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Published: December 3rd 2006
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King Puck
As we approached the town of Killorglin James pointed out this statue dedicated to a famous local goat. It seems back in the days of English occupation an English army was attempting to sneak up on the town of Killorglin. The hungry troops tried to gather up a bunch of goats grazing up in the hills. One escaped and made his way into town where he alerted the locals. They were then able to fight off the British attack. As a result each year since the town of Killorglin honors the goat at Puck Fair. Each year a goat is selected to be honored and is named "King Puck" for the duration of the fair. As if last night's dinner wasn't spectacular enough, the Gleaneagle Hotel outdid itself with this morning's breakfast. We walked into the same dining room where dinner had been served. At first all we saw was a line at a big buffet table. We immediately got in line. We got juice, choice of cereals (I got oatmeal), lots of fruit and rolls and various spreads. When we sat down at our table a waiter asked if we wanted eggs. "Of course" said I and ordered sunny-side up with home fries, bacon and toast. That's my idea of a healthy breakfast.
After breakfast while we waited for everyone to meet before boarding the bus, Gail had to listen to the usual first day complaints: "My room was too hot", "My TV only picked-up one station", "It was noisy in the hallway". Blah-blah-blah. The same story every trip. However today I heard a new one. "I broke my toilet". It seems one of the folks in our group had a little problem getting out of the shower. She lost her balance or slipped than careened into the toilet and busted the sucker. She sported a rather nasty bruise on her arm. Of course
There they are again
We just couldn't seem to get away from the watchful presence of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks. The morning fog hadn't yet burned off when we stopped for a photo op. she was the subject of a great deal of needling for the next couple days.
From the minute we boarded the bus our guide James was offering Gail numerous suggestions for sidetrips or detours. Normally, as soon as an EF tour guide starts offering to go out of their way it's time to start saying "No thanks". They usually try to nickle and dime you to death with the charges for these side excursions. Not only did Gail want to avoid any additional charges but she really didn't know what was worth going out of our way to see. This would be James' modus operandi for the next two weeks. I thought it was great and really enjoyed the places he took us to, but Gail kept worrying that sooner or later James would be asking us to pay up for the extras. It never happened and we ended up seeing things most EF tour groups never get to see.
With as small a group as we had (18 people) we didn't spend a lot of time waiting for late arrivals or having arguments about what to do or where to go. On this morning we left our
Kerry Bog Village
Just as we had done on our last trip to Ireland, the first extended stop of the day was at the Kerry Bog village. Unlike our previous visit this time we weren't visiting in the middle of monsoon season. In fact, the day couldn't have been any prettier. The locals often commented to us that we were visiting during an unusually hot week, but this was nothing compared to Italy and Greece. At least in this part of Ireland there was a nice breeze keeping things bearable.
This village is a popular tourist spot. It's a recreation of a typical early 20th Century village in the area. In this part of Ireland the poor farmers of the region would heat their houses by digging up the peat buried just below the grassland. It was a low-grade alternative to coal and was left a dirty mess when burned but it was cheap and plentiful. The pile next to the house is composed of recently dug peat. hotel precisely on time and headed for our day long bus trek around the Ring of Kerry.
Ring of Kerry map
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anonymous
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Stunning place!