Leaving Dingle, we took the Connor Pass, which took us right into the climb as soon as we left town. The road was as many we have traveled lately, twisting, heaving up and down, and as narrow as could be and still be passable. Fact is, there were times when you have to stop to let on-coming traffic by. One major thing of difference from our drive to Dingle, is that this route was virtually construction free, and the road way was decent enough. Once we got to Tralee, we headed East by Northeast to Limerick, and then a turn West by Northwest to the coast and “The Cliffs of Moher”. The scenery ranged from just plain pasture land with grazing cattle, to pristine tri-colored green fields spotted with sheep, decaying rock homesteads, and signs of a castle or fortress over-grown with vines. Once we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, we found we weren’t the only visitors to Ireland. I would imagine that in the summer time all the sites will be swarming with tourists, so having 4 bus loads and a dozen or two cars isn’t anything to the vendors. Admittance to the site to see the cliffs was free, but the parking was $4 Euro for the 30-45 minutes we were there. The “Cliffs of Moher” were as advertised and everything that I’ve read…wonderful, don’t miss,… We had a good time !! Following the coast road another 3 or 4 miles and we were in the twin little villages of Doolin. Our campground was right in the middle of the two, and we had a chance to walk them both (that took all of a couple of minutes, excluding lunch and shopping)… Our plans for the night were to go out and have a good time listening to the music and a beer or two, but because we were so early for everything to start, we put in a movie to watch. Well, Mikleane, we just had to watch both CD’s of Pride and Prejudice. All 4 hours of it…yep, too late to go out, and besides, it was really blowing and raining very hard and we would be walking about a mile each way just to get there…I know, I know, “tough it out”… well maybe next time… Tomorrow…North…
18 May ’05, Wednesday. The Cliffs of Moher
Leaving Dingle, we took the Connor Pass, which took us right into the climb as soon as we left town. The road was as many we have traveled lately, twisting, heaving up and down, and as narrow as could be and still be passable. Fact is, there were times when you have to stop to let on-coming traffic by. One major thing of difference from our drive to Dingle, is that this route was virtually construction free, and the road way was decent enough. Once we got to Tralee, we headed East by Northeast to Limerick, and then a turn West by Northwest to the coast and “The Cliffs of Moher”. The scenery ranged from just plain pasture land with grazing cattle, to pristine tri-colored green fields spotted with sheep, decaying rock homesteads, and signs of a castle or fortress over-grown with vines. Once we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, we found we weren’t the only visitors to Ireland. I would imagine that in the summer time all the sites will be swarming with tourists, so having 4 bus loads and a dozen or two cars isn’t anything to the vendors. Admittance to the site to see the cliffs was free, but the parking was $4 Euro for the 30-45 minutes we were there. The “Cliffs of Moher” were as advertised and everything that I’ve read…wonderful, don’t miss,… We had a good time !! Following the coast road another 3 or 4 miles and we were in the twin little villages of Doolin. Our campground was right in the middle of the two, and we had a chance to walk them both (that took all of a couple of minutes, excluding lunch and shopping)… Our plans for the night were to go out and have a good time listening to the music and a beer or two, but because we were so early for everything to start, we put in a movie to watch. Well, Mikleane, we just had to watch both CD’s of Pride and Prejudice. All 4 hours of it…yep, too late to go out, and besides, it was really blowing and raining very hard and we would be walking about a mile each way just to get there…I know, I know, “tough it out”… well maybe next time… Tomorrow…North…
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17 May ’05, Tuesday. Yesterday we got underway by heading down the hill to the Blarney Castle. Parking was no problem because of the time of day, but let me tell you, some of those that are on bus tours get an early start. There was at least 4 buses there before us. Blarney Castle is set into a wonderful location, as most other castles are, but this one was especially so. A small river winding around through beautifully planted and undulating grounds, and the castle was good looking structure as well. As we entered the castle, all signs indicated that the “kissing stone” was at the top. The stairs were those that we’ve found in all the castles, very small steps that wind up and up. It is amazing to us as to how those that lived in a castle lived with these small stairs. I guess the reason for the size, is during an invasion and the invader found their way in, the small stairway was still defendable for a little while longer. Anyway, we made it to the top. The view was wonderful and the line fortunately, was small so we were able to get our “kiss of the Blarney Stone” without any delay. It is quite a routine they have there. Once you’ve found your way up, there is a man there to hold onto you as you lay down on your back, bend back your head, and kiss the bottom of this stone. The location of this stone is were they used to dump hot tar, water, and anything they could get their hands on at the time of an invasion. It was to land on those below to keep them thinking about their invasion…do I go on, or do I run ? For us, it was to “run”, or maybe walk, but we found our way down, took a lot of pictures and were on our way again. This time we were headed to the Dingle Peninsula and the town of Dingle. It was a nice drive, making our way by Mallow, then onto Killarney, and then up to Tralee. From Tralee we enter the peninsula and the drive to Dingle is about 40 miles. We had our choice of 2 routes, so we took the one that is “most traveled”…what a mistake that was…this road was either under construction or should have been…it was BAD !!! Once we got there, we stopped in town for a lunch and a short walk through town. We will be back and take in the “night life” tonight, but first get to the campgrounds and get set up. The camp is out of town about 2 miles and is located at an early 18th century “Hunting Lodge”. Fact is, we asked if there were any ghosts that still haunted the place…the young girl that ran the place kind of turned a pale color and said “yes”, and I have seen them… Well, about 9pm we called for a taxi to come get us, and we were out for the night of bar hopping, listening to Irish music, drinking Irish beers, and singing what little Irish songs we knew. About midnight, we found a very small restaurant, had a great hamburger, and called for the cab. This morning we weren’t up quite as early, but when we did navigate our way out of bed, it didn’t take long and we were on our way again. This morning we wanted to take a drive around the “Dingle Loop”…that is to take a 30 mile trip around the end of the peninsula, which ends back at Dingle. The day was bright and sunny again (we’ve been really lucky, as it has been sunny almost every day we’ve been in Ireland). We were right on top of the coastline, and the views of the water, cliffs, and the fields were spectacular. We also came across a couple of the ancient sites, were they lived in stone “Beehive Huts”. These Beehive huts were also in “Ringforts”. The majority of these were enclosed farmsteads of the free farmers of the Early Christian Period. They think they would have been inhabited about 1200 AD. We also went across, or through, an up-side-down bridge…this road, which is so narrow, that every once in a while you have to pull over and stop for the on-coming car to pass, had this hair-pin corner that had a full stream of water coming across the roadway (on purpose), and then cascading down the rock walls to the Atlantic Ocean below. Well, a lot more to tell you, but space of limited, so off for now. Tomorrow…Doolin 15 May ’05, Sunday The Rock of Cashel Traveling Ireland and Great Britain is first of all, expensive, but the idea that I wanted to go with is, our travel time is short in-between the sites that we want to see. As what has become usual, we leave the campgrounds about 10 in the morning, and this gives us a chance to see 2 or 3 different locations before 5 in the evening. Today was a good example of that. We back-tracked east from yesterday for awhile, and then headed north to Carrick, grabbed a left (west) and headed to Cahir. In Cahir, we found the 12th century Cahir Castle. This is another of the many “Butler” family castles in Ireland. It seems that the Butlers lived in the castle until the “Potato Famine” of the 1800’s, and then moved into a much smaller “home”. Afterwards, they decided that living in a “regular” home had a lot of merits to it, especially the fact that living in the castle was one heck of a drafty place to live. It was once a very impressive “keep”, with a tower, and much more of its original defensive structure still standing strong today. The castle once was completely surrounded by the River Suir, and sat high on a rock island. Today, the river has changed course, but the castle still stands tall and proud with the river running on one side of it. After grabbing a treat and a cup of coffee, we headed north again and made our way to “The Rock of Cashel”, sitting on a hill, overlooking the village of Cashel. Now one of the pamphlets says this; “The Rock of Cashel with its dramatic silhouette of ecclesiastical medieval buildings rises steeply above the fertile plain of the River Suir, in the heart of the ancient province of Munster.” This was once a fortress and seat of the overkings dating back to the 4th and 5th century. It is said that St. Patrick baptized the grandsons of Conall Corc at Cashel. In 1101 the king of Cashel gave the Rock of Cashel to the Church. In the 13th century, the current cathedral started construction. In 1647, the cathedral and the fortress was sacked by Lord Inchiquin and underwent a lot of destruction. It wasn’t until 1749 that the site was completely abandoned and never again occupied… That is of course, until now, as it is occupied by the county of Tipperary for the enjoyment of the tourist industry. . Sitting below the castle, in a large green field, is the ruins of the Hore Abbey. Today, it makes for a great picture, but centuries ago, it must have been outstanding. It was time to move on, so off we went to our next destination and our next campground….Cork, or more directly, Blarney… 14 May ’05, Saturday. Finding our way out of Dublin was a snap. This as you know, hasn’t always been the case. Our drive today took us south by southwest and our first stop at Kilkenny. The castle was very evident as we pulled into town, but the closer we got, it just seemed to disappear. Now that was something that we could find, but what we had trouble finding was parking. It seemed like every tourist in Ireland thought today would be the perfect day to see the Kilkenny Castle. I almost pulled into a line, that wasn’t moving, that was “queing” for the next available spot. Fortunately, I dodged around them and made a turn at the next corner and found another gate that lead into the same parking lot. We had to wait at the gate for a minute, but then it opened and we had a parking place. As we walked around this little village for a couple of minutes we found the information booth and they directed us to the castle. The Kilkenny Castle was built in the 12th century. It was remodeled in Victorian times with extended rooms and parklands for the Butler family, Marquises and Dukes of Ormande. It stayed in the Butler family until 1935 and then was sold to the city of Kilkenny in 1965 for $62 Euros. Our tour took us through the library, drawing room, bedrooms, dining, and long gallery. The grounds were really extensive and beautiful, and all this sat beside a winding river. It was quite impressive, even though it is still going through renovations. Back 500 years ago, the Butler family was able to acquire a huge fortune. Prior to receiving his title of Duke of Ormande, he had another name (I can’t remember what is was), and his job for the King and his court, was to sample the wine before any large event…coronation, marriage, etc… His title at that time was something-something butler…soo, he decided that he was so recognized more by his title name than his real name, he should just make a name change. So he did, to “Butler” and it stayed that way for generations now. Getting back to how he got his money, he did such a good job for the king, he was granted a royalty of 10% on every keg of wine that was shipped into England and Ireland for 500 years. Now, I think that might just do it…that is make a fortune… We had a good time in Kilkenny, but we had to get back on the road. The Waterford Crystal Company in Waterford was our next stop. On our way to Waterford, we found this wonderful little church, sitting beside a river, and a yard filled with grave stones. Now you know you’ve got to stop for this…It looked so inviting...It was also a perfect place to have lunch, so we did. Then on to Waterford. We got there just in time for the last tour. After we had paid for our entrance, I mentioned that we used to sell Waterford lamps and chandeliers, and she looked up and said, “well in that case, you should be able to have this tour on us…”, so she gave us back our $10 Euros and gave us passes…not too bad… It was a tour that was to last about 45 minutes, but it seemed more like 10 minutes. It was very interesting and amazing. These people are talented. In order to become a “craftsman”, it can take as long as 15 years before you get to go on your own. The tour ended at the “gift shoppe”, and even though we know that we CAN’T buy anything (because of room in “Bumble Bee”), it was tough not to. They were closing the plant right behind us, so we found our way out and headed down the road to Dungarvan, on the coast for the night. Tomorrow…The Rock of Cashel, and then on to Cork 13 May ’05, Friday. Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) The winds are back !!! Poor “Bumble Bee” was buffeted all night long with heavy wind gusts. Then, when it was time for us to roll out and head for the showers, we forgot about “Bumble Bee” and it was every person for themselves. Head low and into the wind, we forced through and found the shower room. Unfortunately, the shower room was located on the windward side, and the wind blew cold into the shower…right through the door. Now this campground is one that you have to put a “coin” in to take your shower. Each coin is worth 1 Euro ($1.30), and the shower room is large enough for the both of us to easily get in at once. Yesterday it worked out just fine…today, not quite as good. Louise was in first and really is quite fast, but I had no sooner gotten wet, soaped up, and…”hey, what the hell is this ???? ____ we have just been shut off” Have you ever had to dry off when you have soap all over your body and still have a smile and good humor about yourself ??? It is tough to do… Well, having put that all behind, we headed back outside, to the van for breakfast, and then off to Dublin for day 2. The agenda was to the Dublin Castle first and then onto Kilmainham Gaol, and then if time permits, Guinness Brewery. Like in England, we purchased the Heritage Sites pass. This will let us into most of museums and ancient sites in Ireland for $30 Euros. Today alone, we saved $16 Euros, so we are half way there already. The Dublin Castle was a guided tour through the castle and government offices. Some of it was still in daily use, and most of the rest is used during “special” high profile occasions. Originally built in the 13th century by the Vikings, it functioned as a military fortress, prison treasury and the government seat. Because of fire and explosion (one of the castle towers was used as a storage area for gun powder), it was rebuilt over several centuries from 17th to the 20th. The guide was very good with the history and the people that made it. We had a good time exploring all the nooks and crannies, and the castle museum. Then off to the internet café, and onto the bus stop for our next stop. Louise asked the driver if the bus would take us to the prison (Gaol), and he said it was, so we got on. We chose the spot to get off, thinking we knew right were to go…well, after walking through the gale (yes, the wind is still blowing and is cool..), we make 2 stops and ask 1 person along the walk for directions, and finally after at least a 40 minute walk, we find Kilmainham Gaol…and guess what ???..it has our bus stop right at the front door !!! Who says you can’t have fun traveling ??? Kilmainham Gaol is one of the largest unoccupied gaols (jails) in Europe. The history covers most of the heroic and tragic events in Ireland’s past and more recent times’ (1780’s – 1920). Now, you would call it a shrine to the heroes of the Irish struggle for independence. A symbol of British rule, Kikmainham is a monument to the most tragic moments in Irish history. Our guide was outstanding !! He really made you “feel” the tragedy and sorrow of this time in Ireland and Kikmainham Gaol. It was just after 5 when we walked out of Kikmainham, and right out front was our bus stop and right across the street was a pub…yep, we walked across the street. As we walked in, we were asked no less than 4 times (in about 20 feet) if we were aware that it was a bar or were we looking for the restaurant upstairs ? Well, we answered politely, and made our way through all these fellows that obviously have made this their 2nd home, and had a couple of Guinness…boy did they taste good !!! Tomorrow…Kilkenny and more 12 May, 05’ Thursday, St. Patrick’s Cathedral circ. 1170 Can you believe it, we’re in Dublin! The weather is sunny and cool. It should get down to 36 tonight. Brrrr… We headed out at 10:00 this morning with about 4 or 5 couples from the campground. Caught the bus into the city. It’s about 6 miles away and traffic is heavy. Dublin has about 1,200,000. people. So, not a small city. We headed for Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Over a thousand years ago monks lived in communities devoted to the study of God’s word, fasts and manual work. The message of the life of Christ was spread through gospel books. The Book of Kells contains a lavishly decorated copy, in Latin, of the four gospels. The Book of Kells was probably produced in the 9th century by the monks of Iona. They hand printed the book on vellum( calf skin) and bound it in richly decorated leather. The incredible illustrations were done with colored pigments mixed with egg white. Incredible hardly describes it. We then went through the Trinity library which houses over 200,000 of Irelands oldest books. After that we took a break and had a nice lunch. Renewed, we headed for Dublin Castle. However they were having government meetings so that will have to wait for tomorrow. We headed instead to the Chester Beatty Library. He is an American who made his money in mining. Then moved to London. He started collecting, art, furniture, textiles, books and many rare and fine things. Upon his Death the collection was bequeathed to a trust for the benefit of the public. Lucky Us ! Then on to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, The Normans built a church in stone on the site where St. Patrick use to baptize converts, in 1191. It’s a beautiful church which is still used for services. It is an Anglican Episcopal church, since Henry the 8th broke with the Catholic Church. Then it was over to Christ Church another medieval Cathedral. This is a wonderful example of a gothic church. It has been beautifully restored and is fabulous. We then headed back to the bus and back to camp and dinner. It was a long day! 11 May ’05, Wednesday. Caernarfon Castle, Wales I’m not sure how many campgrounds we have stayed in over the last 14 months, but every once in awhile we find one, we hate to say good-bye to. As we started our check-in procedure, we knew this is one of them. Coed Helen, at Caernarfon has a wonderful location, staff, and grounds. Besides, I don’t think I can remember a campground with a more sociable bunch of campers as well. We had a good time… This morning we made our way to Holyhead to catch our ferry to Dublin… As we pulled into the line for the ferry, it became very evident that there was going to be a huge motorcycle race somewhere in Ireland in the next few days. We didn’t see any motorcycles (a couple that would have been there anyway..), but we sure saw the support group. Everything from small caravans (trailers), to huge specially built motor-homes, and large “factory” trucks that I’m sure were carrying the special race cycles and all the additional parts. Now the big question ???…are they going to the same place we are going ??? After a couple of questions to the “kids”, I think we will be at least 100 miles away, not that I wouldn’t mind seeing the race, but it’s filling the campground that I would be worried about. It is really amazing how many large semi trucks and other vehicles that can be pulled onto the ferry. It becomes quite a load, and they still had a lot of room left… We arrived in Dublin at 6pm, yep, right in the middle of “rush-hour”. I think that they plan that you disembark into rush hour traffic just to see if you can make it… Tonight was one of those nights were we had no idea of were we would be camping. In reading a 5 year-old journal of Bruce and Peg (friends we have never met…), we found they had stayed at a campground in a small village just outside of Dublin called Clondalkin. Well, we first off thought it was south along the coast from Dublin for some reason. Nope.. After we fought our way south for just about an hour, we stopped for gas and hopefully someone could tell us where we might find our campground in Clondalkin. I got directions from a fellow that was filling his car, but it wasn’t anywhere around there. In following his directions, stopping for dinner, asking directions, stopping at another gas station, and a lot of luck, we checked in just after 8pm. Now fortunately, the bus stops right out front for our ride into Dublin, so tomorrow….Dublin 10 May ’05, Tuesday. Caernarfon Castle, Caernarfon Wales Monday morning we pulled away from “Lake District” and continued towards Holyhead, were we will pick up our ferry to Ireland on Wednesday. We were traveling on the M6 Motorway, and passed some of the “big named towns” in England, so I’m sure we missed some very interesting sites. It was one of those moments of quick decisions, “we’ll just have to pass by, what ever it is we are missing”… These were towns and cities like Blackpool, Liverpool, Berkenhead, Warrington, and Chester to name a few…sorry… About 2, we were driving again on one of those narrow, twisting, diving, roads, when we came across a food stand along side of the road, so we quickly drove in and had a great lunch. Then back on the road, we came to one of those roads decisions and I went one way and Louise wanted the other…”Well you had better let me know a little earlier !!!”, “I did, but as always, you didn’t listen !!!”…and so on…you know how that goes, right? Well, I didn’t turn around, so we ended up going on to Caernarfon and found our next campground there. Just as we were entering the roadway to the campground, across a field, we saw a huge castle. After paying and setting up, we headed off for a walk into the village, and a look at the Caernarfon castle. As it turns out, this is the castle were Prince Charles (the current Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales), was crowned “The Prince of Wales” in1969. As we were walking through the castle, they had 2 different audio/visuals that gave us wonderful information about this castle, the coronation, and others castles around this area of Wales. Wales is known to have more castles per square mile than anywhere else on earth (over 300). These were all built by Kings Edward I, II, and III, from as early as 1277. We’ve spent 2 nights here with a few walks into town and around the meadows, but will get on the way in the morning to catch our ferry. Tomorrow…Ireland 8 May ’05, Sunday. The Lakes District… We haven’t traveled a great amount of miles, but we have traveled on some of the most incredible roads, through some of the most enjoyable scenery. First, we are in the mountain areas of Great Britain. They aren’t the mountains that we have in the North West, but they do get as high as 3000 feet, but they are formed more like large rolling hills than jagged mountains. One of the “passes” we went over we had to climb at a 20 to25% pitch and then going down was the same…the roadway is just wide enough to barely have room enough to meet a car coming at you. Remember, you are driving on the “wrong” side of the road, at about 35-45 miles an hour, a large hedge or rock wall (standing anywhere from 4’ to 8’ high) right at your drivers door, and the front wheel on the passenger side is riding on the little bumpers in the middle of the road (you just can’t get over enough to get off of them). And then, on top of all of that, the road is winding, twisting, rising, and dropping constantly. Every once in awhile, you will come to a part of the road that is just wide enough for your (or their) car…you hope when that happens, you are by yourself. Again, the day was spent in wonderful scenery, and on a bright day of sunshine, it was going to be tough to find anything wrong with this day. We did find a waterfall that we could hike up to, and it was worth the stop. We also stopped by the Castlerigg Stone Circle. These large stones were laid out in a circle high up on one of the hills. They say they don’t know who or how these stones were put there. They don’t even have any idea yet how long ago it was that they were laid out there as well. What they do know is, it was a long time ago. Well, tomorrow will treat us to more of the same roads and scenery for at least a couple more hours. Tonight, we stay in a forest, right on a river bank, about 30 miles from any town or city of any size…it will be a dark and quite night, I’m sure…. 7 May ’05, Saturday.
A nice drive through some wonderful rolling hills, with some being in full bloom, and others of bright green grass, that the sheep keep cut short…it looks like a golf course as far as you can see. As we got closer to the coast, we started to see large forests that were planted about 20 years ago, and are looking good. It is amazing, that other than those, we have seen very little of any type of “forest” in Great Britain or The Netherlands. As we pulled into Carlisle, we found our campground right away. After we paid for our nights stay, we headed off to get some groceries. The young lady at the campgrounds told us how two get to the store (about 2 miles away). No problem getting there, but we had a lot of daylight left, and there was a castle in Carlisle that we wanted to see. We followed the signs and found our parking spot. A look around the grounds and up on the walls, gave us a good over-view, and not much else to see, so we walked into town to see a cathedral and then back to van. As we drove back to the campground, we followed the signs as we did coming in, (we know were right), but they lead us astray. We were lost, hopefully lost, and tired…why now ??? We tried one freeway off ramp, and we tried another, we traveled 5 miles up, and we traveled 5 miles down…were are we camped ??? If we hadn’t paid for the nights stay, we would have been on our way, but we had paid… finally, we found the right off ramp and the right campground…tell me, who gets lost more than we do ??? Tomorrow….the Irish Sea coast and then into the “Lakes District”. |
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