“It’s Easter in Killarney/With all of the folks from home!” (Ireland, April 9: Killarney)

Ok, if you’re familiar with the Bing Crosby song, you’ll know that it’s a Christmas song, but that’s what we had in mind as we drove out that morning. We also swapped out the “C” word for Easter in Sarah McLachlan’s version of “River” – it was in our driving CD mix. J

We had hoped to get a boat out to the Skellig Islands off the southwest coast. On the large island is a UNESCO World Heritage site: a monastery from the 6^th or 7^th century. I was pretty disappointed when I heard that the weather was not looking promising (the sea was too rough to land), but we knew it was weather-permitting. So it’ll just have to be something to look forward to for next time! ;-)

Please click photos to enlarge:

The crew at breakfast. (Photo: E)

We decided to drive around part of the “Ring of Kerry” – a loop of road that takes visitors through some incredibly gorgeous stretches of the country, including Killarney National Park.  We first stopped at Ross Castle.

Ross Castle. 

New hand-drying method?

The Marilyn Monroe shot!

We then continued on to Muckross Abbey, House, and Gardens. This area is part of the Killarney Lake District and was very lush (the rain helped! ;-). We were cleverly persuaded by a horse and buggy driver to take his tour through the area – and it was a good thing we did, because I don’t think we would have made it too far without it! It was raining on and off and everyone was pretty chilly. We took a short hike up to a waterfall and got to learn about the different plant and tree species in the park. We rounded off the morning with a really excellent lunch at the house – shepherd’s pie and a selection of all the pastries you could imagine! ;-)

View to Muckross House.

The waterfall!

 

M and A.

Tiny and E.

P.

Photo: E.

Muckross Abbey.

In the afternoon, we drove further along the Ring, where the scenery became more rugged and less green. The “Lady’s View” was incredible. You could look out and see the whole valley. J Getting out of that lookout, however, was a little challenging. We had to wait for a parade of about 20 vintage cars to pass before we could back out onto the narrow road!

Photo: Tiny.

E and her beloved camera. (Photo: Tiny)

"Lady's View"

And then…we saw the sea!!!!!! (!!!) You have to excuse my enthusiasm. Believe it or not, I had only been to the ocean once before. (This has got to be unpardonable by B.C. or Maritime standards, but I’m working on it. J) So I was SUPER excited…even if the notions of “West Coast” and “Atlantic” don't quite seem to jive by Canadian standards. ;-) P was great. We’d stop to take pictures, and just as he got the car going again – “SLOW DOWN!” (Snap, snap…) “Ok, you can go now!” I don’t want to know how many in-car photos I took over the course of this trip…

We stopped at one of the sea-side towns for lunch. Hot drinks were appreciated on such a chilly, blustery day. We then took a network of more minor roads to make our way back to our B & B. When our host said they took pony carts up there, she wasn’t joking. The roads were so narrow that we had to pull over for oncoming traffic!

Hot drinks. (Photo: A)

One of our best stories came a little later in the afternoon. We discovered early on that Irish sheep come in many colours. Pink, blue, green…these must be ways of distinguishing one flock from the next, but we thought it was pretty cool to see neon fleece. Anyway, we were marvelling at some of the sheep in the field when suddenly, a group of stragglers walked onto the road! The Irish traffic jam stereotype COME TRUE! They were quite content to mill around in the middle of the road for a bit, but P decided to move forward. The sheep in the field got nervous and started running. Seeing their neighbours react, the roadside sheep panicked – and started running down the road! Running sheep seen from behind is quite a sight to be seen. Those poor animals. We crawled behind them, but they were obviously terrified, while we were just killing ourselves laughing. They eventually made it off the road, and we continued on our way, but we got some priceless pictures…:-D

The SHEEP!!! (Photo: A)

"We are NOT amused..." (Photo: E)

We went to Killarney itself in the evening, and had supper at a bar that featured live music. A guitarist who sang old Irish songs along with some new ones of his own invention. The guitarist must have loved us by the end, because we bought three CDs off him! ;-)

Dinner shenanigans (photos courtesy of E):