Days 17-19: Finally, we get up close and personal with some sheep in Killarney

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Leaving Cork, we took one last loving glance at Vomit Hill and decided to get a picture for posterity. Once again, it was a piece of cake to get tickets and board the bus to Killarney. Our bus trip to Killarney was a nice, quick 1.5 hours and our Bed and Breakfast was directly (and I mean directly) across the street from the bus station. We couldn’t have been happier, considering we’d had a couple late nights in the not-so-distant past and were eager for a nap.

Checking into Sunnybank Guesthouse was simple - Martina Kelliher greeted us and led us to our room. Martina and her husband Brendan have an absolutely gorgeous home - this was definitely my favourite accommodation of the entire trip. We crashed for a few hours and then wandered out looking for nourishment. We each had a tasty sandwich and muffin from the Costa Coffee place in the Killarney Outlet Mall thingy, and then wandered around the town, doing some window shopping. It was a Sunday night, but many of the stores were still open at 8:00 pm. I saw a really cute white Kerry hoodie, and thought I would get back to buy it, but didn’t. That’s probably my biggest regret of the trip. Sigh. This is the first place where we heard North American accents everywhere we went. There were also lots of pubs advertising traditional music, which is something we hadn’t seen too much of on our journey thus far. A quiet, late dinner at Mayflower Chinese Restaurant followed, and then it was back to Sunnybank for a quiet evening, where I finally got to enjoy the big bed since Jenn graciously agreed to let me have it. Nice, comfy beds, a TV in the room and great showers here as well.

The next morning, we were up bright and early for some breakfast. I had my typical toast, bacon and sausage while Jenn enjoyed some grapefruit. Brendan came by to chat during breakfast and when we mentioned that we were going to tour the Ring of Kerry that day, he told us he’d put in a call so the shuttle would pick us up right at our door. Great hospitality. Sure enough, the shuttle was prompt and brought us the few blocks to where we had to board our Deros tour bus. We set off just a few minutes late, with our guide, Dennis, offering up interesting little nuggets of information here and there. We drove through Killorglin, enjoying the story of King Puck, a goat who had broken away while Oliver Cromwell’s forces pillaged the Kerry countryside, thereby alerting the town’s inhabitant to the impending danger, and made our first stop at Glenbeigh, to visit the Bog Village. Apparently, thatched cottages had been found in various places around the county and had been brought here and reassembled so tourists can get a glimpse of what Irish life was like in the fairly recent past. A very small Upper Canada Village, if you will. Very touristy, but we enjoyed ourselves, and got some funny pictures, including one of a ghost in one of the cottage doorways. OooOOOoOO. Okay, so it was a lady with white hair and a long, dark overcoat, but I try and pass her off as a ghost to everyone. The “Really?” response I get makes me laugh every single time.

Onward we went, through Cahersiveen, and made our next stop at a sheep and dog demonstration put on by a local shepherd, Brendan Ferris. Jenn and I freaked out when we heard we’d get to see some sheep up close and personal. This was definitely the highlight of the day. Brendan first showed us examples of about 20 different types of sheep from different areas of the world and explained what the Irish use them for (mostly for lamb production). Jenn snapped a ton of pictures here, because hello, we were in sheep heaven. One of the sheep loved me and wanted to kiss me, but I pulled my face away before he could. Brendan then took us over to a nearby hill and had his two champion Border Collies (Tina and Bess) give us a herding demonstration. It was great fun, and wow, did those dogs love to work. Brendan showed us how he instructed the dogs using different whistles - each dog had its own set, so he could control them independently. The dogs went to the top of a hill to get the sheep, steered them left and right and then brought them down the hill at Brendan’s command. Brendan then answered plenty of questions from the crowd (like, how can sheep be so stupid?) and was very good-humoured about it all.

Back on the bus, we made our way over to Waterville, where we stopped at a restaurant for some tasty soup and rolls, then it was on to Sneem (a previous Ireland ‘Tidy Town’ winner), where we had a chance to wander the streets of this pretty little place and take pictures of some of James Scanlon’s “The Way the Fairies Went” sculptures - notably, the dry-stone huts. The last part of the tour was on the bus, with a final stop at the breathtaking Ladies View for some quiet moments and pictures. We drove by the lakes and through part of the National Park before being dropped off at our starting point. Definitely an enjoyable day, and I’d certainly recommend this tour to anyone who doesn’t have access to a car and still wants to see the Ring. I felt like the amount of stops was just right and that effort had been made to cater to differing interests. It’s just too bad that my coughing probably drove everyone on the bus insane. Thanks for the cough drop, kind lady sitting in front of me.

On our way back to Sunnybank, we stopped at the off-license to prepare for our traditional ‘at least one night out on the town in each place’. I had been drinking Blue WKD for most of the trip, but they didn’t have any here, so I settled on something that looked just as fruity called Fat Frog. It was definitely tasty and was drinkable, even warm. We were only able to find ice for our little pre-drinking sessions in Dublin, but that’s okay, we’re troopers. Cold water in the sink does a decent job, and is also extremely classy. Hehe. Also on our way to the B&B, two cars in the space of 5 minutes pulled over to ask us for directions. The drivers both had Irish accents, so we were smug in the knowledge that we must not look at all like tourists in this place filled with them.

We headed out fairly early, and ended up at a place called Macuddas, which was absolutely dead. It was a Monday night though, so we figured most places would be dead. That’s okay, Jenn and I can make our own fun, so we began a pub crawl, stopping at a place with some music, and then at the Café du Parc in the Killarney Plaza Hotel, where we sat on cowhide print stools and chatted with a man from Long Island while we drank Long Island Iced Teas (I think we thought it was cooler than he did). Eventually, a group of off-duty police officers (gardai) arrived, who were definitely in a good mood. I could tell they were in a good mood, because they didn’t refuse my request for a rendition of Molly Malone - something I’d be asking pretty much everyone to sing for me, with mixed results. One of them even said “The last verse is quite sad - are you sure you want to hear it?” The gards invited us to a club called McSorelys, so we followed, especially because they were quite entertaining (“Police in Ireland don’t eat donuts and drink coffee, they eat scones and drink tea!”) Awww. One was particularly jolly and sang us some traditional songs, including some in Irish, which was a highlight. He asked me if I’d ever seen a Mountie and I replied that I actually had some Mountie keychains to give out, but that I had left them at the B&B. Before leaving, I had to promise that Jenn and I would go out for breakfast the next morning before their shift and give him the coveted keychain.

Sure enough, 9:00 am rolled around and four of them were at the door waiting, actually in uniform, but without the hats. I grabbed the keychain, of course, and we headed downstairs. That guy did not let go of his stuffed Mountie moose keychain for the entire morning. It was always in his hand. While he ate breakfast, it was wrapped around one finger. Quite amusing, actually. After breakfast, they drove us around Killarney, showing us various landmarks and telling us stories about crazy people they’ve come across in their line of work. The keychain guy gave me a little gardai pin before dropping us off and heading to the police station for his shift. An enjoyable morning for sure - our experiences with locals were definitely a big reason why our trip was so great.

Now, this is when I should have bought that Kerry hoodie, and I did think about it, but for some reason I was extremely lazy and did nothing for the rest of the day. I’ll just have to go back one day and hope it’s still there.

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