Ireland, Day 4

Today
Misty day on the Ring of Kerry.

We spent the day driving around the Ring of Kerry: a trail in County Kerry covering cities such as Rossbeigh, Glenbeigh, Killorglin, Milltown and Waterville, that has spectacular views of various Irish landscapes.

We started at 8:30 and after an hour we made our first rest stop at Moriarty's Clothing and Gift Shop in the Gap of Dunloe. I am such a tourist this week it hurts: I ride a bus around the countryside, gawk and take photos, shop and eat. I had my first Irish coffee this morning, though, and it was delicious. I've previously been offered them after dinner but I can't have caffeine that late in the day, so I was happy to be offered on in the morning! So delicious :)

Irish coffee

The rain made viewing a bit difficult today. For example, we were unable to see the Gap of Dunloe (the gap between Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Purple Mountain) as well as various lakes and mountains because of the fog. We still made scenic stops though and everything is fulfilling my expectations about green, hilly, sheep- and cow-filled Ireland.

One of our stops was to see a shepherd and his dogs herding sheep. He talked to us about how he trains the dogs and showed them in action; he also talked about different kinds of sheep found throughout Ireland and their various uses (om noming and cuddling). My favorite part of the demonstration was him showing how good a dogs hearing is. The shepherd could whisper a command and the dog, all the way at the top of the mountain, would follow.

Herding sheep

Next, we stopped at the Skellig Experience and learned about Skellig Michael and Small Skelli, two pinnacle islands. Skellig Michael is the site of a well-preserved monastic outpost of the Early Christian period (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site); and Small Skellig is the home of 27,000 pairs of gannets -- the second largest colony of such seabird in the world. (www.skelligexperience.com). The "Experience" consists of watching a film and walking through a small exhibit. They do take boats out to the islands and you can climb up to the top, but the water has been so choppy they've cancelled the trip for 29 out of the last 30 days. Regardless, it wasn't in the group itinerary, but after watching the video climbing the 600+ stairs to the top would be awesome. Once again, because of the fog, we couldn't even see the islands.

We continued around the Ring of Kerry and made another rest stop in Sneem, where I met an Israeli couple! I heard them speaking Hebrew and offered to take their photograph in front of the river displayed below.

River: Sneem, Ireland

Continuing around the Ring of Kerry we then stopped in the Killarney National Park, home of the Ireland's only remaining wild herd of native Red Deer. We were able to see a few!

Killarney National Park

The roads throughout the Ring of Kerry are very windy and narrow, especially down through the National Park headed back towards the main village of Killarney. Usually busses take a one-way route around the Ring because the roads are too small for busses to share. There was some excitement, however, when some jerk of a bus driver decided to come up. There were lines and lines of cars and loads of wincing people as everyone squeezed by. Martin pulled us through!

We had dinner at the hotel again and then I walked around town with a mother-daughter pair on my tour to see more of the summer festival events. There was more music and dancing in the main square and kid's were running around with balloon animals. Killarney is such a cute village :)

Photo of the Day
Pretty flowers outside Moriarty's

Dew

Trinket-selling family at one of our scenic-view stops.

Father and son

Lesson of the Day
Farming communities of rural Ireland, have shifted from being mixed and self-sufficient to specialized, specifically for income--not as a way of living a sustainable life. Furthermore, in the last 60 (I think) years, farmland has doubled but there are half as many farmers due to automation and mechanization. I'm pretty sure this is a trend you'll find almost worldwide.

The Count
Miles traveled: 332
Photos taken: 5877