Snippets / Memories / Photos of the day:

• Listening to pouring rain on the roof for most of the night.
• Water sheeting across roads this morning and much rain.
• More lovely road verges full of flowers with more rain and so no photo (and we seem to have moved on from fuchsia country…damn!)
• A short sharp shower of hail to remind us that things could still get worse!
• ….and more and more rain in short sharp bursts but overall we had fine weather to make our visits so that was good.



Some of the remains of Ardfert Cathedral, St Brendan’s territory.

• Incredible sweeping views from up the mountain down across manicured farmland to the shore.
• Dairy cows, dairy cows and more dairy cows.
• Mud, mud and more mud on the road….compliments of those cows and heavy rain.
• Dirty filthy bikes, very sad. We left them uncovered last night to get a bit of the crud washed off (which worked to a superficial level) but it has been replaced again today.
• Peat briquettes at all the servos (not unlike our brown coal briquettes at home).



Carrigafoyle Castle. Apparently any ancient Castles surviving here were in the hands of supporters of Queen Elizabeth I during various rebellious times (or were seized with little damage and handed on to supporters). This one wasn’t. An apparently impregnable castle had the side blown out of it. It is still impressive (5 storeys high) and many of the tower rooms intact.

• Surprising enjoyment of the Glin & Foynes Flying Boat Museum…as well as more great soup for lunch.
• Brilliant and surprising burst of sunlight and clear skies.
• Tiny lanes like secret paths.
• The quizzical looks of the locals when they see us getting all the wet weather gear on at servos and the likes. Looks like they think ‘with all that good weather out there what are they doing here in this?’
• Spectacular views between the mountains of the peninsulas up to the woolly grey clouds overhead.



Part of the full scale model of one of the Flying Boats which crossed the Atlantic Ocean to America and back. Held a surprising number of passengers. A heady era lasting 2 years short of 20. Just shows being on the cutting edge of development / technology can have dramatic consequence and life takes over…in this instance WWII and development of different flying craft.

Bits and Bobs:

The universality of farming…in Australia Farmer Jones…here Farmer Murphy I guess drags heaps of mud out onto the road and doesn’t make any effort to clean it up. Interesting…if we do that in our Industry (trucks) we have to clean it up or get hefty fines. Guess there must be more farmers than Truckies in Parliament here as well as at home.

Last nights’ Accommodation:

Dingle Bay Hotel, Ireland

A delightful find in a quaint fishing village. The outside looked cheerful…and the inside has been nicely refurbished though an eye to detail was slightly off on some of the fittings, or it might be handyman maintenance and things becoming loose. Disappointing. Our room is large and restful. Staff are friendly and helpful (many thanks for organising our laundry) and the food was great but hated the rubber backed sheet on the bed….was sweaty all night and when I raised that on check out I was met by a wall of ‘talk to the hand’…pretty much. Disappointing.



Dingle Bay Hotel

Snippets / Memories / Photos of the day:



Ross Castle, Killarney.

• Waking to sunny skies even though there was some light rain.
• Forecasts of thunderstorms and flash flooding where we were heading.
• A beautifully manicured town.



Cantilever stairs to the guard’s tower at Ross Castle. These are very clever, with rock ¾’s of the stair width set in the wall so there is nothing needed underneath to support it.

• Dramatic leaden sky descending upon us as we viewed the castle.
• Beautiful leafy National Park on the edge of town.
• Seeing a sign ‘Irish Tidy Town Winner 2011’ on the way out of town. No surprise that one.



The Cathedral on the way out of Killarney…from the footpath, very handy!

• More lanes of red fuchsias and assorted flowers…we need to get the combination of somewhere safe to pull off, flowers and no rain. Has yet to happen!
• Magnificent vistas up the mountain edges to a crown of cloud on top.
• Countless farmers’ fields intersected by fuchsia hedgerows. The dramatic red against the green was awesome…still raining!
• Many picturesque areas of farming settlements.



Inch Beach which was full of would be surfers, instructors and tourists in crappy weather. Apparently the site of a famous movie in 1960 also has great coffee at the coffee shop in the sand dunes.

• Nice welcome at the Hotel when we dropped the bags.
• Scary steep stony road to the upper car-park.
• Quaint fishing village jam packed with holiday makers celebrating the Bank Holiday (on Monday).



Stonehouse Restaurant above the ancient Dunbeg Fort.

• Tramping down to the Dunbeg Fort which was interesting
• Dramatic views from the Fort site of the crumbling walls
• Small waterfalls pouring down over the cliff to the ocean
• Areas of rocky marshland with dense growth of heather and coarse grasses.



A view across to a rugged cliff face from the Dunbeg Fort site.

• Finding a flooded corner on a mountainous little road and getting across in one piece, phew!
• Finding more and more man hole covers in strategically awkward position on the road. Can be very slippery.
• Gratitude that we found a laundry which could wash and dry all our wet stuff and return in to the hotel tonight. Yay!

Bits and Bobs:

A PS to last night’s comment re moving the bikes because the ‘Boss’ was coming in later and they didn’t want to get the bikes damaged……well later the ‘Boss' came in ….that would be a Bus / Coach. Ha ha. Some of these Irish accents are almost indecipherable.

Last nights’ Accommodation:

Randles Court Hotel, Killarney, Ireland

This was a beautiful building with multiple restful and gracious spaces. Our room was wonderful, bathroom great and the lounge and bar beautiful to relax in and dining room wonderful to experience. The staff was terrific and I would love to return at a later date. Well done to all who work here because you do it very well! It also has a pool and health spa…shame we weren’t here for a longer period of time.



Randles Court Hotel

Fishing boats in the harbour at Castletownbere last night after dinner. The carnival was in the process of setting up behind us.

We have had a huge day getting on the bikes at 8.30am this morning and finally getting in after 3pm. The weather has been largely kind and the roads mostly dry. Our visual senses have been saturated! We started off having decided on specific sorts of photos we would stop for as the estimated travel time was 4hours 12minutes and we had barely set out when Norm pulled over and as I joined him he was digging the camera out of his pocket saying “It’s going to be a big day!’. Not many kilometres past there when we were just experiencing more and more incredible sights and experiences he pulled over again and as I caught up with him he said “I’m not taking a photo; I’m just catching my breath, WOW!!” And that folks is pretty much how the day has gone so I think I’ll let the pictures largely tell the story while apologising for not having as many as we would have liked due to weather challenges and for only catching such a small glimpse of what were hugely incredible vistas.’



On the road to Ballaghboy

Memories of the day:

• Roadside verges jam packed with flowers from the fine red fuchsias (some like small trees) and orange bulbs mixed with cream and yellow flowers and purple heather for good measure and not anywhere near farms or settlements
• Incredibly wild rugged rocks for miles and miles



Very little heather to be seen but room to pull over for a photo

• Shaggy rocks almost covered in long green grass making them look woolly and unkempt
• Heather, heather and more heather on the roadside, in the fields and crevices on the cliff faces
• Breathtaking views of safe harbours
• Swallows everywhere darting about around Ballaghboy
• Being grateful the wind was so fierce so I could decline the chance to go across the water in the cable car (being the only one that goes over sea water in Europe) but described by locals as precarious at best and it looked very much like a home-made vintage job!



And here it is

• Dramatic rugged rocky cliffs and promontories
• A cliff face covered in heather….and nowhere to stop for a photo!
• The smell of peat burning as we passed farmhouses
• Small winding roads rolling up and down and climbing around the cliff faces into and out of harbours. What sort of stubborn people built these?
• Scattered settlements of stone cottages standing firm against the elements



Around the Staigue area

• Sheep, sheep and more sheep oblivious to our passing
• A French motoring club (with an abiding hatred of the Irish) who are here in their cars in big numbers travelling at 40 – 60km on 100km roads to annoy the locals….and these two Australians. All up they (in several groups) added over an hour to our travel time today
• Rows of peat being dug up and stacked up for pick-up
• The ethereal sight of the spire of Killarney Cathedral as we rode into town
• Bustling villages with festivals in progress, my favourite title was the ‘Random acts of Kindness Festival’



Kenmar Village - a welcome coffee stop

• The lovely feeling of being enveloped in a quiet beautiful space as we checked in at our hotel. One beautiful space after another. Aaaahhhh



A lovely room and all the lounges are comfortable as well

• The Hotel Manager asking Norm to move the bikes from the parking spot they were in saying “the Hotel owner will be coming tonight and we don’t want them to get damaged”…..I kid you not! Don’t know what that says about his driving. Anyway they are safely parked under the hotel now

Bits and Bobs:

We heard on the news yesterday that the unemployment rate is 14% and after Norm had been lying on the bed for a bit he informed me that anyone on unemployment over here mustn’t be able to get a job because there’s no way they would stay home and willingly watch the crap that was on TV…could be right.

We had e delicious dinner at a Chinese Restaurant last night and I opened my fortune cookie and read ‘You are straightforward and honest’ and Norm nodded and read his (saying something a bit crass which I won’t repeat as if it was a quote). I took it off him and it read ‘Go on be naughty but nice’. Cracked us both up!

Last nights’ Accommodation:

Island View House B&B, Castletownbere, Ireland

A very nice building with great views out of the harbour to Bear Island. We had the front room which was the pick of the views. Nice comfortable bed and good shower. Comfortable sitting room and breakfast room and delicious breakfast. Obliging host but not in our face so appreciated that. Parked the bikes at the front door so appreciated that also. There were two very enthusiastic dogs in residence which were well trained and friendly but I found it off putting to go into the kitchen to pay this morning and find them well at home in the kitchen.



Island View House

Our first view of Timoleague across the mudflats of the estuary. The Abbey was an impressive sight when we moved further inland.

The morning started as another grand soft sort of day with wet slick roads and slow travelling. Kinsale was a bustling little fishing village but we were soon out of there and heading west and throughout the day enjoyed a variety of views from rolling green farmland, manicured towns with really pretty cottages and larger town houses as well as tiny (ancient) shops jammed in higgledy piggledy almost on top of each other rather than beside. I loved that there were rarely two shops the same colour and in some areas the houses as well in the villages which made for a colourful display.



A view to Baltimore.

We wound our way along the coastline and were rewarded with many spectacular views to both rugged wild and rocky coastlines with breakers smashing up the rocks to long estuaries with extensive mudflats at low tide this morning. Everywhere there were streams / rivers emptying into the water the flow was absolutely galloping so beautiful to see. As we headed for Baltimore we left a lot of the farmland behind and started coming across more rugged rocky outcrops amidst the farmland and this has increased as we have headed west.



Mizen Head, ferocious water wearing away at this cliff face.

From Baltimore we headed for Mizen Head and the countryside became more and more rugged. There seemed to be more exposed rock than anything else with pockets of lush grass, scrubby trees and in every nook and cranny of the rocks heather and ferns growing. It truly was spectacular. Every so often in the midst of this we would find a farm struggling along. The wind was ferocious as we headed towards the head which explained the absence of any decent trees except in little valleys where we often rode through green leafy tunnels. A magnificent contrast.



Heading back from Mizen Head another view complete with an Irish cottage and views into the bay.

We appreciated that the rain dried up for the most off the afternoon so we could take the waterproof jackets off but donned them about 30 minutes before we got in as there were some more scattered showers as we wound along the Beara Peninsula on our way here to Castletownbere where we found a large harbour with some sizeable ferries lined up as well as fishing boats and other watercraft.

To quote Norm ‘the views we’ve seen today were way too big to be captured in photos’ and he’s right. We could only capture small pieces of each and at times the view was dramatic because of the rain sweeping in across the mountains or water and we didn’t get those ones at all.

Bits and Bobs:

We have discovered that it is exceedingly difficult to find public toilets in Ireland. Many of the servos don’t have them or tell you they’re out of order and go somewhere else and they seem to be well hidden or absent in towns. Not helpful for the travelling public either locals or tourists and it isn’t just us, every time we have been trying to track them down others have been equally frustrated with the set up as well.

Last nights’ Accommodation:

The White Lady Hotel, Kinsale Ireland

A combination of two buildings clinging to the cliff face on a narrow little street just above the harbour. It has had a reasonable sort of refurbishment program and the young people running it are establishing a lot of different offerings including a night club (where we parked our bikes for the night….really). Our room was an adequate family room with a desk as well. The food was delicious and service great but a little more focus on routine maintenance is needed with a number of blown light globes and dusty venetians. I hope they make a go of it they are trying hard.



The White Lady Hotel, we were in the 3 story part at the top of the stairs! The entry to the Nightclub is to the left on the side out of the shot.