Read, Write, Ramble

 Brian O’Flynn was booked to come and collect us again at 10:30 this morning. It’s very convenient having a taxi driver on tap. He was so friendly and engaging the first time he collected us that we asked for his number so we could book him for other trips, and the relationship is working very well.  He was right on time today and we were confident the timing was right for the 11am train to Cobh.  At 10:50 when we were still stuck in slow moving traffic we all exchanged worried glances, but clearing the traffic, good ole Brian floored it, got us through the next set of lights on green and screeched to a halt outside the station with 7 minutes to spare!  What were we worried about? Once we were back in Cobh, we walked to the Spike Island ferry terminal and redeemed our tickets with plenty of time to spare before its departure, keeping a wary eye on the weather and the on again off again showers that we have become accustomed to and accepted as a daily offering.  ...

 Our favourite taxi driver, Brian O’Flynn was to collect us at midday, so we spent the morning organising and re-packing for a few days away again come Wednesday. When Brian eventually arrived, about 15 minutes late, it was to drive us out to Blarney for an afternoon exploring the castle and gardens.  Our first stop was for a quick lunch, then we purchased our tickets and walked into the most beautiful, colourful and well- maintained gardens I have seen so far. Even the entrance buildings were adorned with amazing hanging baskets overflowing with a profusion of flowers.  Then there were the first glimpses of the impressive castle,  seemingly growing out of the rock face. We all walked up together, but Wallsy and I left Mark and Julie to join the queue to climb up the 8 floors to reach the Blarney Stone.  It was not something we wanted to do; instead, we proceeded to explore the poisons garden, discovering some surprisingly common plants that are quite toxic....

 This morning was a chance for a bit of travel admin as we weren’t rushing off to anything in particular. We had a committee meeting and came up with a plan to get across to the Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher as an extension to our planned trip back to Dublin later this week. It is much more straightforward to get to Galway from Dublin, than it is from Cork, so we have locked it in, booked the train, two night’s accommodation in Galway and a day tour. Our remaining time here is filling up fast.  After the planning meeting closed, we got ourselves organised and walked down to our local bus stop and jumped the 220 into Cork City Hall. From there we walked along the river to the Marina Market, a real foodie focused market featuring 35 food vendors and a wide selection of international cuisines. We each enjoyed our lunch of choice before walking back towards the city.  Mark became our bridge guide, armed with an interactive walking map on his phone.  We crossed the las...

We have left the Gaeltacht region of Kerry, where the Irish language is the predominant language spoken and in many areas, the only language used on signage.  While we were in Ballyferriter, we met a friendly bunch of Irish College Students from all over the country, who were part of a residential summer school where they were totally immersed in the Irish language for the two week duration of the course. They told us (in English!) that they weren’t allowed to speak English during this time, and would get detention if they did, but they all appeared to be having a wonderful time at the beach, playing sports and holding a Ceili, while all the time speaking Irish.  There seems to be no connection between Irish and English, and although we tried, there were very few words we were able to understand; see the pictured sign.  The morning was quite damp and considerably cooler than the last few days. Before our late morning bus, Julie and I popped into the local Vinnies as I wan...

 Unlike the pub in Ballyferriter that kicked on ‘til the wee, small hours, and on a school night too, our accommodation in Cuas was dead quiet by 10, allowing weary walkers to catch a good night’s sleep. We did hear that there would normally have been more dancers there on a Thursday night, but they didn’t turn up because of the heat!   Breakfast was at 8am, so we were all packed and ready to go by the time Sean our taxi driver arrived at 9:30. The 15 minute trip across the peninsula was entertaining, with Sean firstly telling us all about the local lads who had made good and moved to play AFL in Australia, for example Cat’s player Mark O’Connor - we even saw the house where he grew up, and his uncle’s house over the road to boot. He also told us to keep an eye on Kobe McDonald from county Mayo who has just signed up with St Kilda. Then he entertained us with tales about the legal machinations of the town, today being Court day; and the one local Garda who has let power go to ...

 The Dingle Way is a 179 km circular walking route on the Dingle Peninsula, beginning and ending in Tralee, and typically taking 8 days. We have enjoyed a 3-day curated walk, of approximately 50kms, which aims to highlight the best features of the Dingle Way. Today was our biggest, and final day.  The weather has been perfect, culminating in a 30 degree day today, way too hot for the locals, but we Aussies were not daunted.  We started  with a cooked breakfast at the Tigh an tSaorsaigh pub/B&B in the heart of Ballyferriter, being entertained with the life story of the breakfast chef, who regaled us with tales of her interesting life while we ate.  All too soon however, it was time for us to move on and start our day’s walk - it was already past 9am and we were expecting to walk 15.7km today.  We began by retracing our steps to the point where we had left the beach on Smerwick Harbour and set off along the smooth sand. It didn’t take us long to miss the ...