End of Day Three

Some things I forgot to mention in other posts:

Thursday night, we kinda had the grand tour of (inferior) B&Bs.  At one place where we stopped, we had to go into the bar to find the lady for the rooms. As we walked by the only three men at the lonely bar, I overheard one say, “Looks like we will all have dancing partners tonight”!!! We decided to journey on. We checked out 4 different places before settling on our fabulous Dromhall Hotel.

I should also mention the luxury of “the lift”. We relished in the fact that we could wheel our ever-bulging suitcases onto an elevator and press a button. I know we won’t always be as lucky.

What a great day. We are going to go to bed tonight with a smile on our faces!

We had the hotel wake us up at 7am and we were on our way a little before 9.  (Success!)

We went just down the road from our hotel to Ross Castle. It was quiet, quaint, and sooo peaceful. It was on a lake and there was a sleepy little river with the cutest row boats ever. It was quite romantic. :) This place presented lots of photo opportunities and Brooke and I “practiced” some wedding poses! :)

We saw an abundance of sheep today. Jananne was in love! We pulled over at a very large field, but apparently, none were named Nina or Nellie, because they all ran away.

Off we left to start our travels on the Ring of Kerry. I say “on” and not “around” because we decided to not to all around it, time being of the essence. This was a wise choice as it turned misty and foggy. True Irish weather. We set off to see The Gap of Dunloe…an obscure sign announced it to be down an obscure narrow little road. We met a few adventures down this road...first we saw some men repairing an authentic thatched cottage. (They waved at their American paparazzi audience) Then, we were flagged down by a man on a bicycle. He asked us if we “fancied a carriage ride” around the gap. We politely declined. Upon finding the “gap” the fog and mist was so thick, we couldn’t see more than a few hundred yards. So we turned around and headed down to Kenmare, following the north section of the Ring.

      

Oh, our finds!!! We found the land of fairies. Words can’t really describe the misty green vales we encountered. We kind of expected the see fairies fluttering about. It was sort of magical. We also got our “exercise” today. We climbed a small, steep path to the Coah Waterfall. Romantic stone steps led up to the top of a look out. We were in the midst of a magical Irish rainforest. Trees covered in moss and the enormous horizontal branches had ferns growing out of them.  Truly magical.

  

From the waterfall, we drove down the Ring road. When one reads blogs or travel guides they are warned about the road on the Ring; it is narrow and windy. There is not one straight stretch on any part we traveled. To give you an idea, we didn’t exceed 15 mph, though the speed limit is 62mph over the whole journey…the road is just that windy and narrow. I can’t image the road in summertime with large tour coaches. SCARY!!!

Words can’t really describe the rugged, desolate, ugly, awesome country side we saw. The heavy mist and thick fog limited our view, but we could still appreciate the desolate, natural beauty of the place it was just surreal.

We ended our journey around the Ring in Kenmare. A town said to be “The Jewel” of the Ring of Kerry. I think we leave every little town happy and full…and this town did not let us down. We parked and walked around. Shopping and window shopping. We wanted to find a quiet little pub with some good food. I poked my head in many doors to find lonely men drinking away…not what we were looking for. FINALLY, we found an inviting red door with a menu posted outside offering the kind of grub we were in search for. When we walked in, the place was clean, appropriately lit, the bar was empty, AND they were just lighting a fire between two booths. We were enchanted, to say the least. (Oh and they had Wifi!) We ordered and settled in. I ordered “bacon” and cabbage and got turnip, spuds, and carrots on the side. A local wandered in to the bar and we eavesdropped on his banter with the friendly bartender. We spent two hours at the restaurant. We definitely left full and happy! :) 

We walked around the town and made a few purchases. Kenmare did not let us down. We are very happy tourists!

After our experience with B&Bs last night, we decided we needed to find one in the day light. Just before the town of Blarney, we stopped at an inviting B&B with a lady and her neighbor talking on the steps. We asked if she had any rooms available and she said, “Yes, loads!” After checking it out, we said yes. We hauled in our luggage and decided to set off to see the town of Blarney. 

We got to the Blarney Castle (home of the infamous Stone) and a very nervous man would not let us in. We were 15 minutes past the last admission and he nervously wrung his hands as I asked him if we could go through if we promised to be back in 15 minutes. Nope. 10 minutes? Nope. He was so nervous that if I had haggled any longer, he would have probably flung up his hands and said yes. I know he was thinking, “pushy Americans!”

Oh well…we shopped around the woolen mills and decided to explore Cork City. We soon decided to return to our sleepy little village of Blarney. After scouting out the “eating houses”, we chose Muskerry Arms Public House.

I bravely opened the door and ventured in. It was typical; men at a bar, and standing around tables. Locals gathering to talk about their week over a pint. A cute, but nerdy young lad came over and took our order. We all ordered the special. A starter, an entrée, and desert for 14.95 euros. We also encounter a local which we nicknamed, Tipsy Tom. His night ended early, around the same as ours. We watched him stumble into a cab. Other than that, it was very low key and we were impressed with the service and delicious food.

Back at our B&B now. Even if we haven’t kissed the stone yet, we just might already have the gift of gab!!! Nighty night.