The Day we Came Home to Cork

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 wanted to make a deposit!  The light-weight hiking boots I bought with me, which I had already worn a few times, were just not comfortable after a whole day of hiking, especially on the downhill stretches. By the end of day one I never wanted to see them again and wore my runners for the remainder of the walk. So, I didn’t see the point of taking them all the way back home with me, better they stay here and find a new pair of feet to love them!  We may have also bought a couple of things while we were in the op shop, of course!  

Our bus was scheduled to leave Dingle at 11:45 and connect us to the 13:41 train from Killarney. In theory we should have had 25 minutes to spare, adequate time to walk from the Killarney bus station to the railway station, just around the corner. The reality however, was that the bus  arrived to the Dingle stop 15 minutes late. Then the driver, despite making up for lost time by driving around the windy roads like a rally driver, insisted on stopping in random places (i.e. not designated bus stops) to pick up and drop off. Of course the traffic into Killarney was travelling at a crawl, for whatever reason, and as the minutes ticked by we resigned ourselves to the idea that we were not going to make the 13:41 train, which would then mean we would miss the second connecting train from Mallow at 15:00. 

We arrived in Killarney with about two minutes to spare, and upon seeking directions from the bus driver and finding we had to walk the length of the shopping centre then the same distance back down the street outside the centre, we knew we were doomed. Nevertheless, we vowed to at least try even though we could see the train was already in the station, from the bus stop. 

By some miracle however, we made it … just!  We were in good time for the second connection and arrived back home to Cork at 15:30. And it did feel like coming home. 










P.s.  The random assortment of photos today  includes a selection from our walk on the Dingle way, including a collage of the variety of flowering plants to be found on the roadsides along the way. There is also a shot of the infamous Wild Colonial Boy in a town called Castlemaine, captured on our way through on the local bus, and a grey heron, Wallsy and I encountered on our trip to buy supplies this evening. 

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