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Published: April 8th 2009
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The Last Full Day
On the last day of our adventure we decided to make it a memorable one. We took the drive along the Dingle Penninsula (ps. amazing views) towards Dingle to take a two hour horseback ride up a mountain and along the Dingle beach. I rode on a nice chestnut horse named Rosie! We rode up the mountain, down through the city, and out to the beach. It was a great ride we got to canter full out across the beach then walked through the water with the horses.
Apparently, there is a wild dolphin that lives in the Dingle Penninsula year round. The story goes, the dolphin (fungi) was a born in the Dingle bay but its mother died shortly after. Fungi having lost his mother there has never left since. He even has a girlfriend who comes to Dingle for a few months a year to visit but then she leaves and he stays behind. He loves to swim with the boats in the harbour and even swim with the locals!!! Unfortunately, again the lutes curse, Fungi was not in the playing mood so we did not catch a glimpse of him.
But I am definitely going to go back to Dingle this summer to see if I can swim with him then... not to mention Dingle was a beautiful place and worth while seeing again even without Fungi.
So after Dingle we headed back towards Killarney on route to Cork. In Cork we went straight for the Blarney castle. By this point I was pretty exhausted from driving 5-8 hours a day, walking up mountains, riding horses for 2 hours, and fighting gail force winds. So at Blarney we climb the winding staircase up to the top. We kissed the stone, which I really didnt want to do but after viewing the bottle of disinfectant spray next to the stone I figured it was clean enough to kiss and the peer pressure from the staff helped as well. So on the way back down the many many many stairs I some how lost myfooting and fell! Due to my quick reflexes I was able to catch my self but not before cracking my arm down on the stone stairs. I had a pretty rocking bruise that is just about gone now.
So we then made our way to Port
Laoise to spend our last night in a cute Farm House Hostel. We went to bed early to the sounds of sheep BAAAAAAAing. We woke up early the next morning to the roosters crow, literally, and made the final drive back to Dublin.
It was a great adventure despite the injuries. I would recommend driving yourself around Ireland to anyone as it gives you a chance to stop and see what you want rather than being dictated to by a tour guide. For example, when we arrived at the Rope bridge a tour bus also arrived. But once the tour bus realized the bridge was closed they pulled out and left. We were able to take the walk out anyways and saw amazing views, pet some cute ponies, and had a good laugh. If we were on a tour bus we would have really missed out.
My favourite place on the trip was definitely Co. Kerry visiting Killarney and Dingle. I would like to go back to all the major cities though to get a better feel for them as we really only slept while we were in the big cities.
Side Note: Mom and Kim, I
recommend that you visit the Giant's Causeway but to either not take the walk up to the top or keep rocks in your pockets as you two together barely weight 100lbs so the wind will take you over the cliff like a Kite!
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Kim
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Driving Done
Well...you certainly are an inspiration! You survived, not only gale forc winds but driving in Ireland. If you can do it so can I. I will take your advice regarding the rocks. I can't wait!