more in the summer. In the town of Dingle, we were looking for a place for lunch and saw a sign that said Pie. Jon and Beth had been teasing me because I wanted pie the day before but had no room for it at the end of the meal. “Here’s your chance to have pie.” It was a small restaurant on the upper floor over a Sea Glass jewelry store. There were about four tables outside on the deck and eight tables inside. It turned out the name of the restaurant was Pie. More good marketing, Beth reminds us. But they did have pie and it was a neat place to eat. We did move inside when it threatened to rain and they were happy to help us move. Then it didn’t rain anyway. We have had two nice days in a row now with very little rain, just a few sprinkles from a cloud passing overhead. 

When it was time for dessert, they had a selection of eight desserts in the case and Jon and I did each have pie. For a small restaurant, they were really good about adding that little extra touch to the plates they served, nice crisp lettuce on the dinner plates, a little clotted cream topped by a fresh berry with the pie. They had a great selection of teas and the teapots were all shaped like houses, heavy to handle but they kept the water hot. A sign on the wall at the Pie said “Skinny People Are Easy to Kidnap/ Stay Safe - Eat Cake”. I liked Dingle, a small harbor town, with many tall-masted sailboats moored there.

Beck at our B and B about 5:30, we all hit the bed for naps. I slept much longer than I intended, a couple hours, but we had done some climbing on our hikes today, so I guess my body earned it. Tonight we sat in a small sitting room upstairs at the B and B and ate our supper snack, then watched a TV segment on my computer. Tomorrow we leave Killarney. We will miss Patrick’s good humor.