Killarney - Ring of Kerry

We start our day with a very nice breakfast at our B&B. There is a lady who chats to us during breakfast because she recognises that we are from Australia. She is here on her own to visit relatives she has met through her family history but spending a couple of days in Killarney. This is one of the few times we have been at a B&B that the guests have actually engaged us in conversation. She is from Tamworth so it was easy to see why she guessed we were from Australia. We say goodbye as we have our bus to catch for our tour of the Ring of Kerry.

The bus is a small one which is nice as we were hoping it wouldn't be one of the normal ones as it would it a bit more impersonal. We start on our journey with Pat the driver/guide and he tells a few jokes as well as some information about the history of the area. As we drive through the town of Kilgorgin he tells us about the Puck Fair that happens every year. It is said to be the oldest fair in Ireland and goes for 3 days in August. It involves a group of people going into the mountains and catching a wild goat which is brought back to the town and the goat is crowned "King" by a "Queen" who is a local primary school girl. It is then put in a small cage on a high stand in the centre of the town square and on the third day is brought down and led back to the mountain. When the goat is crowned "King" that is when the festivities begin.

The statue of Puck at the Peat Bog village

It is not known when the fair began but its roots can be traced back as far as 1603. 

Our first stop is at a Peat Bog Village where we now realise that this trip isn't just a Ring of Kerry sightseeing tour but a tourist trap sightseeing tour. After handing over 5 euros each we got it cheap because we came on a bus tour otherwise we would have had to pay 8! We thought we would be just doing the scenery with some commentary but have realised that we will be roped into all the other stuff we wouldn't have stopped at if we were driving ourselves. Oh well what can you do. This village was set up to show the process of using peat as a source of energy and what life was like back in the 18th century. It is set up like a village with thatched huts as they would have been. It is not something that we would have done as while I love history this was all a bit tacky. But I will include some photos anyway.

Mounds of peat

One of the thatched huts in the village

Peter with the peat bog spade.

The setup inside one of the huts in the village.

Our next stop was at a sheep demonstration which I must say I wasn’t that interested in but by the end was quite impressed. Our tour driver highly recommended it and so did another couple on the bus as they had been before. We got off the bus to hand over  another 5 euros to see the sheep demonstration. The gentleman who has been doing this for ages, first talks about all the different kinds of sheep and what they are good for and it is almost like they are hypnotised as they wander out to the front when he puts his staff in front of them. After listening to this for about 10 minutes we move to the demonstration area which is a covered area in front of a paddock with 2 dogs and some sheep up in the far corner. This is the interesting part as he demonstrates how the dogs are used to herd the sheep. They respond to different calls and whistles and it is amazing the way they respond and move the sheep around. 

Sheep demonstration

We get back on the bus to drive to our lunch stop which our bus driver is eager to get to before 2 big bus loads arrive. It is a family run restaurant which clearly caters for the bus tours as we arrive just after a German bus tour. It is a bit of a production line but we got a couple of sandwiches and that was fine with us. I am not sure that this is what we envisaged when we signed on for the tour.

After lunch we climbed through the Black Valley to the top of the landscape. Everywhere is shrouded in mist/haze so it is difficult to get any decent photos. The car park has a couple of buskers and artists plying their wares. 

The view from the top of the Ring of Kerry. As you can see not much as it is so misty.

We travel on and we come to the meeting of roads where we have come out of the Black Valley and are making our way back to Killarney. This is another regulated stop.  As we make our way down the mountain we come to a place that is called Ladies View where Queen Victoria came to view Killarney Lakes. During this time she stayed at Muckross House in Killarney township. It is also in the sunset scene in the movie Far and Away with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, or so our guide tells us.

Peter at the crossroads

Ladies View

Ladies View of the Killarney Lakes

It is a long day that in hindsight we could have done ourselves stopping at some more quaint places. Never mind!

We stay in town and have dinner at another nice restaurant, then make our way back to our B&B. We find our friend from breakfast struggling with the computer and internet in the lounge. We have a chat and find out that she needs a charger for her iPad so I offer her mine as I don’t need it overnight. We then sit in the lounge and chat for ages. We share a mutual background in teaching and I think that Jan is lonely since her husband died 2 years ago, so I am happy to chat to her for awhile. Peter makes her a coffee and she appreciates our time I think. We realise that it is getting late and we have to be on the road to Galway tomorrow morning so we say good night. 

In the morning Jan has arranged for us to have breakfast with her and she shows me the family history book that she has had published to give to the relatives she is meeting over here. It is very extensive and I think will I ever get to that stage. I would like to think that I would but for now I have other things that take up my time.

After breakfast we leave on the next part of our journey funnily enough in a couple of days Peter will be meeting relatives he has never met before as well.  Another little bit of synchronicity.