Robot Claw

Killarney is on the edge of a national park that has three lakes. Today we visited one of them.

There are a few ways to get to the lake from town; we chose to walk through the forest. It was picture-postcard pretty, mostly alongside a river and with glades containing mossy rocks and roots scattered along the path.

After about an hour of walking we reached Ross Castle, a mostly reconstructed medieval ‘tower castle’ on the shore of the lake.

Boats depart from a pier behind the castle and offer cruises around the lake. Naturally we took one.

It was great. The boat was comfy and warm and the captain/guide told us all about the history of the lake. The views were grand as well, since the lake is bordered by high mountains and scattered with many small islands.

Afterwards we walked along the shore a bit further to the site of a copper mine that dates back almost 2500 years! The mines restarted about 200 years ago but were eventually closed forever due to flooding.

Since we’re off to Galway tomorrow this will be the last photo from Killarney, showing the massive catholic cathedral. Once again the afternoon light here in Ireland makes this look almost monochrome, but I haven’t treated the image in any way.

Early night for us tonight since we’ve got an early (and lengthy) trip tomorrow. See you in Galway!

We took another bus tour today. Our original tour was canceled due to few sign ups, and was to be a combination bus/hike ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ tour. At the last minute we joined a more conventional tour around the Dingle Peninsula, northwest of Killarney.

It’s a good thing the hike was canceled since the weather today was very wet and the winds on the peninsula were near cyclonic! The above was taken at our first stop – Inch Beach – which as you can see wasn’t too inviting. And yet a few brave souls were splashing in the surf, albeit with wetsuits on (or ‘frog suits’ as I’ve now heard two people call them here). We braved the rain and winds for a few photos before hurrying back to the cozy bus 🙂

Dingle was one incredible view after another. Endless patchwork fields full of sheep and cows, sheer cliffs on the Atlantic Ocean side, hills with their tops in the clouds, old ruins dating from 1000 years (or more!) ago. We saw all this and more.

The above was taken near Slea Head, the westernmost part ‘of continental Europe’ as our guide/driver Bronson said. Here the grass goes right up to the very edges of the tall cliffs and sheep and cows look like they’re just one step from doom. The Atlantic churns below as the winds blow the rain horizontally into your face. It reminded me of the coldest and wettest days up on the Newcastle cliffs in the Australian winter… only it’s the middle of summer here. It was wonderful!

The ocean in the above shot is dozens of meters down from the edge of the cliff and the “next port of call is Newfoundland” to quote Brosnan. Whenever I’m in Australia I always make a point to look out across the ocean ‘to America’; today I did similar from the other side.

Our longest stop – for lunch and shopping – was the town of Dingle (from which the area is named). It’s a little town but an important fishing port and has a lovely tourist district near the marina that was just mobbed with tourists. Bronson said that tourism has spiked these last two years due to people (Americans mostly) being afraid of Europe, and unless things slow down its hard to see how these little scenic towns wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

But perhaps they welcome it? Tourism is after all they’re biggest industry in this part of Ireland and the locals are just as welcoming – if not moreso – as in any other place I’ve been.

Apparently it’s standard for tourists to do both The Ring Of Kerry (which we did yesterday) and Dingle Peninsula (today) and then pass judgement on which is best. For me, they were different enough to both be very special, but I think I’d have to give the nod to Dingle. The views are just too good, and seeing them on a day like today just made it that it better.

As Brosnan said: “You don’t need sun for a great day” 🙂

Today we took a tour around The Ring Of Kerry, a (very!) scenic loop road along the coast to the west of Killarney.

The views are extraordinary and (once again) the weather was beautiful. We were on a small group tour in a minibus with a charming guide and everything was great as we drove along, stopping now and then and enjoying the vistas.

In time we arrived at Port McGee, and the Skellig Island visitors center. These are two large rocky islands 12 km off the western coast of Ireland with a rich history and famously were used for filming for episodes 7 and 8 of the Star Wars series.

Part of our tour included a boat trip around (but not actually to) the islands. There had been some doubt if this would happen since the sea was rough, but by the time we arrived the captain had decided to go so on board we went!

Here we are just before setting out for the cruise that ended up taking three hours.

And here we are just offshore from Skellig Michael:

Yep, I’m flat out!

Here’s the story: the sea was rough, the boat was pitching like crazy and not too far after we left the inlet and entered the open ocean I got by far the worst motion sickness I’ve ever experienced. This got progressively worse until I basically passed out and remained on my back for the remainder of the trip, including all the time at the islands!

This means I didn’t get to see the steps carved by monks hundreds of years ago, or the monastery, or the remains of the old lighthouse or even the spot Luke was standing when Rey hands him his light saber! But KLS did, and she got some great photos to show me 🙂

The boat also took us to the other Skellig, which is a marine bird sanctuary, currently housing 50,000 gannets.

I was lucid here and got to see a bit from my prone position! KLS said I was joking a bit, although I don’t recall 🙂

By the way I was hardly the only one that got sick on the boat. In fact 7 of the 9 of us did, including KLS! Almost everyone was carrying (full) sick bags by the end, but I guess I was the only one frail enough to collapse!

At any rate eventually we returned to dry land and within a few minutes I was fine. The tour continued for a few hours back to Killarney and was just as great as it had started.

That’s a local with his pet mountain goat in Sneem. He was a placid handsome beast for us but we heard he sometimes goes almost uncontrollably berserk!

It was a long day but a good one. The Ring Of Kerry is every bit as scenic as you may have heard and surely a highlight of any trip to Ireland. However, you may want to skip the Skellig cruise if there’s even a hint of rough seas 😉