Greg and Deb's Travel Blog

And so our adventure draws to a close, it has been an amazing holiday.

We both struggled to sleep much last night, but we eventually got a few hours.  We had a late breakfast and then packed our bags for the last time this trip.

We had 15 days in Ireland, it was a long held, dream for me to be here.  It is a beautiful country, full of fabulous scenery, history, culture and people.

A lazy no travel anywhere day, no car day. Just us sort of day. Exploring things we missed when we arrived here in Dublin.  

We left the hotel around 10:30am, I did say it was a lazy day!, and walked to St Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191. It is currently the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland. I say currently on purpose, because over its existence the Cathedral has seen its denomination change a few times, particularly between the 16th and 17th centuries reformation period. It has remained Anglican since William of Orange’s victory at the Battle of Boyne. The Cathedral has a high ceiling supported by huge pillars either side of the naïve, and it has exceptionally intricate stained glass windows. There is lots of history within its walls.   There is a display about Johnathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, he was Dean of the Cathedral in 1714-1745. The south transept is used for a learning space and other areas have various displays. I like the display that outlined the origins of the saying “ to chance your arm”, a brave offer of trust at the time.

Martin picked us up a little before 9:30 to start our last day of our Little Gems Tour. The skies were a little cloudy with the sun peaking through.

I forgot to mention this in yesterday’s blog. We finally got to try the local lobster last night at dinner. It was small by home standards, but sweet and juicy, delicious. I am disappointed it took so long to try it. It was a very tasty meal, we shared 4 entrees – mussels, prawns & squid, crab and lobster, with a simple salad of mixed leaves.

We started our day with a 1.5 hr drive through the countryside to the furthest point we go to today. When we got to Lough Hyne the track for the viewpoint we were going to was shut off due to fallen trees. So our hike to see Lough Hyne went to plan B. Besides the tree issue,  low cloud and fog might have made seeing things a bit of a challenge. Martin did a quick bit of research and found a road and track that took us close to the mouth, this became our Plan B. It entailed a drive to near the mouth of the Lough. Another tricky one lane road two way traffic, with no built-in passing points just to make things even more interesting.

We woke to beautiful blue skies and sunshine. A little cloud drifted in but it had the makings of an amazing day to do the Ring of Kerry.

We drove from Dingle along the coast to Inch Strand Beach. Funny thing about that name, in Gaelic Inch means Strand, so it is Strand Strand Beach or is that Inch Inch Beach? It is the second most popular surfing beach in Ireland. There wasn’t much surf around but there was a surfing school in operation down on the beach.

We woke to dark but promising skies. The weather apps always give mixed message when compared to what you can see out the window. All clear on the app (and yes, we have tried them all #IrishWeather) but rain out the window!

We woke to a beautiful sunrise but a cold windy morning. The weather map showed a huge rain band coming in and it wasn’t wrong. As we left the rain started and continued.

Not long after we left we passed a Trump golf resort. In a few villages around the course there are lots of American flags flying. Apparently in one small village the Trumps sons shouted the town drinks, now they are local heros.

We were on the road at am in pouring rain. That was a good start for our day of mainly outdoor activities. But hey, it is Ireland. ?

It was another good day to travel with intermittent rain all day, sometimes very heavy, but only for short periods. We really enjoyed our farm stay, Eddie was a great host and it was great to relax for a full day. It was the first day since we left London in June that we hadn’t at least sat in a car.

Today we had a mainly travel morning with quite a few stops to look at the sites. Our first stop was to have a look at, not climb, Crough Patrick, a steep mountain pilgrimage site with church on top. Many of the faithful often ascend the mountain in bare feet, walking up very steep paths over sharp stones. The ascent is around 2hrs and it takes 1hr to get back down. Apparently some Popes and Mother Teresa have made the pilgrimage we viewed the mountain from a park dedicated to The Famine of 1840/50. The is a large bronze model of a ”Coffin “Ship in the park. It was in ships like this that many Irish fled the country for the promise of a better life, bound for the USA, Canada and Australia.