Red Fox Inn
Thursday 30th May 2024.
This morning we continued our drive around the Ring of Kerry but after a while took a side road off to St Finian’s Bay to find the Skelligs Chocolate Factory.
Skelligs chocolate factory is located on the edge of St Finian’s Bay overlooking the Skellig Rocks upon which are ancient monastic ruins, in the 6th century a small group of monks retreated there seeking solitude , 618 steps climb an ancient stairway to the settlement of beehive huts, churches, cemetery and garden.
These are on display on the counter which is the tasting area. An assistant gives you a small plastic pot and then proceeds to give you one after another small piece of the different chocolates. I think we tried at least 10 as she kept pulling boxes out from underneath the counter.
We didn’t of course leave empty handed choosing a few varieties to take away for consumption on a future date.
From there we drove to tonight’s stopover at The Red Fox Inn which is a Brit Stop/ Pub Stop for motorhomes and is free to stay if you buy a drink although I’m not sure we will get one as there is a huge Irish Wake going on and the pub is packed.
At the side of the pub is a museum of historic buildings showing Irish life in the past, we enjoyed a wander around and being in some of the cottages made you realise what a hard life many had. One was about 5m long, 3m was the kitchen, living room and bedroom, ie open plan, the other 2m was for the cow and any other livestock with no wall in between.
Heating was provided by peat, however nowadays most peat bogs are protected.
There were two Irish Wolfhounds in one area, they were pleased to see Layla but as they were almost as tall as me on their hind legs she wasn’t too keen to go near.
There’s further evidence of the hardships the people had to endure.
The wake was still in full flow when we went for a drink at 8 pm but thankfully the numbers had decreased and we were able to get a table and people watch.
taraabit 