Ireland; Skibbereen to Ballinskelligs
{Tuesday October 7}
We got up around 7a this morning to get ready and have breakfast at 8a. The lady of the house here is very nice and offered us quite a selection of breakfast options. I had an apple and pear green tea (delish!), strawberry peach yogurt, and Irish soda bread with black currant jam.
We left our bed and breakfast around 9a to frosty window's and a chilly 4 degrees, and headed toward Mizen Head. We saw lots of rugged landscape, cows, and the end of the rainbow! We arrived shortly after 10a; the signal station and lookout points didn't open until 10:30a, so we walked down the road and through a field to admire the coastline. Thankfully it had warmed up to 12 and was quite nice for a walk.
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| Mizen Head |
When it opened, we bought our tickets and headed towards the signal house. We saw a couple lookouts and crossed the bridge which was extremely high. The shoreline was very steep, tall cliffs around the point and up the surrounding coastline.
We wandered around the signal house, and saw where the first transatlantic telegraph was received. After looking around a little more we headed back towards the entrance. It started raining on the way back, so we got a little wet, but that was the first time it's rained while we've been outside.
By the time we got back to the car, I was quite glad not to be peering over the edge of the world at a crashing, angry sea. We left around 11:30a and continued following the Wild Atlantic Way toward the Beara Peninsula.
By the time we got back to the car, I was quite glad not to be peering over the edge of the world at a crashing, angry sea. We left around 11:30a and continued following the Wild Atlantic Way toward the Beara Peninsula.
Along the way, we passed through a couple of short tunnels chiseled out of the rock.
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| Torc Waterfall |
We drove past Molls Gap and stopped for a quick look at Ladies View. Our next stop was Torc Waterfall. A short walk off the road took us up to the impressive waterfall.
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| Muckross House |
After the waterfall, we stopped at Muckross House, where we looked around the outside of the very impressive estate built in the 1700s. The timing didn't work out to have a tour so we headed on towards Ross castle, which was built it the 1200s but was fully restored quite recently.
After Ross castle, we continued on the Ring of Kerry, stopping at a couple lookout points, a beach, and an old abandoned castle.
As we passed through a small village, we stopped at Joeys takeaway, and ordered a chicken supreme pizza to have for supper; not the greatest.
We were getting tired, so we decided to skip an off-shoot ring, and continue on the main ring. It's quite rugged and very beautiful, impressive coastline. The scenery was stunning, but it occurred to us about half an hour down the road, that our B and B for the night it's actually located on the offshoot ring. Oops. So, we turned around and headed back towards Ballinskellig.
However, as luck would have it, the Ballinskelling that was in the GPS, was not the actual Ballingskellig, so once again we were not in the right place. Eventually, we found a kindly old gentleman walking down a narrow country lane (which is actually a two lane road, you just have to suck in really deep and hold your breath), who had absolutely no idea where the B and B was, but with great delight and care was able to direct us to the chocolate factory. Luckily, our B and B is beside the chocolate factory, and we were able to find it just as we were losing the last bits of daylight.
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| St Finians Bay |
Our room for the night is actually a little sea side cottage of sorts, right on the ocean, with a nice little siting area and, of course, a kettle so that we could be greeted with tea. I think the Irish and the English are in competition for their love of tea. It started raining again shortly after we got in, as it had been raining on and off all day.
We made it a priority to look up our place for tomorrow night and ensure we have accurate directions and locations for it. Hopefully finding it won't be quite so much of an adventure.
J.
Design Life. Create Originality. Inspire Wonder.
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