Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2018
Edit Blog Post
Europe was having a major heat wave, so in early June, we were looking for some place with a comfortable temperature to visit. England and Wales were also having a heat wave (and drought, in Wales), but as usual in northern Europe, it was a bit cooler. Even though the area is known for its rainfall, it hardly rained in the four weeks we were in the area.
One of our first stops in Ireland was in Baltimore - a very friendly town. When we asked our b&b host where to go for dinner, she said that “everyone is on the square,” and she meant it. The square consisted of an open space, filled with tables, surrounded by two or three restaurants, with the harbor and bay on the other side. The town’s population was 323, and we were probably the only tourists there; you can’t get more local than this. People from our table were mingling with people from other tables and other people came and joined the people at our table. We listened to an Irish band play music for 2 1/2 hours while eating and enjoying the view of the bay. A few of the younger guys
in the crowd practiced their Riverdance moves. Apparently a band plays here every Sunday night, probably throughout the whole summer. And a 13th century castle next door.
As I mentioned in another blog, we like to take the small, curvy roads (rather than boring freeways) and Ireland didn’t disappoint. Some roads were one track roads; we had no idea what we were getting into when we approached “gap” roads - very isolated, curvy, hilly, one track roads, often only you and the sheep on the roads, and maybe a bicyclist or two. The roads in some areas are so narrow that you have to pull over to the side of the road and stop and wait for an oncoming car to pass. Lonely Planet says that probably only in Ireland is the speed limit somewhat excessive. Two signs we had to laugh at - speed limits of 80 km/h (50 mph) even on curvy, hilly, one-track roads. Another sign we questioned - no passing. Again, you have to pull over, often into the dirt on the side of the road, maybe sideswiping a tree branch or bush when an oncoming car comes, and you think you’re going to be
able to pass another car? One driver we met had just gotten two flat tires because he had pulled over to the side to allow another driver to pass, and he ended up driving over stones on the side of the road. It wasn't dangerous; we just had to go slow, not 50mph.
Many people have heard of the Ring of Kerry, a 179 km (about 110 miles) drive around a peninsula. The main town is Killarney, as in Bing Crosby's “It’s Christmas in Killarney” fame. As popular as the drive is, there are several other drives we found more scenic, or more interesting, than the Ring of Kerry. It could have been the cloudy weather, but after having seen some of the other drives, we weren't all that impressed. Too many tour buses and tourist shops along this stretch. The coastline starting near Cork on the south coast, all along the west coast, through the various peninsulas, and ending up in the north, near Ulster, is known as the Wild Atlantic Way. Although we didn’t appreciate the Ring of Kerry, the 2,500 km (1,553 miles) Wild Atlantic Way has plenty of scenery and attractions to keep most people
happy. Other scenic drives definitely worth doing - the Beara Peninsula and the Dingle Peninsula. But with a small car!
The altar tomb that we saw was first erected at the end of the Stone Age, around 3,000 to 2,000 BCE; its entrances line up with a certain point, the same as at Stonehenge in England. “Archaeologists recently uncovered some burnt human bone which they radiocarbon dated to about 2,000 BE and believe the tomb continued to be used as a sacred site in the centuries that followed. Shallow pits, probably with food offerings, were dug into the chamber floor in the late Bronze Age – between 1,250 and 550 BCE – and Celtic Iron Age people filled a pit with sea shells and fish bones sometime between 124 and 224 CE ... The ritual use of the site ended with the arrival of Christianity, but it was briefly resumed during the 18h century when the tomb was used as an altar by priests who were forbidden by law to say mass in a church” (sign at entrance).
We could have spent our whole trip (including England and Wales) visiting landscaped gardens and castles; we decided to hold
off on that, and just visit one castle, later in Wales.
One place I wanted to visit was the Waterford Crystal factory. So much beautiful glass! I had to buy a little something (similar to the vase in the picture).
On a nice day, the view from the Cliffs of Moher, and other Cliffs, is beautiful. Unfortunately when we arrived in the evening, we were experiencing our first Irish downpour. Luckily we planned to spend the night in the area and the next day, the sun was back out, with glorious views. The Cliffs are around 214 meters high (702 feet).
The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is a “spectacular rock formation ... a vast expanse of regular, closely-packed hexagonal stone columns looking for all the world like the handiwork of giants ... The story goes that Irish giant built the Causeway so he could cross the sea to fight Scottish giant, who pursued the Irish giant back across the Causeway, but in turn took fright and fled back to Scotland, ripping up the Causeway as he went. All that remains are the ends - the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, and a place in Scotland,
which had similar rock formations.” (Lonely Planet, Ireland, pp. 618, 622). There is also a less exciting scientific explanation, but I’ll stick with the tale.
Many places offer a ”full Irish breakfast,” which consists of baked beans, sausage, fried eggs, grilled tomatoes, and black pudding. “Black pudding“ is actually a sausage made from pigs' blood, onions, herbs, spices, oatmeal or barley. It didn’t taste bad, but I couldn't get past the ingredients.
On to England ...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.115s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0741s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb