http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/NwYrBby/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from NwYrBby en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:54:24 BST Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:54:24 BST This was our last full day before flying home. We stopped at Kylemore Abbey which gave us some great photo opportunities. We drove through the countryside enjoying the scenery and we even had to stop for sheep which were being herded down the middle of the road. Our next stop was Cong where the John Wayne classic The Quiet Man was filmed and is currently home to Ashford Castle. Ashford Castl http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Clare/Cliffs-of-Moher/blog-283501.html Drove back to Carrickfergus Castle and toured for an hour. We then started our long drive across Ireland. We are staying overnight in Castlebar and ate dinner at Coxrsquos Restaurant. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Mayo/blog-278046.html After a Ferris wheel ride high above city center we decided to take a 112 hour Belfast city tour on a doubledecker bus. After an afternoon of doing laundry and drinking hot chocolate we decide to drive out of Belfast to see Lough Neagh the largest lake in Ireland. We then drove down the coast back into Belfast. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Northern-Ireland/Belfast/blog-278035.html We drove about 212 hours to Belfast. We spend three hours touring the Transportation and Folk Museum which one tour book said were ldquotwo of the finestrdquo museums in Ireland. We drove into Belfast City and checked into the BB. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Northern-Ireland/Belfast/blog-278030.html Spend the day in the City Center Dublin and ended with Nepalese Food near the hotel. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-277138.html Drove North about an hour from Cork to see Cahir Castle which is from the year 1142. We then drove to the Rock of Cashel which is a fortress from the 4th century. We attempted to see a Castle Ormond from the 14th century. Although we did ldquosee itrdquo I did not notice in the tour book that it was not open until June. We then drove into Waterford and checked into our hotel. We drove to http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Tipperary/Cashel/blog-276713.html Last night our waitress suggested visiting these two towns which are just outside Cork. Kinsale is a fishing port. While Cobh is a fishing port too it is more famous for being the final point of departure for the fateful voyages of the Titanic and Lusitania. We drove back into City Cork and spend the afternoon shopping for short sleeve shirts for me all I packed was sweaters and it has been http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Cork/Kinsale/blog-275909.html We woke up early for a runwalk around Dingle before checking out of the BB. We drove the ldquoRing of Kerryrdquo which is a popular loop around the County Kerry. We stopped at the seaside town of Waterville and ate lunch and John tried to teach me how to skip rocks in the Atlantic Ocean. Taking a road less traveled through a forest we then drove onto City Cork which is the second large http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Kerry/blog-275899.html After a warm breakfast at our BB we started our drive West around the Slea Head. This is a scenic drive on roads that follow the coast of Dingle. We stopped a few times for great pictures and had some fun feeding the birds. We headed back into town and had chicken at a local pub. We did a little shopping and decided to head back out to the Slea Head. There is a popular postcard of the Dunqu http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Kerry/Dingle-Peninsula/blog-275710.html Another beautiful day no rain and midsixties with sunshine. We drove 112 hours to the small town of Dingle via Connorrsquos Pass. There are two roads which lead to Dingle the main road which can accommodate the buses full of tourists and Connorrsquos Pass. Connorrsquos Pass is full of winding turns and many places where the road narrows to one lane. Yesterday was a clear day so http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Kerry/Dingle-Peninsula/blog-275533.html Left JFK in New York at 1015 pm on Thursday and flew through the night to Shannon Ireland. The airplane was at 100 capacity and we were in the last row. After very little sleep we landed at 930 am local time 430 AM EST. Drove 12 hour to Limerick and checked into the Patrick Punch's hotel and napped. Drive to downtown Limerick in afternoon walked around the town and had dinner. Ver http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Ireland/County-Limerick/Limerick/blog-274536.html John and I are leaving for Ireland soon. I am going to try my hand at blogging the trip. If you are interested we'd love to have you. Please join us as we experience the Emerald Isle Part 2. http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Pennsylvania/blog-272241.html