Driftwood in Ireland -day 5 (Friday) -a feast of scenery in Kerry and Cork

We made friends with some physical therapists from Austin Texas while we ate a delicious dinner in Dingle, then headed out on the town to sample some "Kultcha" . We met up with them again at one of the pubs, and then traipsed on to another, where we admired the mournful tones of a metal whistle, and the joyful energy of the Irish pipes. No dancing was happening, and no singing along either. Maybe we arrived in Ireland a few years too late for me to really get all that, or maybe this is still just a bit too touristy a place and I needed a quiet country pub, but I guess I had pictures in my head of a warm cosy pub, great Irish folk songs, singing along and maybe a bit of an Irish jig.

This morning we headed east from Dingle on our journey.

As we headed out of town the patchwork quilt of green spread out before us with many greens of the fields and then the darker green of the hedgerows.

Then the country changed to windswept grassy plains dotted with limestone outcrops,  as we smelt the salty tang in the air and saw a flat sea shining up and the wide beach of Inch Strand (the only place in Ireland where an inch is a mile) and Dingle Bay. This beautiful beach was used in the filming of Ryan's Daughter. As there was still some sky shining (though also a little dampness in the air) the beach was already popular, with kids taking surf lessons, swimmers in wetsuits and fishermen beach fishing.

Apologies for the blur -taken from the bus window. 

We were held up a bit on the road following heavy Machinery. It turned out to be a big wrapping machine for wrapping the bundles of silage. These shiny rolls are sitting in most farmyards, stacked up waiting for when there is no feed in the paddocks. Most farmers cut their own grass, but then bring in a contractor to bundle and wrap it. Some of the farmers used to just let this wrap blow away when they unbundled the rolls and it would block the underground rivers and cause floods, but now there is a levee on them and they must be disposed of properly. They can be recycled.

As the "dry rain" cast a mist over the mountains, we passed through Castlemaine where Jack Duggan ( the wild colonial boy) came from .

In Killorglan we stopped to buy some sandwiches for picnic lunch. The town is still recovering from their recent "Puck Fair".Each year for 3 days a goat is made king! The people of the town go out and find the biggest goat with the biggest antlers they can. They raise the goat on to a scaffolding and it lives up there for 3 days being fed the best food,and doing its business. Meanwhile the town has a mighty Irish party apparently, with free entertainment for all the family. The town also has a very lovely bridge over the river and an excellent bakery.

the scaffolding that the goat is on for 3 days!

The route that we were following some of today is called the Ring of Kerry and is a big tourist attraction. Apparently there can be 500 tourist buses following the route each day in the peak season. Unfortunately it is a very narrow road in places and there is a bit of an understanding that buses will only travel one way along the route. Today we were travelling the other way in our small bus as a short cut and it made for some backing up, slow travel and a reasonable amount of angst from some of the drivers of big buses heading in the other direction. (Woops... I think Henry will think hard before he does it again)

The Killarney National Park is 11000 acres of land donated by an America family to the Irish people. After our picnic lunch on the steps of the very grand Ross house (should be called castle as it is so big), and a very short walk to see a waterfall we took up the offer of a drive around some of the park on a jaunting wagon. (horse and cart). The driver is a third generation driver to have been doing this for a living. There are about thirty licenced to do it. He and his horse Captain took us along the paths past two of the three lakes , and also to an amazing old Franciscan Abbey. (Muckross Abbey). When Cromwell ' s men knocked it down they didn't do a very good job, leaving a maze of connecting rooms and some really beautiful arched corridors, spiral staircases and the lovely arched windows surrounding a central quadrangle in which a large yew tree now grows. A wedding party arrived at about the same time as we did ( in much fancier buggies) so we tried not to photo bomb their special photos too much as we wandered freely for no cost through this amazing building.

I keep being blown away by the amazing history  in this place and the beauty of it.  Having seen this ancient place, we were then back in the bus and driving through more perfectly stunning landscape.

We stopped in Kenmore where the  yearly mountain man festival is on ( all the boys come to town to  party it up and find a lady) and saw a tractor parked in the main street while the owner had his hair cut. We've seen so many tractors and farm machines in the towns it is quite hilarious, but then we have to remember these places have grown up over centuries and there probably is no other way to get through town.

Tonight we are in Glengariff in County Cork. We finished up the night with a quick walk to the bay in the fading daylight after dinner and found a cache in the dark. More adventure tomorrow no doubt.