31 May 2014. <IE> Killarney, Co. Kerry —

Susie's perfect parking!

Woke up in the carpark after a very quiet night. As we were having breakfast, noticed a visitor — a red deer in the forest nearby. Went back to Muckross House, but this time to wander the grounds. A beautiful spring day, and the whole of Killarney had much the same idea! Found a great car park up near the House and set off. First a walk through the gardens — mainly round the Rock Garden and past magnificent displays of azaleas. Then in for a cuppa at the visitor centre. There's a beautifully manicured formal garden just outside the centre.

Part of the Gardens

Susie
at Torc Falls

Torc Falls

Jaunting Cart
(Note the dust)

Then we decided to do the walk out to Torc Falls, about 2km each way. A pleasant walk — we didn't push it. There were jaunting carts passing us on the way, but we weren't tempted (in spite of offers!). The falls are quite spectacular, and well worth the walk. Then, of course, we had the walk back!

Then we had lunch in the van, after which Warren had his cat nap while Susie did a bit more walking. When she returned, we went over to the nearby Muckross Farms shop and bought an ice cream — just the day for it!

Boats near Ross Castle

It was getting late by now so, after adjourning to Macca's to catch up on our blogging, we returned with our van to Ross Castle, to park in the carpark there. Susie went for another walk, and found a few more photo opportunities, so when she came back we both went out to take come more pictures. A German couple came up to us where we were parked and asked if they could park near us for the night — I suspect they are a little more concerned about security than we are! Anyway, the vans spent the night together.

Ross Castle by night

As the sun was fading, Warren went out again to get a couple of shots of Ross Castle lit up for the night. Then to bed! Tomorrow should be fun — there's a BikeFest (remember the BikeFest) parade through the town at 11am.

Distance driven — today, 13 miles ( 21 km ); to date, 1,759 miles ( 2,831 km )

30 May 2014. <IE> Kilnamartyra, Co. Cork; Killarney, Co. Kerry —

Susie at the Toy Soldier Factory

Woke up to the sound of bird calls in the morning. A beautiful sunny day. Got ourselves moving on our way to Killarney. About 8km outside Macroom there were signs to the Prince August Toy Soldier Factory, the only such factory in Ireland. Decided to detour across to it. This turned out to be a cross-country jaunt to the little town of Kilnamartya (Cill na Martra). The factory itself is quite well set up, and they have a steady stream of tourists and school children through for a hands-on experience of casting a solder or pewter miniature. The kids love it!

From there, we went on the N22 through a pass in the Derrynasaggart Mountains and into Killarney (Cill Airne). On the way we had only one hold-up - a road accident on the way down from the pass. From the number of emergency vehicles and Gardai (Police) in attendance, it must have been major. There wasn't much left of the two vehicles involved! We didn't stop around to sticky-beak!

Ross Castle

In Killarney, we went straight to Ross Castle, a late 15th century square tower, probably built by one of the O'Donoghue Ross chieftains. The typical square keep has been fully renovated, using tools and techniques of the time. This is a different approach to the previous conservations we have seen, and is most interesting. So long as at least some of the castles are conserved, a few restorations allow us to see the way they really worked! We went on the guided tour, which was most entertaining in itself! Other parts of the castle, dating to the British "occupation" include a regimental barracks which at times was used as a prison for French, Spanish — and Irish — prisoners before their trading back and repatriation, or their execution! These parts of the castle are not considered as worthy of restoration, so little has been done with them other than to make them safe.

Lough Leane from Ross Castle

We next dropped into Tesco for a short shop, and then we went down to Muckross House. On the way down Muckross Road, we noticed a group of hotels with a huge number of motorbikes lined up outside them. Turns out that this weekend, in Killarney, there's the 8th Annual Ireland BikeFest. They're doing trips round the Ring of Kerry over the weekend for part of their entertainment — and that's just what we'll be doing in a couple of days! On Sunday there's a massed Parade through the town, so if we're still here, we might have a look in!

Muckross Friary

Muckross Friary Cloister

Muckross Friary Graveyard

On the way in to Muckross House, we went into the Muckross Friary (aka Muckross Abbey). This 4th to 6th century abbey has been partly restored by OPW — the cloister in the middle has been fully restored, and there is a magnificent yew tree growing in the middle of it. Although the friary is no longer functional, the graveyard is still being used. A delightful stop.

Approaching Muckross House

Muckross House is a magnificent mansion built in 1843 for £30,000 by Arthur Herbert, the MP for Kerry, who had made his money in copper. The Herberts entertained many important visitors here, notably Queen Victoria in 1861. The property was bought by Lord Ardilaun of the Arthur Guinness Brewing family in 1899, who rented it out to the wealthy for hunting and fishing purposes . In 1911, it was bought by Mr William Bowers Burn, a wealthy American, as a wedding gift for his daughter Maud and her Irish husband. In 1932, three years after Maud died unexpectedly, the family gifted the property and its 4,000 hectare Estate to the Irish Nation, when it became Ireland's first National Park.

Muckross House

The House is magnificent — shades of Downton Abbey — and the grounds are breathtaking. Muckross House has its own lake — Muckross Lake — separated from Lough Leane by what is called Muckross Peninsula, but which is actually a land bridge. (Lough Leane and surrounding lands were later added to the parkland, forming Killarney National Park, totalling around 11,000 hectares.) There is an arboretum, a rock garden, the lake, magnificent lawns, numerous walks to waterfalls, mountains, bridges — you name it. One could spend days here — and, indeed, we might!

Susie in the Jaunting Car

After our 3km walk in to Muckross House, we negotiated a cut-rate trip back to the van in a Jaunting Car (horse and cart!). Warren's feet were relieved! The driver was your typical talkative Irishman (is there any other kind?), and when we got to our destination, he wanted to keep on talking. The horse, on the other hand, knew it was time top go home!

After the tour, we dropped in to Macca's to catch up on email — not much there! Then it was a no-brainer as to where we would spend the night — we had found a fairly secluded end of the National Park Car Park, so we went back there and settled in.

Distance driven — today, 46 miles ( 74 km ); to date, 1,746 miles ( 2,810 km )

29 May 2014. <IE> Kinsale, & Timoleague, & Clonakilty, & Macroom, Co. Cork —

Desmond Castle

Today we went into Kinsale to visit Desmond Castle. This is an urban tower house erected by the Earl of Desmond in the late 15th or early 16th century. In its lifetime, it has served as the Kinsale Customs House (the Earl had been granted the right to levy a 10% tax in kind on all wines passing through the port), an ordnance store, a prison and a workhouse. Today it is a OPW site, so we were able to gain free entry.

During the various Europan wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle was used to confine French and Spanish prisoners of war prior to their being exchanged for British prisoners captured by the other side. The castle is thus alternatively called "The French Prison". The prisoners were treated in a somewhat inhumane manner, and there are numerous documents protesting this treatment!

In the 1840s the building was converted to a workhouse for the victims of the Great Famine — once again, there was little to be said for the humanity of the inmates' treatment!

It has now been turned into a museum of Irish wine connections throughout the world. Apparently after the Napoleonic Wars, a number of Irish soldiers remained in France, particularly around Bordeaux, and became remowned vintners. James Hennessy cognac is the result of one of these emigrés, and there are at least 14 other major wine houses in Bordeaux that are in fact Irish! And Spanish Sherries had the benefit of similar Irish input, and after that there were "Wine Geese" who emigrated to the US and Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Wakeman's, in South Australia's Clare Valley, is only one example of an Irish vintner, and Xanadu in Western Australia is another!

Kinsale

Kinsale

Anyway, we wandered the castle for an hour or so before we went into town for a late coffee and scone morning tea — this is beginning to become a theme! We walked up the other side of the Harbour and found the Kinsale Yacht Club. This town is a very prosperous area, and obviously depends on the holiday trade to a great extent — and today is the last day of the school year in Ireland! Should be fun here in the next few weeks! We returned to the van, then realized that Suzie wanted a Desmond Castle postcard to send to her Cousin Desmond! Walked back to Desmond Castle — no Desmond Castle postcards elsewhere — bought a card, then returned to the van.

Timoleague Friary

We then set off for the Michael Collins Centre near Clonakilty, about 25km to the west. On the way, we stopped off and had lunch outside Timoleague Friary, an OPW site that is in the early stages of restoration, and is not yet open to the public. Nevertheless, the views from the outside are very atmospheric. When it finally is opened, it will be well worth visiting! And the estuary on which it is situated, of the Argideen River, is worth the trip in its own right — it's beautiful! The town of Timoleague is picturesque to say the least, but if you are averse to narrow serpentine streets, you might like to think twice about visiting. You could always park at the Friary (easy to access) and walk into the township.

Clonakilty

Sign in Clonakilty!

We continued on to find the Michael Collins Centre. After numerous narrow country roads/lanes, stops for cattle crossing, and a few backtrackings — the signage leading to it leaves a little to be desired — we found it, but found we were a little early to get in — by about 3 weeks! Not open till mid-June! Not to be fazed, we went on to Clonakilty. Got there about 4:10pm, too late to do anything about visiting the model train museum there — and decided it wasn't worth waiting for tomorrow to do it, so we wandered the town. It has the longest main street of any village we've seen — to the extent that it had two virtually identical sweet shops a couple of blocks apart, both of which appear to be doing well. We replenished our supply of extra-strong mints there. We then redirected our travels towards Killarney, about 1½-2 hours to the northwest. This meant — according to the Garmin — a little more cross-country driving before we met with the N22 about 10km east of Macroom (Maigh Cromtha). We drove into and just through Macroom, where we found a stop by the cemetery just inside the town limits. Susie went for a walk and returned to say she had found a great place to move to, well off the highway, and totally secluded. This sounded like a good move, so here we are for the night, in a large turning circle by an abandoned factory!

Distance driven — today, 67 miles ( 108 km ); to date, 1,700 miles ( 2,736 km )

28 May 2014. <IE> Blarney, & Kinsale, Co. Cork —

Blarney Castle

Left our Macca's site, called through the Blackpool shops for a couple of bits, then set off for Blarney Castle. It's only abut 8km from where we were, so we were there in no time at all. It was a lovely sunny day and the carpark was already quite busy. Went into the grounds — €10 each, but all was included. Apparently kissing the Blarney Stone is on a lot of the top "bucket lists". The castle is a single square tower on a large limestone crag. It is in pretty good condition, and the grounds are magnificent. The collection of trees in the arboretum is truly impressive — we noticed a very healthy gum tree amongst them.

Of course we climbed to the top of the castle — there's a sort of assembly line, with a narrow spiral staircase going up, and a considerably wider one coming back down. The aim of the exercise is to have the most efficient throughput at the Blarney Stone itself. The Blarney Stone is a stone set into the underside of the battlements, accessed through a gap in the wall — you need to lie on your back, walk your hands down a pair of handrails until you are almost upside down, in which uncomfortable position you are able to kiss the stone. There's an attendant there to steady you, and a photographer capturing everyone's effort to do it. By our estimate, they get through about two people every minute — 120 per hour — the place is open 9 to 5, so let's say 1,000 people per day — the mind boggles! Anyway, your travellers can both say they've kissed the Blarney Stone!

After a very pleasant coffee and scones in the Coach House Tea Room (beside which were housed two more tinker's wagons!), we wandered the grounds for about an hour, then left for Charles Fort.

Charles Fort

Charles Fort is a 17th century star-shaped fort with 5 bastions, covering a 12-acre site on a headland dominating Kinsale Harbour. (Kinsale is the southernmost port in Ireland — now superseded by Cork — the site of a 6th century monastery, a 10th century Viking trading post, a 13th century Norman walled town and, by the end of the 16th century, an important trading base). In 1681, the Duke of Ormond renamed the fort Charles Fort in honour of Charles II. It was a British fort up to 1921 when the Irish Free State was established. During the Civil War, most of the buildings were destroyed, but since the State took it into care as a National Monument in 1973 there has been extensive repair and conservation work carried out.

Kinsale at Dusk from Fort

We walked the site for about two hours (free, courtesy of the arrangement with English Heritage), then adjourned to the van. The car park above the fort has a wonderful view of the harbour, and is an ideal site to camp over. So be it! As we ate dinner we enjoyed watching the yachts racing in the bay, spinnakers set and billowing majestically.

Distance driven — today, 35 miles ( 56 km ); to date, 1,633 miles ( 2,628 km )

27 May 2014. <IE> Whitegate, & Blackpool, Co. Cork —

We haz gas!

Today is our trip out to Calor. We went in to Macca's at 9am to have a cuppa, but mainly to use their internet to find the Calor site on Google Maps. According to Google, it's out east along the N25, south on the R629, and about 500 metres past the intersection with the R631. Google lied! It turned out to be nowhere near that location — although it was along the R629, but a few more kilometres south, in Whitegate. We found the place, with a little help from a couple of locals. Without their help, we would never have found it! Got to the entrance security gate — it's not a retail outlet, but a commercial distribution centre — and the Security Man at the gate, Sam, couldn't have been more helpful. He told us that, even though they don't officially handle our type of cylinder, there is enough call from distressed travellers for them to keep a few on hand - so not only were we able to do a refill exchange on our cylinder, we were able to get a spare at very reasonable cost!

Barley crop

While we were waiting for the exchange to take place, Sam suggested we wander past the back of their site and to the top of a hill there. He said the view was amazing. He didn't lie! We went up there, into what was actually by a restricted military area, and could see across the inlet to Cobh< (Queenstown) — just a kilometre across the water, but a 40km road trip if you wanted to get there. Also at the top of the hill was this lush crop of barley. Everything is so green here in Ireland!

Cobh (Queenstown) across the water from the top of the hill

Anyway, we got our gas, took our leave of Sam, and returned to Cork. Back to the same haunts, as we needed a few more things.

Must point out that while we were undertaking this mission, we had left 18 pounds of laundry at a laundromat in Blackpool, and by the time we got back at about 12:30 it was all done. What a luxury! We then adjourned to the shopping complex, where Susie had a further bit of luxury and got her hair done! No real touring today (except for the drive), but we got a lot done!

We have decided that the places we want to see near Cork are not actually in Cork itself, but outside to the west and to the South. Places like the Blarney Castle, Charles Fort, the Michael Collins Centre, and many more, so have decided to spend another night behind Macca's and then set out exploring these next sites tomorrow. If the weather is as kind tomorrow as it was today, we should have a great day!

Distance driven — today, 54 miles ( 87 km ); to date, 1,598 miles ( 2,572 km )

26 May 2014. <IE> Burncourt, & Cork, Co. Cork —

Van parked at Caves

Drove to Mitchelstown Caves — all of 500 metres! Met Gemma, who was to be our guide. Had about 20 minutes to wait, by which time a group of Israeli tourists joined us. Went down into the cave system. One of the few places in Ireland where you can reliably predict the weather — it's always 12°, and 'rain' falls from the roofs of the caverns exactly 2 weeks after it falls on the ground above — it takes that long to percolate through the rock to the cave system! Only 3 major caverns have been opened up. There are others, but for tourist access OH&S would demand a lot of blasting to open up corridors, something the current owners definitely don't want, as it would damage the system too much. So the deeper caverns are reserved for spelunkers only!

Susie in the Caves

Magnificent caves, not ruined by over-commercialisation. Even the lighting is subdued, and simple white light with no fancy coloured effects. That's the way I like it! Even though photography is officially banned, I was able to take a few without flash — flash would have ruined the shots anyway — but the exposure times were quite long, so I hope my hands were steady!

Gemma herself was delightful, and obviously enjoys her job. Apparently after she's been working there a little longer, they will take her back into a lake in one of the more remote caverns — it's a 4-hour climb in, 4 hours back out. You've got to be keen!

After the Caves, we drove across into Mitchelstown for lunch. Nothing much here to look at, so we had our break and then drove further south, into Cork. On the way, there's a stretch of highway — the M8 — which is toll road, and the Garmin was doing its best to get us onto this stretch. Warren, on the other hand, was doing his best to keep us off it (tightwad that he is!). Warren won! We stayed on the R639, crossing and re-crossing the M8, but not ever joining it — at the end, taking an alternative route into Northern Cork, to an area called Blackpool, where there is a large Shopping complex and a couple of McDonald's. We needed the shopping complex because one of the stores in it was a listed outlet for Calor Gas, and we had run out. The Macca's did us for internet, and for the odd cuppa.

It turned out that the Woodie's DIY store only had the Irish 6kg butane gas cylinders, not the 7kg UK ones (with different fittings), but they told us where the Calor distribution centre is, some 25km to the southeast of Cork, so we decided to make the trek tomorrow.

We found an unsupervised carpark right behind Macca's, and decided to give them our custom until we were ready for bed, when we adjourned to the aforesaid carpark. Another good day!

Distance driven — today, 44 miles ( 71 km ); to date, 1,544 miles ( 2,485 km )

25 May 2014. <IE> Cashel, Co. Tipperary —

Cashel. The day dawned fine for us, but cold. The Rock of Cashel is very exposed, but we decided to go for it! Drove into town and found the car park right at the Rock. Walked up and into the Reception area — nice and warm. And once again, English Heritage got us in without charge! There was a tour setting off in ten minutes, so we decided to tag along. While waiting, we were wondering why most of the group were waiting inside the Reception area. Went outside, found out why — it was even colder up there on the Rock — and came back inside!

Cathedral & Residence

St Patrick's Cross
(moved inside
for preservation)

A bit of history before we start. The Rock of Cashel is a large limestone crag dominating the plain of the River Suir in the heart of Munster. Its origins as a fortress go back to the 4th or 5th centuries AD. According to tradition, St Patrick baptised the Eóganacht kings, the grandsons of Conall Corc, at Cashel. Later the last king of all Ireland, Brian Boraimhe (Brian Boru) was crowned here. In 1101, Muircheartach Ua Brian, king of Cashel, gave the Rock to the Church, thus establishing himself as a church reformer, but his probable motive was to deprive his enemies, the Eóganacht, of their ancient royal seat. From then on (until the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and the Rock's passing into State hands), the Rock of Cashel was a religious site.

Balcony in Hall of Vicars Choral

The tour set off into the Hall of the Vicars Choral, the residence of the eight vicars who provided all the music for the cathedral (until the Bishop and his entourage decided that a smaller cathedral down in the village might be warmer). The rock was abandoned in 1749 and slowly fell into decay. The cathedral in the town is still functioning, but its associated Bishop's Palace has since become the village pub!

Round Tower from Cathedral

Niche in Cathedral

Remnants of Wall Painting

We next went into the cathedral, a large cruciform Gothic church without aisles, built between 1230 and 1270. Recently the remains of 15th century wall paintings have been discovered beneath the lime wash that had covered them for centuries. The nave is unusually short, and its western end abuts the residential tower, the home of the bishop before his move into the village, and which would have been a cold and dark place!

Cormac's Chapel

Scaffolding

We were taken into Cormac's Chapel, one of the earliest and finest Romanesque churches in Ireland, dating from the 13th century. It is currently undergoing extensive repair and conservation work, so its exterior is entirely obscured by scaffolding and by a roof above it to allow the Chapel's own stone roof to dry out before being repaired and repointed.

Round Tower

We ended up in the graveyard by the Round Tower, the original building on the site, dating back to about 1101. It is unusual in that it is complete, even to its conical stone roof. The graveyard was closed about 1926, but because of pressure from families holding family plots, it was decided to take "reservations" for those living and their children, but for no further generations. The list in the ledger is almost done, with only three elderly ladies still to claim their plots.

Our guide was a wonderful garrulous Irishman who loved nothing better than to tell a tall story. He left it up to us to decide which parts of his narrative we wished to believe!

Tinker's Wagon

We left the Rock and went down into the village, and enjoyed a pizza at a local Italian restaurant, then wandered. Found an old Dominican Priory in the middle of the village and, almost opposite it, the Cashel Folk Museum, a private museum run by a gentleman with family history and connections involving the Rock and most of Cashel. He has a passion for Irish history, particularly that of the Famine of the 1840s and of the Easter Rising of 1916. Our tour guide of the morning was almost taciturn in comparison with our host! A quirky collection, garnered through family connections, car boot sales and donations from visitors. Eclectic to say the least! Some of the items are unique, not even represented in the public museums. For example, he has a blue shirt from an Irish political party of the 1930s that existed for less than 12 months, and he has the last actually used tinker's wagon in which a Romany and his family (wife and 14 children) lived until 1996, 10 years beyond when a Schools Registration Act forced all other Romanies to settle down.

"Garden of Remembrance"

All in all, another fascinating day! We then set off southwest, to stop near Mitchelstown Cave, one of the most spectacular caves in Europe. This will be our first destination tomorrow!

Distance driven — today, 27 miles ( 43 km ); to date, 1,500 miles ( 2,414 km )