taraabit

Sat 1st June 2024.

When we left last nights park up we decided to take the scenic route a mountain pass known as Connor Pass , it says on the map no HGV vehicles or coaches but we thought we would give it a go. In honesty we didn’t get too far, it quickly became evident that the road was very narrow so I did a 20 point turn in a side lane and we retraced our steps to Dingle and took an alternative route. We headed north and eventually reached Tarbert where took the car ferry ( 32 euros) across the River Shannon Estuary a journey of 20 minutes. Kilrush was about 5 miles further on. We pulled up at the marina and quickly found that the 8 dedicated motorhome places were fully booked but we were allowed to park in an overflow area for a reduced rate as we couldn’t have electric hook up which we don’t need, we still have access to all the other facilities the marina provides. As finding places to stay with facilities is proving difficult over this Bank Holiday weekend we have decided to stay for two nights.

En route to Kilrush we stopped at Blennerville to visit a restored historic 18th century windmill.

There is a visitors centre you enter through and a very friendly helpful guide talked us through the mills operating process and we watched a short video of its restoration. We took it in turns to climb to the top floor up a series of ladders, at the top was the all important huge gear wheel.

Alongside the windmill is a quay, now somewhat silted up which had a role in importing and exporting goods to America. It was also where many Irish emigrants set sail to America and Canada sadly many didn’t make it dying either on the journey or on arrival from a variety of diseases.

According to the BBC weather reporters today is the first day of the meteorological Summer and as it has been beautifully sunny we decided to celebrate with a bbq. We bought some excellent quality food in Kilrush and had a very enjoyable meal.

Friday 31st May 2024

Our first stop today was Dingle where we had intended to find a pitch on the harbour car park and stay the night, sadly it wasn’t to be. The car park was rammed, we drove around and found another car park to park on, to tour the town, but it didn’t allow motorhomes to stop overnight.

Dingle has been in existence for more than 800 years, it is a small town on the south west of Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula and is a pretty fishing port with a sheltered natural harbour. It is known for quality food, restaurants, pubs and interesting shops plus art and craft galleries, we had looked forward to spending a night there but it wasn’t to be.

Over lunch we pored over the maps and the Search for Sites app and came up with some alternatives to stay at, Michelle phoned some sites but they were all full, it is a bank holiday weekend so everywhere is busy. We had to revert to plan B and find a pub stop which we did not too far out of Dingle almost at the end of the peninsula.

The pub was owned by Paidi O’ Se a famous player of Irish football born in 1955 who was also a policeman based in Limerick, he had an illustrious career and went on to be a manager of several clubs. Sadly he died of heart attack at the age of 57.The pub is decorated with his sporting memorabilia and lined with photographs of him in action it also has photographs of famous people who have visited notably Dolly Parton and Tom Cruise.

To the side of the area where we are parked is a narrow lane leading down to Ventry Beach or Ceann Tra in gaelic.

The beach is approximately 3 km long and has silver sand.

It is completely free to stay here and there is no requirement to eat or drink at the pub but we rounded the day off with a pub meal and a drink.

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.

Ring of Kerry Scenic Route. – Goosey Island Motorhome Park.

Wednesday 29th May 2024.

Todays driving has been and experience of two halves, the first took us through the mountains which with its twisty winding road reminded me of driving in the Lake District whereas the second was a more undulating coastal road.

As we drove along the mountain pass we came upon Molly Gallivan’s Cottage and Traditional Farm.

Molly’s cottage is over 200 years old, it is complete with animals, fowl and traditional farm machinery. Originally a single storey thatched cottage it was raised in height and a slate roof replaced the thatch in the early 1900’s. Molly was widowed with seven small children she had to call on all her resources to keep body and soul together. She supplemented her meagre income by selling butter,eggs and honey, her renowned home baking and hand spun woollens were ever popular but it was her home made “ position or whiskey” – Molly’s Mountain Dew which she sold in her illegal pub that proved most popular. The cottage now houses a small cafe and an area selling woollen garments and jewellery.

You can also take a tour of the farmyard, pointing still, sheep house, a famine ruin,turf bog,lime kiln etc and there is a Neolithic Stone Row that forms part of a very rare ancient calendar.

There were quite a few tight bends on the trip and several short tunnels carved through the rock.

Our motorhome stopover tonight is just off the night street of Sneem and is run by the owner of Dan Murphy’s Bar where you have to go to book in.

As we walked through the village we came upon a trailer load of dried peat ready for the winter fires.

At the entrance to the motorhome park is a stone sculpture trail that we’re inspired by the beehive huts of Skellig Michael and Staithes Fort they are called the fairy way.

Tuesday 28th May 2024.

After a lovely sunny day yesterday things certainly changed in the evening, approximately 8 pm a sea mist rolled in and it began to drizzle, then about 10 pm the wind started to blow strongly and not long afterwards it began to rain heavily. This went on all night with Homer being both buffeted by the wind land lashed with rain where we were parked on the exposed cliff top.

Thankfully this morning it began to brighten up, it was only a 29 mile drive to Bantry and by the time we arrived the rain had stopped, first port of call was Lidl to stock up with provisions for the next three days. The aire is in a dedicated motorhome parking area with access to all services for 20 euros per night, but again it is 4 euros to get rid of your rubbish 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 we will have to something soon we have 6 sacks😂😂

Bantry is a town in the parish of Kilmocomage on the south west coast of County Cork. It is at the head of Bantry Bay a deep water gulf extending 30 km to the west. The focus of the town is a large square that was formed by infilling an inner harbour that was once the head of Bantry Bay. This now host the weekly market and other events, it is however still liable to flooding at High Tides as shops and pubs have flood defence systems at their doors.

We decided to spoil ourselves this evening and we walked to a local fish and chip shop for a takeaway, fish and chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce and a side salad for 13 euros each, about on par with England.

Early evening we went for a walk around the other side of the harbour.

We are being entertained this evening by small boats arriving and departing the harbour.

Monday 27th May 2024

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary and when we were in Waterford we bought a piece of “ crystal” to celebrate our anniversary.

We stoped en route to Mizen at the small town of Schull, we parked up at the harbour which is a free motorhome stopover.

The “scenic route” from Schull to Mizen Head is narrow and some people express concerns about driving along it, we must be lucky, we only met a cyclist, a delivery van and a kamikaze Post Office Van who had to perform an emergency stop to avoid us and then reverse up. On arrival I was amazed how busy it was with lots of cars and motorhomes. As a I write this there are 10 of us staying overnight, well it is free😊

Mizen Head is traditionally described as the most southern point of mainland Ireland ( although not quite accurate) accessible would probably be more accurate.Mizen Head encompasses a dramatic footbridge which provides the only access to the lighthouse and signal station, it is a 10 minute walk from the Visitors Centre/ car park, on your return there is an uphill flight of 99 steps. Mizen Head Signal Station had the first radio beacon in Ireland and was one of the first Marconi telegraph stations.

Fastnet Lighthouse is just off the coast and is visible from Homer.

Sunday 26th May 2024.

We are spending two nights here as a rest and recuperation period, giving us time to catch up on some domestics and prepare for the next weeks travel, Michelle has used the sites laundry facilities so we are all set to leave tomorrow.

This afternoon we walked into Skibbereen and as expected being a Sunday almost everywhere was closed but there is history everywhere in relation to the Great Famine.

The site owners have provided good exercise facilities for dogs which Layla enjoyed.

Saturday May 25th 2024.

We had planned to spend this morning visiting Blarney Castle and gardens so that Michelle could kiss the Blarney Stone and we could enjoy the acres of gardens. However the weather forecast was for strong winds and heavy rain, Michelle didn’t like the idea of hanging upside down in the pouring rain and I didn’t fancy getting soaked looking at wet plants especially as we would have to pay 20 euros each. So we plotted a coastal route to our planned stopover for tonight and tomorrow with the intention of stopping wherever we fancied. Again we took a ferry across an estuary only getting charged 8 euros this time as we were classed as a saloon car?

Not long after crossing the estuary it began to rain not too bad at first and all seemed well until the satnav we were using decided to take us on a mystery tour to somewhere that wasn’t even on the map, I can’t even say that most of the time we could enjoy the scenery as there were high hedges on both sides of the lanes. Eventually we arrived at our first chosen stop Kinsale. By now the wind was gusting and the rain was lashing down, but never mind we donned our wet weather gear and off we went to explore the town. Sadly it’s difficult to appreciate places like the harbour with horizontal rain lashing down so we headed for the narrow side streets which held most of the shops, we didn’t go in many as were dripping everywhere, I only managed a few photos all day.

After lunch in Homer we drove onto Clonakilty where we parked up at a Super Valu supermarket (spelling is correct) it certainly was super the goods on sale were of high quality with a huge range of spices, cheeses meat etc, I’m not sure what the Valu is as it wasn’t particularly cheap, I had a disastrous moment when reaching for a bottle of Bushmills Whisky at 23 € I knocked one off the shelf which smashed on the floor. The manager was very pleasant about it all telling me not to worry accidents happen😵‍💫

A lot of the south and west of Ireland where we are travelling was hugely affected by the Great Famine which was a period of starvation and accompanied disease lasting from 1845 to 1852. The famine was caused by a mold that attacked the potato crop, potatoes being a staple diet for much of the population at its height 75% of the crop was affected.

Between 1845 and 1852 more than 1 million people died and at least 1 million people left Ireland to escape the famine.

Friday 24th May 2024

The local train station is only 400m away and with trains running every 30 minutes to Cork for a return fare of 8 euros it seemed a good idea to make a visit. We checked on line and it said small dogs were ok to travel so we aimed for the 10am train. The ticket clerk said no dogs allowed, when I replied it said ok on the internet he replied it was up to the driver he made the decisions😵‍💫 whatever happened to company policy? Michelle checked with a member of the platform staff who said yes it was fine for her to travel with us, when I relayed this to the clerk he was still loathe to sell us tickets in case we couldn’t get on the train back and I blamed him😵‍💫😵‍💫I assured him if that happened I would pay for a taxi back and not come looking to blame him, he reluctantly sold me the tickets one minute before the train left😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

I’m pleased to say we had no problem in either direction.

We found Cork a strange place to visit, it wasn’t in our opinion very touristy, there were lots of shopping streets with individual shops as well as well known stores. The map we had from the tourist office showed places of interest but they were well spread out and regretfully we didn’t get to see them all. I could imagine in warm sunny weather it would have a different feel.

It’s interesting that it invites you in to view the magnificent interior however omits to say that it costs 8 euros each to go in, needless to say we didn’t.

There were quite a few decorated buildings two of which are below.

After some time wandering around stomachs began to rumble, cafes don’t seem to accept dogs so we headed to the pub.

I’ve been suffering for a few weeks with a pulled ligament in my right knee and after 4 hours wandering around I was finding it hard to walk so we headed back to the station. When we got back to Homer I found we had walked 5.5 miles, the furthest I’ve walked in one day since the beginning of March I was shattered.

Thursday 23rd May 2024

We are certainly not devoid of entertainment here as ships like this pass regularly.

We are parked on a dedicated motorhome stopover about 800m from Cobh, it has all the necessary services except EHU for 10 euros per night , when I went to pay a Frenchman approached me and said the day before he had mistakenly paid for 2 nights instead of 1 and did I want his ticket for 5 euros, of course I said yes😊

After lunch we went for a walk around Cobh much of which is on steep roads. Cobh is world famous as the last place the Titanic sailed from on it’s ill fated journey to America, it would appear to provide the town with a steady tourist income.

A rather prominent feature of Cobh is St Colman’s Cathedral which stands high up towering over the town, it was started in 1868 and took over 50 years to complete. It was designed in a French neo Gothic style with magnificent stained glass windows. The spire is 91 metres tall and contains a 49 bell carillon.

There are a lot of colourful buildings dotted around Cobh.

Suffering from fatigue I decided to head back to Homer with Layla and Michelle decided to participate in “ The Titanic Experience” no she didn’t hit an iceberg or sink but was entertained by a tour guide who showed her and others around an indoor display concentrating mainly on local people who sailed on that ill fated journey. She took a few photos.

After our evening meal we wandered back into Cobh and sat outside a pub for a drink, inside it was rammed.