Day 38 Tuesday 28 June 2016

A very late start of 9.15am this morning & we are off to see the Ring of Kerry, a road that starts from Killarney that runs around the very scenic peninsula west of Killarney, then back to Killarney. This road encircles the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, the tallest mountain range in Ireland. Our first short stop was at the Kerry Bog Village, a re-creation of bog houses & an insight into how people lived & worked in Ireland in the 18^th Century. There were 13 buses parked outside so you can imagine how many people there were. Inside the visitor centre they were doing a roaring trade selling Irish coffee at 6 Euro a throw, it was fairly bleak outside, cold, light rain & wind.

The countryside is all different shades of green with rolling farmland split up into small paddocks with the occasional stone fencing. Along the road they have fuchsia hedges, also the heather is starting to flower at places, fox gloves & bog cotton – it is very pretty. Our next stop is Waterville, a coastal holiday town on Ballinskelligs Bay, apparently its recent claim to fame is that the actor Charlie Chaplin used to holiday there during summer, so the locals have erected a bronze statue of him on the beachfront (anything to attract the tourist dollar). The beach is all large rounded stones. As we drive on the scenery keeps getting better, we pass an ancient Ring Fort in a farmer’s paddock, built sometime during the Iron Age (300-400AD). The scenery keeps getting ever better as we climb to the top of the Coomakista Pass & we stop at the parking area on top for a photo. The wind nearly blows us away, it is absolutely roaring, however, the views are spectacular in all directions, looking down & back over Waterville, then the stunning rocky landscape looking down over Derrynane Bay & the sheltered boat harbour. There is a lonely statue of Mary in the carpark keeping watch over travellers.

We pass a couple more Ring Forts along the way & even more stunning scenery as we travel through large glacier sculpted valleys, before stopping at the quant little village of Sneem for lunch (won silver medal for tidy town in 2015). The teal painted Bank House (103 years old this year) is a little B&B that is set up with tables laden with sandwiches, scones, jam, cream, tea & coffee, all waiting for us. Our tour director let them know we were coming & it looked lovely. The food was all very good & all home-made, the scones were still warm. Another claim to fame of the Bank House is that the owner was friends with the film star Maureen O’Hara & she used to stay with them in this very house when she visited Ireland. Some of the ladies went up & had a look in the bedroom she used. We had a short walk around Sneem, admiring the waterfall under the bridge & wondering how Sneem got a memorial to Charles de Gaulle in the local park. Apparently he used to holiday near Sneem so the locals put up a memorial. The houses in town are brightly coloured, it looks great & there is a very good mural of some deer on a wall.

On we travel, more magnificent scenery, mountain lakes, rocky fields, gushing mountain streams, everything so green it hurts your eyes. Our next stop is at Ladies View, a scenic lookout overlooking a large lake & the sun breaks out momentarily for us. A little further on we pass a “Leprechaun Crossing” sign, the road is very narrow & windy, the trees are covered in moss & lichen, it is all so beautiful.

All too soon we are back in Killarney & get on a horse drawn cart, called a “Jaunty” here, for a carriage ride through the adjoining Killarney National Park. We share the carriage with another 6 of our fellow travellers, plus the driver, a funny Irishman who explains the scenery around us plus keeps on cracking all manner of jokes, keeping everyone laughing. We spot some deer grazing in the park, including a couple of large stags with very big antlers. We get another great view of the Macgillicuddy Reeks then come down to the edges of Lough Leane (one of 3 Killarney Lakes), with Ross Castle standing on Ross Island & the ruins of an ancient monastery standing on Innisfallen Island. More beautiful scenery, more deer & then we are back in Killarney again, around 7km later & a tired horse.

There is around an hour for us to get ready for our walk to our next venture, dinner in Killarney at Gabby’s Restaurant, a very nice seafood menu. Needless to say we both had Tempura prawns & Sautéed scallops, I washed them down with a couple of Guinness stout then topped off with an Irish coffee. Superb. We had to finish quickly & walk back to our hotel as the bus was waiting for our next venture again.

Irish music & dancing at a venue at the Killarney Racecourse. There were around 500 tourists packed into the venue for the 8.30pm start & the music, Irish dancing & singing was magnificent. We were all stamping our feet & clapping our hands during the performances. The lead male dancer had won 7 world Irish dancing championships & the lead female dancer had won 3 world Irish dancing championships. All the dancers were fantastic, very good indeed. It is amazing the speed that they move their feet at. The musicians were very versatile, the woman playing the violin had the most amazing voice. The man playing the piano accordion also played the flute & the Irish tin whistle superbly. The entertainment ended too soon for us. Back on the coach & home at 10.30pm

Another really great day – it’s hard to believe but every day seems to be better than the one before.

The other night at Knappogue castle we were made king & queen, so our loyal subjects have been giving us a hard time, every time they would bow or make an appropriate comment, but today we drove through Killorglin, a little village with a crowned goat statue, called King Puck – the locals apparently have a festival every year in honour of their goat king, so our egos are really deflated that we have been deposed by a goat, but at least not beheaded.