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| A Walk in the Woods - Looking for Fairies and Leprechauns |
Friday, August 3, 2018
On our way from Doolin to Killarney, we spent a couple of hours walking through the ethnographic outdoor bronze age exhibits of Craggaunowen that demonstrated how the Irish farmers lived between 400 BC and 500 AD.
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| A Warm Peat Fire, Cream of Chicken Soup, and Whole Wheat Scones on a a Rainy Cool Day |
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| This Castle is of 1550 Vintage on the Property |
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| Inside the Castle - Guard Room |
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| Spinning wool for rugs ad wall hangings - Coarse Weave |
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| Thatched Roofed Houses |
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| Emerald Green Canopy over the Forest |
Their is a possibility that Saint Brendan may have been one of the earliest Explorers to North American Continent, although he never returned to tell his tale.
The Saint Brendan Society celebrates the belief that Brendan was the first European to reach North America. Tim Severin demonstrated that it is possible for a leather-clad boat such as the one described in the Navigatio to reach North America
A reproduction of Brendan's boat sailed by Tim Severin (1978) proved that the boat could have successfully made its way to Greenland and Nova Scotia.
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| This is the cove From which Brendan would have sailed into the Atlantic...and then ????? |
While walking around Craggaunowen, I spot some rain drops on a spider's web, spun in the rocks, that twinkle in the filtered sunlight.
We arrived late in the day to Killarney and found our thatched roof cottage where we are being hosted in Julie's home.
Our arrival coincided with Julie's daughter and 15 year old grandson Jack. Jack and Julie are both big fans of Gaelic Football and encourage us to go to the game the following day where County Team Kerry will be vying for a berth in the semi-finals. Gaelic football is primarily played in Ireland and is completely amateur endeavor.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
We wake up in the morning and look forward to getting some exercise leaving the car parked all day. By 9:30 we are walking to downtown Killarney, out to the National Park and Castle, and then back to the town stadium to watch the Gaelic football game.
We do a little shopping in Killarney and Russ buys himself a Kerry Gaelic Football Shirt to wear to the game.
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| Love the High Tech - Old Register Combo |
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| Looked for a Geocache in the Area with no Luck of the Irish. |
We stop by the Old Cathedral but could not go in as a large wedding was going on. We did catch a dad and his little cherub outside though.
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| California Giant Sequoia on the Right |
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| Daddy Care Outside the Church |
From the Cathedral we walked into the National Park.
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| Crabapplss ...Almost Ready to EAT! |
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| Don't know where the paddlers are, but the boats are here. |
Late in the day, we debated whether to walk or take a carriage back to town.
We opt to walk. Price for the carriage one way for the two of us would have been 30 Euros for the wagon. Split 6 ways would have been 5 Euros per person, but for two of us it seemed a bit steep, so we walked. When we were walking back not more than a 100 yards from the castle, an empty carriage went by and offered us a ride for 5 Euros. By then we were on a roll with our walking and declined.
In the medium size town of Killarney 17, 590 fans filled the local stadium to watch the county team in green and gold, play the all whites of Killdare. Kerry would have to win by so many points, and another team would have to lose in order for Kerry to make it to the semi-finals. Emotions were high. The game is a cross between soccer, rugby, and basket ball. Hard to explain but quite exciting. Kerry was trailing at half time, and came back to win in the end. Yeah Kerry. Unfortunately, the team that needed to lose didn't. So even though Kerry won the game, their season was over.
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| Julie, Jack, and Russ - Kerry Fans!
Kerry wasn't the only winner. Team Worrall also won an achievement award with our FitBit. Not only did we clock in nearly 22,500 steps, 10 miles, we also achieved 250 miles so far on our travels since June. Not bad! Too bad we have offset all those burned calories with consumed ones...wine, cheese, pasteries, chips, and beer.
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Sunday, August 5 - Dingle Coast Drive and Slea Head
Today, we took a long drive and some shorter walks out to Slea Head the farthest point west in Europe and the closest to America. The cliffs, flowers, and scenery were spectacular. We also found a geocache at land's end on Slea Head, Dunmore Head.
On our way back to Killarney, we saw some more beautiful scenery an made a stop at the inlet where Saint Brendan took off on his voyage.
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| Ireland' Flag are green - orange, and white. |
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| Brendan's Cove |
There were some enterprising young people who are cousins, selling lemonade an edible gold burnished brownies near Brendan's Cove. Of course we had to support their cause which is some fun money for their up coming family holiday. As it turned out, only one of the four cousins lives in Ireland, the other three on left are first and second generation immigrants to Oakland, California and New York.
Tomorrow we leave, Killarney and are off to Old Head about 30 kilometers from Kinsale as we round the southern most part of Ireland and head up to Dublin. This time next week we will be flying back to the USA.
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