except in Ireland. They don't signpost their major attractions and they certainly don't sign post bends in the road. On some approaching corners they have written on the road, 'slow', or 'slower', or sometimes, 'very slow', but no suggested speed limit. And these warnings are somewhat adhoc. We were discussing this with one of the B&B owners and said that in Australia all corners that need to be taken below the speed limit were sign posted with a safe speed for cornering. "That's a good idea" he said, "we have a terrible number of deaths on the road." Well, no surprises there.
(For those of you who have tried to comment and failed, I have changed the settings to allow all comments, although I still need to approve prior to uploading. Love to hear from you.)
And there is not a lot of sign posting to major attractions either. I'm glad we brought the TomTom. The signs here will get you close and then through some sixth sense you are supposed to divine the way to your destination. Every road trip is interesting. So far we have managed to get to everywhere we wanted, sometimes through persistence only.
Incidentally, our TomTom has a celebrity voice, that of John Cleese. I keep waiting for him to come over all Basil Fawlty.
In other news, we have eaten traditional Irish food over the last couple of days: potato cakes, boxty and black and white pudding. We have also been drinking a lot of tea, it seems the Irish learned how to make coffee from the Americans :-(
And, we hit our highest temperature yesterday, 14 degrees. Break out the boardies and sunscreen.
The Dingle Peninsula
The peninsula is beautiful country.
The problem is that the weather was so wild this morning it washed out some of the photos. The low cloud/rain and gale force winds took the edge of the some of the beauty, particularly from the top of Conor Pass. There were lots of rolling green hills and sheep, as you would expect.
The area is also quite historic, with fortifications dating back to the 8th century. The one we saw at Dunbeg was on a cliff edge, so I'm not really sure as to its purpose. There was no way they would have been attacked from the sea. So maybe it was a retreat when the locals were restless.
It really was a beautiful drive and as the weather cleared the scenery became even more colourful. You never know what to expect in Ireland. Around one corner is a ruin from over a thousand the years ago and the next is a statue of the crucifixion. No explanation, no plaque, it was just there on the corner of a cliff. Unusually, there was also an area nearby where I could pull over to take a photo.
The last stop before the town of Dingle was the Gallarus Oratory, a structure dating back to around 700CE. There is a great deal of speculation as to its purpose, but like the burial mounds at Newgrange it is an architectural and astronomical marvel. The rock is self supporting, inside it's dry and the window gets direct sunlight during the summer solstice and the front door during the winter solstice. Pretty clever eh?
The Torc Waterfall and Ladies View
After a beautiful drive we arrived back in Killarney in the early afternoon. We decided to give the stately home a miss and headed for the natural attractions nearby. Both were surprisingly free of charge.
The waterfall was quite pretty, mossy rocks and trees, open any calendar from Tasmania and you'll get the idea. It was also only a 5 minute walk from the road.
Standing near the entrance to the car park was on over-sized, unshaven local. He was watching us closely as we prepared to walk up to the falls. He looked like the sort who would slit our throats and leave us in the gutter, or trash the car as soon as we were out of sight. He walked over to Jayne and said, "Would you like a ride in a jaunting car?" For the uninitiated, that is a horse and cart style contraption.
The car was still there on our return and we weren't murdered, so we drove on to Ladies View which is a lookout above the area that looks back down the lakes to Killarney.
From a day that began so poorly weather-wise, we had a great day. When we returned to the B&B we heard that Killarney had been hit by hail a couple of times during the day. We continue to be blessed.
Tomorrow we head for Kilkenny.
(For those of you who have tried to comment and failed, I have changed the settings to allow all comments, although I still need to approve prior to uploading. Love to hear from you.)
And there is not a lot of sign posting to major attractions either. I'm glad we brought the TomTom. The signs here will get you close and then through some sixth sense you are supposed to divine the way to your destination. Every road trip is interesting. So far we have managed to get to everywhere we wanted, sometimes through persistence only.
Incidentally, our TomTom has a celebrity voice, that of John Cleese. I keep waiting for him to come over all Basil Fawlty.
In other news, we have eaten traditional Irish food over the last couple of days: potato cakes, boxty and black and white pudding. We have also been drinking a lot of tea, it seems the Irish learned how to make coffee from the Americans :-(
And, we hit our highest temperature yesterday, 14 degrees. Break out the boardies and sunscreen.
The Dingle Peninsula
The peninsula is beautiful country.
The problem is that the weather was so wild this morning it washed out some of the photos. The low cloud/rain and gale force winds took the edge of the some of the beauty, particularly from the top of Conor Pass. There were lots of rolling green hills and sheep, as you would expect.
The area is also quite historic, with fortifications dating back to the 8th century. The one we saw at Dunbeg was on a cliff edge, so I'm not really sure as to its purpose. There was no way they would have been attacked from the sea. So maybe it was a retreat when the locals were restless.
It really was a beautiful drive and as the weather cleared the scenery became even more colourful. You never know what to expect in Ireland. Around one corner is a ruin from over a thousand the years ago and the next is a statue of the crucifixion. No explanation, no plaque, it was just there on the corner of a cliff. Unusually, there was also an area nearby where I could pull over to take a photo.
The last stop before the town of Dingle was the Gallarus Oratory, a structure dating back to around 700CE. There is a great deal of speculation as to its purpose, but like the burial mounds at Newgrange it is an architectural and astronomical marvel. The rock is self supporting, inside it's dry and the window gets direct sunlight during the summer solstice and the front door during the winter solstice. Pretty clever eh?
The Torc Waterfall and Ladies View
After a beautiful drive we arrived back in Killarney in the early afternoon. We decided to give the stately home a miss and headed for the natural attractions nearby. Both were surprisingly free of charge.
The waterfall was quite pretty, mossy rocks and trees, open any calendar from Tasmania and you'll get the idea. It was also only a 5 minute walk from the road.
Standing near the entrance to the car park was on over-sized, unshaven local. He was watching us closely as we prepared to walk up to the falls. He looked like the sort who would slit our throats and leave us in the gutter, or trash the car as soon as we were out of sight. He walked over to Jayne and said, "Would you like a ride in a jaunting car?" For the uninitiated, that is a horse and cart style contraption.
The car was still there on our return and we weren't murdered, so we drove on to Ladies View which is a lookout above the area that looks back down the lakes to Killarney.
From a day that began so poorly weather-wise, we had a great day. When we returned to the B&B we heard that Killarney had been hit by hail a couple of times during the day. We continue to be blessed.
Tomorrow we head for Kilkenny.
You don't go to the west coast for the night life but it is oh so beautiful. I think we have each of your photos in our collection but from a slightly different perspective.
ReplyDeleteNeil
Greetings Jayne and Brad
ReplyDeleteAt Brisbane airport heading home and I laughed out loud at the continued song title headings. The Mohr I See You is winning so far. Very clever Jayne! Although please tell me you were not wearing 'Japanese safety shoes' (also known as thongs) when you risked life and limb for a better view at the cliffs.
Love
Mary
when have you seen me in thongs recently? i notice you spell it without the 'e'. we debated the spelling but i went with the roadmap version - like islam, the irish are pretty flexible in how they spell things. glad you had some mirth in the airport - i find them odious places to hang around. hope your time in brisbane was restful and dry unlike here and sydney.
ReplyDeletelove jayne
Oops for the missing 'e'. I am blaming the auto spell on my iPad for the error. Although I have been marking assessment tasks and there has been much flexibility regarding spelling in the responses. Brisbane was dry and sunny.
Deleteyo bro im enjoying your holiday i havent read this much ever i havent seen jayne in thonges in a while but jayne does look great in ugg boots
ReplyDeletelove u both
scotty
cheers bro! good to see you still read. i love her no matter she's wearing. my phone is off air at the moment, so this is the best way to get in contact or via my gmail. don't be concerned what you say, i don't have to publish all comments.
ReplyDeletetake care and love to you guys to