Day 5 - Ring of Kerry

Good mornin' lasses. The day started off pretty good. We are at a nice B&B that is just a few minutes walk from Killarney. Last night there was a terrible storm, bad wind and a lot of rain. The wind has been incredible, I thought it was just always like that, but apparently this is a bit unusual. So, no run this am. (at this point any excuse will do!) We got an early start and jumped in the car with our Ring of Kerry map and hit the pavement. Alot of standing water in the roadways, but at least it wasn't raining hard. Our 1st stop was the Kerry Peat Bog Village. What a rip off! I made Lisa stop because I didn't want to sit in the car all day, drive around the peninsula and not get out of the car. Since I was navigating, I told her to stop. Really cheesy! Back in the car to the next stop..someplace that starts with a C, is really long and I have no idea how to pronounce it. Anyways, they have a bunch of cool ruins and Churches and stuff. We go to one fort (fart in irish speak) and one castle. Both were really cool and we could see another set of ruins but had no idea how to get there. The place was extra cool because the buses couldn't get there so we basically had the whole place to ourselves! On our way back into town to get back on "the ring" Lisa pulled over because someone was on her butt. The still driving pull over that just lets the person pass but you don't have to stop kind of pull over. She made this maneuver just as i was opening up the map, partially obstruction her view. WHAM! She hits a rock sticking out of the embankment. We drive a lit bit further and we hear a noise. You guessed it, flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Lisa wants to walk into town, I decide that we are going to change the darn tire....my Dad taught me how to do this for a reason! Since it is a rental car, we are having to search for the jack.....finally find it under the passenger seat. Try to loosen the lug nuts......I think they purposefully put them on so that no other human can loosen them without an air compressor! I can not loosen them. Welcome Jack O'Shea to da story! Love these Irish people! Jack O'Shea changes our tire in under 5 minutes - I think he used to work for nascar. But guess what...it gets better....he has service station 3k up the road. We follow Jack O'Shea and he fixes our tire and gets us on our way in less that 30minutes total (including the original tire change)! Holy Cow! I thought our day was going to be ruined, but no...Jack O'Shea to the rescue.

So on our way we go. Lisa is now a little unnerved and is a little more tentative driving. She has been doing great and the whole thing was a freak accident but she is taking it personally. We get to a beautiful overlook and I am hollering at her to pull over. Unfortunately, there is some funeral going on and there are all these cars pulled over on the side of the road making it truly a one lane road (yes with 2 way traffic). The roads are narrow enough to begin with, but this was ridiculous. Anyways, I was getting inpatient and saw an area that she could pull over for a second, she didn't want to pull over and well.................our 1st fight :-(
Don't worry, we got over it pretty quickly (20minutes later after 2 people mooping in silence).

We made some fun stops (one to pee at the side of the road) and made it back to Torc waterfalls in the national park. We saw the waterfalls and then did a little hike around it. We then decided we were going to walk to an abbey a mile or so away when we saw the "Jaunts" which is a horse drawn carriage. I decided to treat Lisa to a buggy ride around the park to the abbey and back in payment for all of the driving that she has been doing. It was fun. We got pelted on (by freezing rain) on the way back. By the time we got in the car and started back to Killarney, the sun had come out again...truly wait 5 minutes and the weather will change. We made it back to the B&B and changed shoes and headed back out to get some dinner (and guinness). We booked a trip to the Gap of Dunloe tommorrow. It is a bus ride, with a hike in the middle, then a boat ride through the 3 lakes. It will take all day, and Lisa won't have to drive (the best part!). Hopefully, I will get a run in tomorrow, especially since we can sleep in. The tour doesn't start until 10 turdy.

Funny observations:
The speed limit on these roads on the Ring of Kerry is 100km. There is no way to really get above 50k...I guess the point is you can go as fast as you dare...



Killarney won a "tidy town" award. There is horse poop everwhere! I would hate to visit an "untidy" town!

At one of the beaches we stopped at today it had a sign warning people about skin cancer and the need for sunscreen, especially between 11a and 3p. Mind you it is august, the temperature is 60 and the wind was gusting about 20mph (at least). Who the hell is wearing a bathing suit let alone actually sun bathing? None of the people who live here are tan. It is the home of rain. WTF!!







There is apparently an Irish tradition of being in love and having your picture taken by your S.O. when you are out in the woods. In involves standing on an object (preferably a rock) and crouch down resting your head on your fist. We saw several of the "poses" on our hike today. I had Lisa take one of me. I am not sure if these are supposed to be private pictures or not, so I am not sure if I should share (haha).