September 9 - Day 44 Bray

From Cork we drove to Bray which is just outside Dublin. We made great time getting there, but once there, we got lost looking for our hotel...we booked it online, but neglected to get an exact address so our GPS was no good to us...

...at least the view was nice.



 Once we found the hotel (we finally found the Tourist Information place and got directions - we had been off by a single right turn!) and checked in we headed out again to see the Powerscourt House and Gardens...

Powerscourt House and Gardens

View from the House

Into the woods...

...and up the Pepper Pot Tower

View from the top of the Pepper Pot Tower

View of the House from the Pepper Pot Tower

The Japanese Gardens...

...Japanese maple...

...bamboo...

...waterfall...

...and a pagoda.

The Italian Garden with the House in the background.

The Walled Garden...

...smelling the roses...

...thistle...

...having a rest...

...ooohhh...manicured tree...

...and lily pads!

September 8 - Day 43 Cork

Okay, so given that this part of the trip happened over a year ago there isn't aren't a ton of details I remember...in fact I can't say I remember anything about the actual drive from Killarney to Cork. I do, however, remember that when we got to Cork our GPS system, which had served us so well up until this point, began to show her age. She kept directing me to drive down alleyways that at one time or another may have been a through street, but have since closed down to all traffic. Cork is a city. A city with a lot of little closed off to all traffic alleyways. The word that resonates most with me when I think of Cork, the city of closed off to all traffic alleyways, is "recalculating," but it's not "recalculating" as you or I might say the word, but it's "recalculating" as spoken by the ever pleasant voice of the GPS lady, "RE-calculating." Was it just my imagination or did her voice have a greater tinge of irritation every time I ignored her direction to turn into what she obviously didn't know was a closed off to all traffic alleyway?

Anyway, after many misguided twists and turns, we finally found our hotel...

The Ambassador Hotel...

Upon our arrival there was a slew of kids - teenagers - filing out of the lobby and Constance looked at me with an expression that said, "What have you gotten us into?" But it turned out they had just finished their exams - maybe Ireland's version of SATs, I'm not sure - and after hanging out for a bit in the parking lot they dispersed.

We had a bright airy room with a lovely view of the city...

One of my favorite pictures...Constance enjoying the view...

After settling in we decided to take a walk into town - we (well, Constance) had made a few purchases during our travels and rather than lug everything around for the rest of the trip, we decided to find a post office and mail it home. So it was off on a post office hunt we went...

Walking into the main part of the city was a breeze...about 10 or 15 minutes downhill...

Military Hill...

MILITARY HILL!

The city itself was...fine. We didn't have enough time to really see anything so we just wandered and unlike our previous wanderings, this one left a lot to be desired. I'm sure Cork has a lot to offer, but whether it was because Constance and I were a little travel weary or because we simply did not have a lot of time...Cork, for us, was...kind of lame.

And that's all I have to say about that.

September 7 - Day 42 Ring of Kerry

Okay, so it's been over a year since we were in Ireland, but I promised Constance that I would at least make an effort to finish this blog - or at the very least get us to the London part of our mammoth trip.
So, here we are in Killarney...or were...where we opted to stay two nights instead of what had become our habit of moving on after one so that we could have a full day to enjoy a leisurely drive around the Ring of Kerry.

The Ring of Kerry - or the Iveragh Peninsula - is a big deal in the tourist books on Ireland, so of course Constance and I had to have our tour around it as well. It is said to have some of the most beautiful scenery in the south of Ireland and beautiful scenery we did see...albeit mostly from the windows of our car as we drove by. I hate to admit it, but at this point in our journey around Ireland, Contance and I were...tired. We did want to see, but we were feeling a bit worn and weren't so interested in doing.

Our trusty little carriage...

That said, we got in the car bright and early and began the 110 mile journey - taking the clockwise route as there has apparently been some grand agreement amongst the tour companies to go the counter clockwise route so as to not cause massive jam ups on the tiny two lane roads.

We did manage to get ourselves out of the car for a few of the more spectacular views...

...like these donkeys!



They were very friendly...

...but seriously...

...there was some beautiful scenery...

...the final stretch of the journey...The Ladies View lookout...

...and a different view of the Ladies View...

...and finally, dinner with a lovely lady.



September 6 - Day 41 Doolin to Killarney

We woke up and headed out early to make our way to Killarney, but before we left Doolin entirely we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher to have the look that we didn't get the day before. We got there before the site officially opened, but were still able to get to the lookout.

It was a bit gloomy...

...but we made our way anyway...

...and it was worth it...

O'Brien's Tower

The tower was built in 1835 by local landlord Cornelius O'Brien as a viewing point for the tourists that even then were flocking to the Cliffs.

Constance enjoying the view.

If you look closely to this last picture, you can see a man standing very near the edge. He turned out to be a park ranger...a very handsome ranger...with very handsome steely blue eyes. He let us borrow his binoculars to have a look a falcon, but we didn't get his name. Not that it would have mattered - in Constance's opinion he was too old for me and too young for her. Oh well!

We got to Killarney without a place to stay, but the tourist information people found us a very nice hotel called the Earls Court House, just on the edge of town. After a brief walk around town we had dinner at a nearby restaurant called Kayne's Bistro. Good food, good atmosphere...and a bottle of wine!

September 5 - Day 40 Westport to Doolin

Breakfast at the Aillmore was spent chatting with another guest who just happened to also be a tour guide! He was hired to give a several day private tour to some folks from upstate New York (again with the American tourists!) and while he was staying at the Aillmore, his clients were staying at the fancy dan hotel in town. He gave us some good advice and although I had great difficulty understanding most of it (his Irish accent and my American ears), he was a delight to talk to!

It was, however, on the advice of the proprietress of the Aillmore that we headed out that morning in the direction of Doolin...Doolin...fun to say, but a bit of a disappointment. To be fair, it wasn't really Doolin's fault, but it was raining and the part of the town we came to first - the pier where they ferry tourists into the water to see the Cliffs of Moher from the sea - was packed with people (undoubtedly several American tourists among them).

By now it was mid afternoon and my stomach was getting hungry...and slightly irritable...so we quickly sought out a place to eat...at the nearest eatery - a pub in the thick of the madness by the pier. We sat down, I went to use the ladies room and by the time I came out, we decided we acted rashly - too many people and too noisy! So we headed out, I ate a granola bar to tide me over until we got to another, more civilized place to eat.

Once fed, we decided to drive down the road to see the Cliffs of Moher (from the top of the cliffs, not the sea), but the rain had picked up and we decided we would try again in the morning before leaving town. Soooo...we went back to Doolin, found our B&B and soon headed out to a pub for a drink. We stayed for a few hours because of the promise of local music, but didn't last very long because these two old ladies need their beauty sleep!

September 4 - Day 39 Donegal to Westport

During breakfast this morning it was pouring with rain, but we had a lovely breakfast with a couple from New Jersey (one of the things I noticed about Ireland was that there were a ton of American tourists)! We stopped in Sligo - the boyhood home of William Butler Yeats - but once again we only stopped long enough to find a place to stay at our next stop, which was to be a town called Westport. We didn't know anything about the town, but that Constance thought it might be a nice place.

And it was!

Even the police station was nice...but we only saw it from the outside...

We did a little walking and browsing in the many shops before stopping to eat lunch...

...and to find our next B&B...

...the Aillmore B&B!

After settling in we went for a walk...this is heading back to the B&B up yet another steep hill...

Neighborhood dogs...they look harmless enough, but they were viscious! They barked well into the night and nearly attacked me when I came back from a run the next morning! Grrrrr....

September 3 - Day 38 Portrush to Donegal

We left Portrush that morning not entirely certain as to where we were going, only that we were headed west. We focused in on a town called Letterkenney, but only stopped there to visit the tourist information center so that we could find a place to stay for the night. From there we headed north to visit the Glenveagh National Park in the northwest county of Donegal...

Walkway to the visitor's center...

There's a castle out there somewhere that we were going to walk to, but the walkway was under construction so we took a shorter but scenic nature walk on the edge of Lough Veagh...

There's the castle...way in the distance...it would have been a very long walk!

The arched roof of the walkway to (and from) the visitor's center...

From there we drove south into the town of Donegal which we drove through without stopping (except to ask for directions to our B&B!) - the town was madness! So many people, so little room in the streets. Thankfully, our B&B was a couple of miles beyond the madness and up a steep driveway that led to a lovely house with a beautiful view...

Clearly, I did not take this picture, but here is the Ardlenagh View Bed & Breakfast!

Our view wasn't quite like this because even though it rained like crazy the next day, we were there in the summer and the bay was dry...well, not dry...muddy, but not as full as this...should've taken a picture!