I must admit that it is hard to keep up with the blog. We travel, we see, we eat and we sleep so the blog sometimes slips.
Easter Sunday dawned bright with only a few clouds in the sky. The weather forecast predicted a good day and after another sumptuous cooked Irish breakfast we were on our way to the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher and Bunratty Castle.
First I need to tell you about Irish breakfast, it consists of fruit and cereal, followed by eggs, bacon, mushrooms, sausages, black & white pudding all washed down with orange juice and a large pot of tea. Oh I almost forgot the toast, scones and fresh brown bread with marmalade and jam (and occasionally cheese). If this continues we will both be enormous if we are not careful.
Our first stop was a photo opportunity at Dunguaine Castle near the village of Kinvara then it was off to the Ailwee Caves in the Burren National Park.
The caves were nowhere near as impressive as NZ caves but did have evidence of bears using them for hibernation. We saw sleeping pits and the bones of a European Bear dated at over 1000 years old. After our tour of the tour we wandered out and up across the moonscape that is the Burren. After we left the caves we drove through the Burren to a perfumery which turned out to be in the middle of nowhere and only somewhat interesting.
The Burren
Irish Roads
Driving in Ireland is an experience. The roads except for the Motorways and National Roads are narrow, poorly maintained (although the incredibly hard winter has not helped) and leave very little room for error. The drivers go “hell for leather” and speed signs seem to be advisory only and I seem to generally be the slowest driver on the road.
The Cliffs of Moher
Being Easter and School Holidays there is a lot of traffic about and by the time we got to the cliffs of Moher we were part of a crowd of thousands. The cliffs are impressive, humbling and they could quite possibly take on a spiritual significance if it wasn’t for all the people. Once we escaped the throngs at Moher we headed for Bunratty, with a short detour via Limerick, and on to our B&B. Although the day started off fine and sunny it never got very warm. By the time we got to the Cliffs of Moher it had clouded over and the wind was blowing briskly off the Atlantic. By the time we got to Limerick it was raining quite hard.
Once we had done the washing and showered we trundled off down to the pub for drinks before our Medieval Banquet at Bunratty Castle. The pub, across the road from the Castle was called Durty Nelly’s a quintessential “Irish Pub” with good beer, the smell of wonderful food, a warm fire (and we did need it, have I mentioned how cold & wet it is?) and live music.
The Banquet at Bunratty Castle was a fully themed affair. The food was good, the entertainment excellent and the company interesting in a good way. We sat with 2 sisters from St Louis, a couple from South Africa although living in London, a lawyer and his wife from Arizona and two other women from Ohio and North Carolina. We didn’t get back to the B&B until just after 11:30pm.
Bunratty Castle
The Ring of Kerry.
Given our late night at Bunratty we had a bit of a sleep in and didn’t leave our B&B until 9:30. Our first stop was the village of Adare, an arts and crafty sort of place with traditional thatched roof cottages, parks and of course churches. We are still coming to terms with the statues of and the shrines to the Virgin Mary, they are everywhere!
Adare
After Adare we drove straight to join the Ring of Kerry at a town called Killorglin. The closer we got to the Ring the weather got wilder and woollier, gale force winds, storm warnings for the west coast seas and rain, rain and more rain. All in all the Ring of Kerry was disappointing and we are not sure if it was the weather or the fact we had been to Connemarra first!
The trip did have some highlights particularly the storm battered coast at Hogs Head, the town of Kenmare (lace making & linen) and the lakes and moss laden forests of the Killarney National Park. We would really liked have stopped and explored but the weather was so bad it was impossible.
Storm at Hogs Head
We arrived at out B&B in Killarney about 5:30pm sorted ourselves out and went into town for something to eat. Because of the weather (wind and rain) we didn’t get much of a chance to explore it as much as we would have liked.
Killarney to Kinsale
Our peaceful sleep was interrupted by a 4:00am text message from Jenna telling us she had arrived back from Invercargill safe and sound and that the boys were fine, after that it was hard to get back to sleep. The storm blew itself out overnight and we awoke to silence!
We left Killarney about 9:30am and drove to Cork via Blarney Castle. The weather improved and the sun shone for prolonged periods for almost the first time since we arrived. Blarney Castle was in many ways just another castle certainly not as well preserved as Carrickfergus or Bunratty. Even though I climbed to the top of the Castle I was not tempted to “kiss the stone” but admired the views of the estate instead.
We wandered around the estate and came upon Blarney House a fine Scottish Baronial home built in 1864, the University of Otago was built in 1879 so the style was familiar. The house is the family home of the current Peer and is open for tours just 40 days a year so we were lucky to be able to have a look. A wonderful house, beautifully proportioned, built with the new technology of the day, beautifully furnished and still feels like a home. Then it was off to Cork.
Cork is an interesting city but was a bit bustling so we didn’t stay too long. We arrived in Kinsale about 2:30pm and spent the afternoon wandering around this really lovely town. It was the main harbour for this part of Ireland until the late 17th Century when Cork took over. It has a Castle a customhouse and lots of history and a strong connection with Spain through the Armada. A most restful place I think I could retire here:-)
We haven’t taken many photos. Tomorrow we are off to Kilkenny via Waterford.
Kinsale to Kilkenny.
Jeeves our ever patient and faithfully guide (GPS) got us a little confused leaving Kinsale and we went round in a circle at lest once I think. However after some minor adjustment in his settings we were off along roads we knew and in the right direction. The trip was uneventful part from coming across the aftermath of car crash and was punctuated by stops at Aghada (Deidre’s Lynch ancestor came from here), Youghal and Waterford before arriving in Kilkenny about 3:00pm.
Youghal had a myriad of narrow streets many of them one way or blocked off to traffic and we managed to get stuck in a traffic jam of sorts. The same fate (being trapped in a traffic jam) awaited us in Waterford but only after we had visited their Museum (Waterford Treasures). This museum was one of the best museums I have been to and indeed did house some incredible treasures (bronze age gold jewellery, Henry VIII’s hat and sword and more), we left with information overload.
Kilkenny is another beautiful town full of history. It has a street called St Kieran’s St and we were to discover on our visit to St Canices Cathedral (Church of Ireland) just how important he was. Who’d have imagined that our son was named after a saint? :-) Kilkenny is a comfortable place full of history, good food, music and have I mentioned how good the Guinness is?
The Cathedral was great, sorry about using superlatives (great, good, beautiful and wonderful) all the time but it is a country that lends itself to superlatives.
Our first stop was a photo opportunity at Dunguaine Castle near the village of Kinvara then it was off to the Ailwee Caves in the Burren National Park.
The Banquet at Bunratty Castle was a fully themed affair. The food was good, the entertainment excellent and the company interesting in a good way. We sat with 2 sisters from St Louis, a couple from South Africa although living in London, a lawyer and his wife from Arizona and two other women from Ohio and North Carolina. We didn’t get back to the B&B until just after 11:30pm.
Given our late night at Bunratty we had a bit of a sleep in and didn’t leave our B&B until 9:30. Our first stop was the village of Adare, an arts and crafty sort of place with traditional thatched roof cottages, parks and of course churches. We are still coming to terms with the statues of and the shrines to the Virgin Mary, they are everywhere!
The trip did have some highlights particularly the storm battered coast at Hogs Head, the town of Kenmare (lace making & linen) and the lakes and moss laden forests of the Killarney National Park. We would really liked have stopped and explored but the weather was so bad it was impossible.
Our first stop of the day was the delightful town of Castlebar with its typically narrow streets, colourful buildings and seemingly endless stream of traffic in the main street. We managed to get a park right on the mainstreet and went for a walk and wouldn’t you know it we stumbles upon a bakery selling hot cross buns, coffee and hot chocolate among other things(you should have seen their Easter Cakes and gingerbread Easter Bunnies). The people in the shop were really friendly and we got a chance to see a slice of village life first hand.
We drove up the side of the Killary Harbour with its marine farms, oysters I assume; the scale of the operation was huge. At the village of Killary, two shops, a pub a restaurant and a garage we stopped briefly to take some photos.
Just after Killary we got our first glimpse of Klyemore Abbey, reputedly the most photgraphed building in Ireland. The Abbey, its church and wall Victorian Gardens were built in the late 19th Century by a textile baron from Manchester in 1920 after a change in owners, a run of bad luck and personal tragedy it was bought by the Dominican Nuns. When you stand and look across the Lake you can understand why the original owner built it there and why the Dominicans bought it as a place of devotion, reflection, education and work. 
The Connemara coastline was the wild Irish west coast I had always imagined. The Atlantic, the misty rain the winds, the stone walls, the stacks of peat and the cottages. Unfortunately not so many old original cottages now but lots of new holiday homes, rentals and B&Bs. 
On the way over the last pass before we reached the coast we had a close encounter with a small group of Connemara horses, these horses are renowned for their strength, resilience and the intelligence. Further round the coast we stopped at a small fishing village called Roundstone and visited a Bodhra (Irish drum) maker. He also made guitars and Irish harp, a most interesting place. 
Good Friday dawned fine and very, very cold, the car was frozen and the grit trucks where out in force. It was a day of contrasts frost, then driving through snow (50cm deep) on narrow winding roads, sunshine and pelting rain. 
The AUDE Conference finished on Wednesday and it was one of the best and most useful conferences I have been to. It was really great to meet people doing the same stuff, facing the same issues in a different place than me. The presenters were all very good and the social programme was excellent.
