West Cork and Beyond

 

Well, 3 weeks have passed since our last post and we've made some tracks across the Emerald Isle.  We left you just after we moved west to our new home in Adrigole, in West County Cork.

A brand new home in a rural location, it was a perfect location to enjoy the beautiful Beara Peninsula.

The view from our house

A lot of folks ask us how the dogs handle all of the new homes...

It is really a non-event for them.    They arrive with great excitement, they run around and sniff everything, and then in a few minutes they find their new "favorite spot" and they are home.

Do they look stressed?

Gracie have & Lucy were just as well accustomed to the travel.  It was a non-event for them as well.

For Annie and Phoebe however, this is practically all that they know.   In their 2+ years on earth - they have only spent 4 months or so at the house.   The rest of their lives have been spent in the Motorhome or roaming thru Europe.

Home sweet home on the road.

While in Adrigole we visited the nearby village of Glengariff several times.   It's about 15 minutes east of us.  The main road (R572) around the Beara Peninsula runs right thru Gengariff and is at the end of the one-track road that leads to our house.

Glengariff

I'm trying to find another woolen sweater and have a specific set of criteria that's been hard to find, so we've been hitting all the wool shops along the way.    If all else fails I know that I can get it from good old LL Bean.

Quills Woolen Shop in Glengariff

About 40 min away, across the Caha Pass is the pretty Market Town of Kenmare.   We stayed at a nice house just outside of town 2 years ago.   Its one of the big stops for all the tour busses and has a bunch of the wool shops to search thru...  No joy again.

Kenmare, Ireland

Kenmare, Ireland

A pretty view down the street Kenmare towards the church

Coming back from Kenmare, we crossed the mountains over Healy Pass.  We'd been over Healy last time and I think it is much pretty than Caha Pass.   It is also more remote and a narrower road.

Our house is about 5 miles from the bottom of the pass.

Healy Pass

Healy Pass

Healy Pass

This Lamb decided that it wanted to take a break in the middle of the road.   A car from France coming the other way stopped and the lady got out and started to lift the Lamb.    That startled it enough for it to get on its feet and move off of the road.

Lamb Chops anyone?

Here is my wool sweater...   Now if I could just find someone to finish the job.

The road up and over snakes back and forth thru numerous switchbacks.

Another day trip was to Killarney.   

To get there we had to pass thru Kenmare and continue onward (north) about 30 minutes further.

Killarney, Ireland

Killarney is a larger town then Kenmare.  Its history dates back to at least 640 when a monastery was founded by St. Finian the Leper.   (Ya gotta love the names eh?)

Killarney, Ireland

Returning home, we took a different route thru Killarney National Park.

Encompassing over 25,000 acres, this is Irelands first national park.

N71 thru Killarney National Park

Lough Leane

Lough Leane

Lough Leane

The view below is taken from "Ladies View" in the park.   The link has some good photos of this view.

Looking down on Lough Leane from Ladies View

Another day trip was to Gougane Bera.

A scenic spot in the mountains, it is the location of an Oratory that is on the site of a monastary built in the 6th century by Saint Finbar.

Signage at the gate to the Oratory

View of the Oratory

View of the Oratory

Inside the Oratory

After leaving Gougane Beara, we still had some time so we headed to Glengariff and took a nice walk in the absolutely wonderful park that the village has created at the Blue Pool.   This harbour benefits from a protected microclimate fueled by the Gulf Stream.   This microclimate allows semi tropical plants to grow and protects them from the harsh winter winds that sweep in from the Atlantic.

The Blue Pool

A walking trail winds around the peninsula that forms the western limits of the harbour.   It is loaded with wild Rhododendron and must be quite a sight when they are blooming.

The Blue Pool from the walking path

The walking path

Twisted tree along the walking path

I took the below picture of Kate next to these leaves to show how large they are.   Undoubtedly another benefit of this microclimate.

I expected the leaves to start saying "Feed me"

Headed home up our small road, a farm at the foot of the road had its pigs out and about.   My god they were huge"

The photo does not do them justice.   It was the largest ones I've ever seen, and back in my trucker days I often hauled pork from the slaughterhouses.

Time for barbeque!

This is our lane - our house is in the center of the photo in the distance.

Back home it's time for doggie din-din!   That is Phoebes favorite time of the day and when I get ready to put the plates down, she jumps for joy.    This is a daily occurence.

Phoebe jumps for joy!

A cloudy day with rain threatening was a perfect opportunity to head further afield.  We traveled about 15 minutes past Glengariff, to the larger town of Bantry.     Bantry is a stop for cruise ships due to its deep protected harbor.   The ships can discharge the passengers, and then from there they can travel onward to Glengariff, Killarney, and the National Park to name a few places.

Main St Bantry

Like all towns in Ireland - the colorful buildings can brighten up even the cloudiest of days.

Main St Bantry

I'd been waiting for just the right weather window for our next day trip, and on the day before we left it presented itself.     We took the scenic loop around the Beara Peninsula called the Ring of Beara.

Ireland is like a gigantic garden.

The flowers growing wild all over the place are absolutely beautiful.

The abundant gentle rain mixed with the moderate temperatures seem to be just what the plant doctor ordered.

The views on this scenic drive are stunning around every turn of the road.   The pictures just do not do it justice.

We made a part of this drive 2 years ago and this time I wanted to see the whole thing in the right conditions.    The only thing better would have been to drive it early or late in the day to catch the light better.   

Last time we just made it a bit further than the pictures below and had to turn around due to running out of time.

This trip we entered newer and even more scenic territory.

The Ring of Kerry is a scenic loop on the next peninsula north.  It would be the more famous big-brother of this loop.     I personally think this ring is prettier and certainly more remote with less traffic.

Just a beautiful day.

Returning home, this concluded our 2 weeks here.   Tomorrow we would pack up and head about 5 hours north to our next stop.

The map below is from our SpotWalla and shows the places we've traveled while in this house.

The loop on the left on the map is the Ring of Beara.

Our morning drive over Caha Pass had an eerie feel to it.   The clouds were moving quickly over the mountains casting shadows, with occasional showers creating rainbows.

A nice mixture light and shadow.

Visible, further in the distance was Bantry Bay.

Our drive north took us thru the Heritage town of Adare.   This charming village is noted for its thatched roof buildings.   The two photos below were pulled from the internet.

Adare, Ireland

Adare, Ireland

After about 6 hrs, we arrived at our home for the next 8 nights.   A nice condo sandwiched between the River Shannon, and a Marina with access to the river.

The view from our back deck

Out front of the condo with our back to the river - the picture below shows the front of our condo.

Our place is center -  just to the left of the tree - our car is facing the camera.

Just outside is the Termonbarry Lock.  Everyone seems to spell it differently.   

Tarmonbarry and Termonbarry.

Boat coming upriver thru the lock

Right before and after the lock are places for boats to tie up and spend the night.   It is a very short walk to the high street in the village where there are several pubs and restaurants.

Looking upriver from the lock - boats tied up on the left.
The village is up by the bridge in the distance

The downstream side of the lock

Boat tie-up area just upstream from the lock

We took a day trip to the Rosscommon Castle.  Built in 1269 it has seen its share of strife and was heavily damaged by Cromwells forces in 1652 after which it remained in a period of increasing disrepair.

Roscommon Castle

Roscommon Castle guards

Yesterday we headed to the beautiful park in the nearby market town of Longford.   We first walked the long loop around the park, and then another loop thru the city that touched all of the historic sites.

Longford Park

Longford Park

Longford Park trail viewed from bridge above

Walking thru Longford

Passing by St Mels Cathedral in Longford we noticed that a wedding was in the process of starting.   The guests were still arriving so we decided not to wait for the bride and groom to emerge.

Wedding at St Mels Cathedral in Longford

Completing our loop of the city, we reentered the park on a pedestrian bridge over the canal.

We had logged a little over 3 miles on the dogs paws and it was time to take them home for that happy time of day....  

din-din!  Yay!

The first map below show our travels since arriving in Ireland, and the second shows our travels since leaving Arizona.

Ignore the long straight lines from the US to here.   I was playing with a GPS spoofing app yesterday and I forgot to shut off my tracking app so it thinks I made a quick round trip to the US.   I have to see if I can figure out how to delete the erroneous data if I can.

Our journeys on the Emerald Isle thus far

Our travels since March 7

Sunday we head to Belfast, Northern Ireland.   We'll spend 2 nights on a converted barge in Belfast Harbor.    Some of you might remember it from 2 years ago as we stayed there then.    We had Lucy and Annie at the time.

Then Tuesday we are on the ferry to Scotland for a week in the Highlands.   We'll pick up our Swiss goddaughters at Glasgow Airport on the way, and they will spend the week with us.

See ya down the road!