Day Three

Posted on 01. Apr, 2009 by Jack in Ireland

Day Three

(This post brought to you by time delay. Internet isn’t everywhere in Ireland.)

Today’s goals changed from their original after talking to Ann Lawler, our B&B host of Fern Hill B&B. We had originally planned on visiting the Blarney Castle, even though it’s a heavy tourist spot we figured it must be for a reason. Then we were going to swing down to Kinsale for some afternoon lunch and finish it up by meeting up with Vinny from 5pieces.com, as we had previously spoken on Twitter, proposing a “Tweetup”. Sounded like a great time. However, Ann recommended something different entirely.

The coastal route from Tramore through Cork County over to Killarney, she said, was one of the hidden gems of the country. And boy was she right. The fog was heavy in the morning so we missed the full effect of the first few coastal cliffs (though the pictures through the fog look pretty awesome) as we pulled over every 10 minutes for the first 45. The next hour was like driving through a mystic forest tunnel, as the road was tight and the trees grew together overhead. We couldn’t see more than 30 meters ahead at any given time. And I loved it.

Of course this route meant we would be skipping the castle and the city of Cork, which is disappointing as I may now never get to meet Vinny. If you’re reading this, I’m bummed man! However it seemed to be the right choice as we took the coast by storm, making it all the way down to Skibbereen by 6pm, the generally accepted B&B check-in time. We stopped through a number of quaint towns on our way, Dungarvan, Cobh (“bh” = “v” in Gaelic, so it’s pronounced “Cove”) – where we took the ferry to Ringaskiddy, down through Kinsale (the waterfront smelled of poo…not the greatest. Though the back streets were very cool), Clonakilty, Ross Carbery and finally stopping in Skibbereen. Basically this route was following just about the entire south side of Ireland.

We couldn’t find either of the B&Bs we had wanted to stay at, the Garmin GPS being a bit of a dolt at times, so we ended up at Marguerite’s, which doesn’t really impress us. No tea or coffee on arrival (are we spoiled already?), no internet, rock hard beds, and 4 channels of British news on the tv. No big deal though, we’re now poised to take the Killarney area by storm. Were we to have stopped in Cork, we would have missed the opportunity for an additional Southwest landscape, whether it be something immediate (our plans are to check out Mizen Head, the Southwesternly most point of the island) or possibly something at the end (might try to make it to Galway). At the very least, we’ll get to do either the Muckross House and Killarney National park tomorrow, or the Ring of Kerry…we’ll see.
So many choices, so many beautiful places to see! It’s really getting to the exciting parts as the trip is building up to the most dramatic landscapes, like the Ring of Kerry and Cliffs of Moher.

We had our first Irish dinner at a pub tonight. Unfortunately Jen fell alseep yesterday evening and I didn’t want to wake her from her nap. Well, by the time we made it out to eat, everything in Tramore was shut down except a pub or two, neither of which served food. So we ended up eating at Dynasty. A Chinese restaurant. I’ve heard it said that if you want good Irish food, eat at a Chinese restaurant, so it was ironic. Still, wouldn’t have minded some fish & chips instead of sweet and sour pork…

Time for sleep and in the morning… an Irish breakfast. Mmm…