The Day we Went to Blarney

 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. 







From there, we walked to Blarney House, a very impressive home from the mid-1800s built in Scottish Baronial style. We went on exploring corners of the huge grounds, undeterred by the rain. We came across an old lime kiln, a massive walled kitchen garden, a large (22 acre) lake, a coach house and stables-turned-cafe, and a huge rhododendron arboretum. All too soon our three hours was up and, leaving many corners unexplored, we went to meet up with Brian O’Flynn for our return journey to Cork.  







Mark and Julie, both much more eloquent after kissing the stone of course, set off for the library on our return, to pursue some family history research; Wallsy disappeared into a Waterstones bookshop; and I went to find some of the many charity shops in the city. 

We reconvened at Arthur Mayne’s Pharmacy, a quirky wine bar in a Victorian era Chemist shop at 5:30 where we had a quick drink, but decided the menu wasn’t for us, so wandered Oliver Plunkett street for a few blocks until we found Clancy’s bar. Here we grabbed some dinner amongst a group of passionate Brazilians watching the World Cup match between Brazil and Japan. It got very rowdy!  It was one all when we left and we discovered later Brazil had kicked the winning goal in the final minutes of the match, meaning it would have become even rowdier. 

It has been lovely that a couple of quiet mornings has meant I have managed to speak with all of my family over the past two days. Seeing the cute faces of our three grandchildren, eases the burden of homesickness somewhat. 

Tomorrow is set to be another day of adventure and discovery in the Emerald Isle and we are hoping for some better weather. 


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