By the Hair of our Chinny-Chin-Chin's!!!!!

What a morning.  Today is the day we take the early ferry back to Scotland from Belfast.  So in preparation we had grabbed a carry-out dinner of much deserved fish and chips

 

from an award winning F&C place just a block from our hotel and a couple of pints from the bar downstairs and headed upstairs to our room for food, shower, news and relaxation after a long drive up from the south coast.

Can I just say a word about the news over here....something wonderful.....I never hear Trump's name!  It's glorious!! The only time I hear his name is when Scottish or Irish people ask us what's going on over in the States.  Are we serious and things like, "he's crazy" or "insane".  Yup, well, he's not my candidate!  And thanks for bringing that up by the way.  We're here to get away from all that!  The news here is about important stuff like, immigration, Calais and the "jungle" of 10,000 people waiting for their lives to begin again, and how many people have died crossing over the Mediterranean in small boats trying to escape their old lives, and Brexit of course.  A real breather for us.

So back to this morning.  Slept well last night, tho the temperature in Belfast was nearing 80 degrees yesterday and our room faced west so it was hot!  Woke up just before 6:00am and left the room in time to get our little Fi-Fi from the car-park at 6:30 to be at the Ferry Terminal by 7:00am when check-in for the Ferry closes.  Gordon left the room first taking his luggage and I was to meet him in the lobby with mine.  Much to my surprise he shows up back at the room with a look of panic on his face and his luggage.  Apparently the car park is closed UNTIL 7:00am.  FRICK!  The manager of the hotel called the car park emergency number and got a guy who said he'd come open it for us, but he bloody well took his time!  At about 10 minutes to 7 we are blasting out of the parking lot with me trying to set the GPS unsuccessfully and literally guessing our way to the Ferry terminal which is close by but we still need directions. We guessed wrong a couple of times trying to follow signs to the port and our hopes were dashed at each wrong turn but believe it or not we blew into the check-in point with 1 minute to spare but not before pissing off the security check-in people for driving excessively fast and pulling slightly over the stop line for checking in.  Oops, Whew!  Hate that kind of BS especially first thing in the morning!  I need a Bloody Mary!  and they have no tomato juice on board the Ferry.   What kind of nonsense is that? Seriously!

So just a quick update of our last days on the south coast.  We headed out from Bantry and "The Mill B&B"  run by a couple from Holland, Tosca and Cornelius, hardest pillow I've ever laid my head on but beautiful and quiet room, and headed to the Sheep's Head Peninsula.

It had started raining during the night and while we were having our breakfast, it started pouring.....buckets.  Not a good sign.  By the time we left it had let up though and we enjoyed a lovely and super quiet drive out on the peninsula on teeny-tiny roads even skinnier than the day before! Apparently no one else had the idea or was stupid enough to head out on a day like this!  As we rounded a corner and were approaching a cottage to the right of us we noticed a black and white sheepdog in a crouched position on our left carefully watching us approach.  As we drove up next to him he leaped out and starting nipping at our wheelbarrow tires and suddenly up ahead on the right was his/her identical buddy leaping out to nip at our tires on the right!  They were herding us! Herding us up the road!  It was so funny and cute.  They had very serious work to do and took it very seriously too.  They must have been disappointed that we were so disobedient!

There are sheep on the Sheep's Head Peninsula!

We kept driving and driving on narrower and narrower roads up hills into the mist and down into valleys and up again until we came to the end high up into the fog.  There's a walk up there that takes about 20 minutes and brings you to the very tip of the peninsula but the fog was so low and thick we didn't even bother.  You could see the fog moving across us from the Atlantic north. So, that was a bit of a bummer as that was the first of two walks we were to do today.

Our view from the top!

 As we drove back down the other side of the peninsula we couldn't even see across the Bay to the Mizzen Head Peninsula which was our next stop and the one we looked forward to the most.  There's a rope bridge and lighthouse at the end of Mizzen Head with a visitors center and a likely place to see dolphins, seals and whales with the occasional sharks as well.  It's supposed to be pretty spectacular!  But the longer we drove and watched the weather we knew it wouldn't be worth the journey to head out on that larger Peninsula.  Our decision was to skip our night in Baltimore, which is a very small town with not much to do, and head to Kinsale....our final stop on our "Wild (and getting wilder) Atlantic Way" journey.

We were to stay at the Desmond House B&B on Sunday night so we hoped there would be accommodation for Saturday night too and we'd just spend two night in Kinsale.  So Gordon made the call but unfortunately Gloria, at the Desmond House, was booked up.  She was kind enough to call around and arrange a night for us in a hotel facing the Harbor and we checked into a nice room with partial harbor view.  As we were retrieving our bags from the car a small white passenger bus pulled up and unloaded probably 20 young women all wearing sailor style costumes and hats.  Hmmmmm. Gordon said he thought they were probably a group celebrating a bachelorette party.  Oh God, I hope they're not staying near our room.  They stayed right across the hall from our room.  Oh no!

Sure, now it's sunny!

Red doors in town mean the owners are from Kinsale.  Green doors and they're from Dublin.

We walked into the large town and looked in shops and found a place for dinner.  Kinsale is nice.  Very large town and big bay/harbor area guarded by two forts; Fort Charles and Fort James. There goes those Catholics and Protestants again!  While I showered, texted with the girls and Face-timed with Jillie, Gordon went for a walk, got himself in a better mood (long driving day, missed opportunity with our peninsula plans, etc.) and brought back a bottle of white to sip before dinner.  Ate at The White Lady, all Asian chefs, and had a fantastic meal.  We both had different curries; monkfish with yellow curry for me and shrimp with red curry for Gordon.  The starter was parma-wrapped brie so delicate and melty on a bed of mescalin greens with housemade beet root loaded with cinnamon, cloves and allspice.  Delicious!  While we were in town and in fact at the restaurant we ate in, we noticed other groups of bachelorettes at parties.  It must be a big town for bachelorette parties.

We were so tired that night and so ready for a good nights sleep.  The bed was king-size and super comfortable and had soft cushy pillows unlike the night before.  Snuggle in, a little TV and lights out fast asleep.  Until about 2:00am when the first bachelorette returned.  Then a car alarm went off that NEVER got shut off and then other bachelorettes returned then there was singing out in the parking lot and then more bachelorettes. UGH!  We finally got some decent sleep after 4 and noticed a surprising lack of diners in the breakfast area the next morning!  I'm sure there were a few "big heads" Sunday morning.

So we packed up and headed to Old Head where supposedly there is a walk of about 3 km.  Nope.  "You've been mis-informed"  the guy at the Old Head Golf Links informed us!  The links course is at the very tip of Old Head.  It's 250 Euros to play a round of golf there but we've heard it's a stunning links course that is an unforgettable place to play. We enjoyed the views for a bit and then headed back to town to take in Charles Fort.  Attacked one time by a troop of 10,000 forces from England on a fort of 1,200 men. Guess who surrendered?  Lovely views from up there though over the Harbor of Kinsale and entry into the little bay and across to James Fort.

The entry into Old Head Golf Links

and the ruins of a tower at some point

View to the right of the top of the peninsula with the links

Our view coming back from Charles Fort of the little town on Kinsale

And the entry to the harbor from the Atlantic

Checking into the Desmond House B&B was delightful as our host Gloria and her husband, Paddy, were ready for us and so nice.  The Desmond house is 250 years old has 4 huge suites, ours on the third floor, the Charles Fort Suite, looked out over the harbor and had the biggest bathtub I've ever seen!!!

Desmond house with the blue door since Paddy and Gloria are from Dublin

Our room...

....and the view down in to the harbor in the far distance.

So, I took a bath and relaxed while Gordon watched the All Ireland Hurling Match.  Have you ever seen or heard of Hurling?  These people are crazy and if I had a son I would never allow him to play this game.  It's kind of a cross between soccer and rugby and quidditch except perhaps rougher if you can believe that.  The ball is small and hard made of cork about the size of a baseball.  You can kick it, throw it and they use sticks kind of like Lacrosse but not curled at the end.  There's no padding and it looks like no rules.  Anyway, Kilkenny who apparently always wins was playing Tipperary who never wins in a stadium in Dublin built specifically for this game and where 82,000 people attended.  It was a good and close game and in the end Tipperary WON!  YAY!  So the news reporter asked the team captain and leading scorer how he feels and he says "We did it!  We are the champs of fuckin' Ireland"  On live TV!!!!!  LOL....a Janet Jackson whoops moment!

We went back into town to do a little shopping and found the pubs packed with people partying and celebrating the Hurling matches (there was a junior match first).  Everyone was quite jovial and thrilled for Limerick.

I had discovered this little store called Your Grandmother's Bottom Drawer that has the softest, loveliest knits I've ever seen.  We had purchased a wedding gift for a friend while in Dublin of cashmere/lambswool blend and decided we wanted the same thing for ourselves in our family room.  So we found it in this beautiful shop in Kinsale and we're thrilled and excited to use it . We always try and collect something on our journeys like art usually, but this time it's this item.  Don't want to say what it is in case the Bride reads this.

Gloria made reservations for us in town that evening at Max's which, again, was delicious. Kinsale is somewhat of a culinary capital and we certainly did enjoy our meals there.  AND the bed in the Charles Fort room was comfortable and we had a better nights sleep for sure!  But funnily enough, during the night there was a sound of singing coming from the pubs down the hill.  I guess the pubs were closing and the rebel-rousers had to call it a day but not before one last song.  They were quite harmonious.

We set off for Belfast Monday morning and I took the first tour of duty on the drive back.  Once we were on the motorway and Gordon was closing his eyes I started thinking about how exhausting the trip had been and a little disappointing too.  Once we left Dublin and headed to the south and got off the motorway we were on these tiny little roads.  The Peninsular roads were so small you really had to focus and stay alert for oncoming traffic.  Some places you had to back up to allow one or the other to pass.  The going was slow and tedious making it tiresome.  So by the time we finished each day we were just exhausted.  The disappointment obviously was due to weather.  Fortunately the Beara Peninsula day was a good one.  The little towns were cute and the food good and the people welcoming and friendly.  Now I'm driving at 120/km/h (75) on smooth wide roads high-tailing it up to Belfast for a tour of the Titanic Museum and a night at the Malmaison Hotel.

Part of the entry into the Titanic Museum

There were examples of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class accommodation.  This was 3rd class.

Our hotel, Malmaison, is the red brick building.  I wouldn't recommend it on a warm day!

Across the street from the locked parking lot!  Old Bank Building.

Time's a tickin'!  We need to be at the port no later than 7!!!

 Our trip is at an end and I'm staring at the coast of Scotland from this ferry and ready to head back home to Moffat.  Alison and Jillian arrive on Saturday and we'll be off on our next adventure to Amsterdam.  Until then farewell from the Irish Sea!

Somehow Google came through on the ship in Norwegian?

My work station on board.

and view

Whoops, better drive off the ship first!!!

PS  Now that we're back in Scotland perhaps Gordon and I can stop whistling, humming and singing Christmas in Kilarney!

Stage one, Wild Atlantic Way

Gordon slept all night last night.  He said "I slept all night last night.....I don't think I've ever done that".  He says that every time he sleeps all night, which, granted, isn't often but just funny that he says it.  He also slaps or pats my butt every time I walk by.  Is that a husband thing?  Do they all do that?  Come on girls, tell me.

Anyway.  Today we started our adventure on the Wild Atlantic Way, symbolized below by the conch shell-like symbol and the blue "wave".   Follow that sign all the way up and down the west coast of Ireland and you will have done the "Way".  We've driven the north coast and halfway down the west coast to Galway and now we're headed to partially do the south coast.

We thought about and researched the Ring of Kerry and decided against it because it would take a FULL day....like 8 hours! Ugh!  It took us long enough to do the Ring of Beara but the HUGE PLUS,  NO TOUR BUSES!  Not one.  Yay!  When we were up north there were tons of tour buses to contend with. 

So we start on an overcast morning......

....and decide that any sign we saw that we were curious about we'd stop and take a look.  Our first stop was truly fabulous! 

The sign

Yeah, right.  This was not an official sign I assure you.  Plus I'm married to the Scotsman.

We drove about as far as we could drive toward the circle of stones until we came to a little "off-roading" which, frankly, we don't want to drive on.  Fi-Fi might not like that.  Fi-Fi, the car.  Her tires are about the size of large wheelbarrow wheels and having a flat wouldn't be good.  We've had a flat before from driving on gravel roads so.  Anyway we hoof it in across a little bridge...

....and approach the small circle of stones with rams.  It's no Stonehenge as the sign suggests but enchanting just the same.  Gordon had to chase the rams away, who were happily scratching their rears on the stones, so I could approach.  Wild animals make me nervous.  

Gordon had visions of Rob Roy

I had visions of Outlander and Jaimie!

 Still really cool that hundreds of years ago someone, or a group of someones moved these stones into place for some reason.  They are huge and super heavy.  We mused on the reasons why they might be here and for what purpose.  Inconclusive.

 The view of the Lough and the waterfalls was spectacular!

Bye circle of stones

A lace-cap hydrangea taller than me!

There are massive hydrangeas  all over the place here, pink, blue and a deep purpley color.  They're gorgeous!

 Meanwhile we drive and enjoy the stunning views.

 and little towns and tiny harbors.

 Oyster season has begun and they've shelved their crab pots for oyster baskets.

Crab pots!

Colorfully painted towns

 So we decide to drive to the furthest point on the peninsula. There is an island just off the peninsula called Dursey Island and there's a cable car, the only cable car in Ireland, that shuttles people to-and-fro.  Believe me, it would have been shut down in the states!  It's quite rickety!  But we enjoyed the view while a large trawler passed underneath the cable lines.

Crazy!  The floorboards are wooden on the cable car and look a little too precarious for G and I!

After we stopped for a bowl of seafood chowder and more soda bread!  Some soda bread is ok, others?, not so much.   I'm about over the soda bread.

The pubs were buzzing!

We finished our tour of the Beara Peninsula and drove into Bantry to have a look around.  There was a "fair" going on and the town was packed!  The fair was really just a flea market.  Now we are comfortably settled into a lovely room at The Mill in Bantry at the base of Bantry Bay, our starting point for tomorrow....Sheep's Head Peninsula.

WE'RE OFF TO IRELAND......AGAIN

Tuesday we left for Ireland.....again!  The first time I ever boarded the ferry in Cairnryan to head to Ireland I seriously thought it would be the only time I would ever do it.  Now, for the third year in a row we have boarded a ferry headed to Ireland. Only this time we are sailing in to Belfast and heading down the coast to spend two days in Dublin before headed to the south coast to tour the Wild Atlantic Way. 

Instead of the usual ferry, P&O which sails to Larne, we have to take the Stena Line to sail into Belfast.  Still it's a very nice and fast ship, two hours, into Belfast and before you know it we are driving down to Dublin.

A first class view from "first class" as we sail away from Scotland.

A crowded ship but we are able to exit quickly.

It's two hours to Dublin and Gordon takes the first hour shift driving through and out of Belfast.  I was glad he was driving from there.  Little did I know that the drive in to Dublin would be 10 times harder and it was on me.  We got to Belfast at 4ish pm but with rush hour traffic....it took an hour to arrive at The Shelbourne at St. Stephen's Green.  It's a Marriott Renaissance Hotel which is so lovely and the scene of the 1916 Easter Rising. 

First thing on tap (literally) after checking in is a drink.  After an hour of Dublin rush hour traffic and millions of one-way streets and listening to the Scotsman trying to tell me what to do I think I (we) deserve it!

Wonderful that they serve vodka's other than Smirnoff too!

Bad shot but the exterior of The Shelbourne

We shower and change outta our driving clothes and head to a cute concierge recommended restaurant just steps from our hotel.  But first, we need Euro's.....

Gordon at the cash machine!

This is Hugo's and we HIGHLY recommend it.

We are trying to stick to fish and vegetables while we travel and tonight was no exception.  The food and service at Hugo's was exceptional.  A bottle of wine later and we are off for an evening stroll past The Shelbourne.....

to Grafton Street and a recommended pub!  Grafton Street is a fun, trendy area filled with pubs, restaurants and nice boutique shops. 

We kinda overslept the next morning due to blackout curtains so we got a late start on our only full day in Dublin but we took the Hop on Hop off bus to get the lay-of-the-land and then hopped off at the River Liffey to walk over the Ha'Penny Bridge to the Temple Bar area of Dublin.  The hip-happenin' spot.  Only it wasn't evening, it was 11am and not quite so hip-happenin'. It's the old original town built on the River and quite an area to see.

Up and down the River Liffey.

Temple Bar Area with cobbled streets.

There it is, The Temple Bar built in 1656.  It's kinda old!

After our stroll through the Temple Bar area we hightailed it over to Trinity College so we could see the Book of Kells , which we did though you are not allowed to take any photos.  The book dates to 800 AD and is so intricately drawn by scribes from a Monastery in Ireland.  It's a book though and it lays in a glass box which is surrounded by dozens of people.  So it's a little hard to get a great look at it for any length of time!  But we did.  It's Ireland's greatest treasure.

Next we went to see the Long Room at Trinity College.  The Library which houses 200,000 of the Library's oldest books is about 75 yards long!  It's fascinating and beautiful.

Each "cubby of books" is two stories and comes with two ladders, one on each side, that slide along the rows of books.

We had a quick lunch and then hopped a cab to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Beautiful but underwhelming.  Sorry Paddy!  Gordon and I have seen a LOT of cathedrals and, have to say, if you've seen cathedrals in Italy and Spain, well, Ireland left a lot to be desired.  Still happy to say we've been there.

Don't know who this couple is and I was kinda waiting for them to move on but....

Partial interior of St.Patrick's

It was a long walk back to the The Shelbourne but on the way we passed through St. Stephen's Green, a fabulous park across from our hotel also historical for the 1916 Easter Uprising.

It was a long day and our feet and legs were tired so after a nap and baths we investigated the local area for a seafood restaurant and came up with Matt the Thresher.  It has wonderful reviews and was only a few blocks further than the restaurant we ate in the evening before.

Matt the Thresher!  Such a funny name but what an excellent restaurant. Awesome service and delicious oysters!

Some other notable diners of Matt the Thresher!  Who knew?

Before we left for Kenmare this morning I took several pictures of the Hotels interior entry.  There are lots of crystal chandeliers and ornate moldings.  Very beautiful.

Check out the hydrangeas!

The 27 Bar.

The drive to Kenmare will take 4 hours but we knew at the halfway mark we'd take advantage of seeing the Rock of Cashel.  Legend has it that St. Patrick went to the Devil's Bit, a mountain north of Cashel to banish the devil himself from Ireland.  After confronting two black adders and a sly devil, St. Patrick drove the devil from his cave dwelling but as the devil flew away he bit off the top of the mountain and dropped it 20 miles south in Cashel.  That limestone mountain is called the Rock of Cashel and is home to a Round Tower dating from 1100;  Cormac's Chapel also from the 1100's; a Cathedral from 1235 and a Choral built in the 15th Century.  The Rock affords a wonderful view across the "golden vale", a verdant valley facing west.

Our "wow" view from the car as we came around a corner

The Cathedral

The Round Tower and Cemetery

A far off ruin in the Vale

The Chapel is currently being dried out and restored.  There are paintings covering the  walls that are barely visible and they will be completely restored.

You can see the old paint colors and carvings.  It's a lovely little chapel.

The backside of the Cathedral and Round Tower.

The "Rock" is vanishing into the clouds and fog.  The ice cream is just vanishing!

 Quick fortification for the next two hours....my driving shift and, of course, it starts to rain! 

We arrive in Kenmare and check in to our cute accommodation, O'Donnabhain's. 

 We had a very late pub lunch/early dinner of fresh sea salmon and Gordon had bangers and mash which looked yummy.

Then we toured the little town of Kenmare.  It's rainy out and we are tired tonight from a long day.  Tomorrow we tackle the Beara Pennisula!

Who says?  Mr. Guinness?

It's a quiet night for us tonight.  Goodnight from the very south of Ireland.