Day 11 - Lakes

Found the 5000 year old Castlerigg Standing Stones in a field with sheep. Not as impressive as Stonehenge (they say, we haven't seen Stonehenge yet) but you can touch these which is nice:

Forest walk to the Aira Force (waterfall).  

Views of Ullswater lake.

Then the Kirkstone Pass:

Lunch at Lake Windermere at Brambles Cafe. Then to Grasmere where it started raining heavily. Lots of Stone Cottages along the way, in fact, just about every building is stone, including the outhouses:

We had gone in the right direction this morning as the traffic the other way was very heavy. Lots of people around.  Back to Keswick for walk and photos around Derwent water. 

The public toilets at Derwent Water:

This seems to be the least touristy town and the nicest lake.  Dinner at Star of Siam Thai.  Stayed at Clarence House.

Day 10 - Lakes

Drove Whinlatter Forest Park over Whinlatter pass then Past the still active slate mine and over the Honnisters Mountain Pass: 

The Brits are a bit precious about their roads. We had many warnings about Honnister Pass and the roads around the Lakes. Yes they are narrow but nowhere near as steep as Kangaroo Valley and the steep part was about 500m long!

Anyway it is very pretty but freezing cold.  Buttermere was all parked out so we stopped further along in a 2 car pull out and went for a short walk at Fletcher’s Field along the lake. 

This is a self closing gate device that the National Trust use a lot:

Tried but failed to find Elvira standing stones. Stopped at a few viewpoints on the way back to Keswick. Did some washing at the Laundromat, always exciting.  Ronnie went to the computer shop to try and save the photos on the SD card I corrupted.

Day 9 - Lakes

Dublin to Edinburgh to the Lake District in England.

Caught the 6:30 flight from Dublin to Edinburgh.  I booked this flight because the next one was 12 noon and I wanted to make the most of the day.  I don’t think I remembered that it would be an international flight so require arrival at the airport 2 hours before the flight.  So…got up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus from the hotel to the airport in the dark, checked in and then went through security.  Shoes off this time.  Arrived in Edinburgh at 8:30 am and walked and walked and walked to the “hire car service centre”, found the Avis depot and picked up our Peugeot 2008.  Practically brand new. 

Plugged in our GPS brought from home and set off towards the Lake District in England.

Found Roslyn Chapel fairly easily but it was still closed so we searched around and found a secret walk around the outskirts of the chapel where we could secretly photograph the Chapel without paying 9GBP pp entry fee.

Stopped at Tescos in Peebles for some supplies and had lunch at “Greggs”.  Visited Leaderfoot Viewpoint to see the viaduct and then onto Scott’s view – mighty difficult to find but worth the effort.

Afternoon tea at Jedburgh to see the Abbey Ruins.  On to Hadrian’s wall and into the “Homestead” exhibition centre where the Roman Fort is.  Hundreds of people at each centre and hundreds of people walking the remains of the wall.

Then we headed to Clarence House B& B, Keswick where we are staying for 3 nights.

Walked around Keswick and it’s lovely dark green stone cottages and went to the George for dinner where they were happy to accept Scottish Pounds.  Very nice.

Day 8 - Dublin

Left Killarney to travel through Macroom then Lee Valley.

Visit Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone and walk the woodlands gardens.  Blarney Village for lunch. 

Ronnie kissing the stone:

Rock of Cashel - mediaeval monastery.

Kilkenny Castle and Riverside walks.

Dublin stayed at Premier Inn Sword, near the airport ready for an early flight to Edinburgh tomorrow morning.

Day 7 - Ring Of Kerry

The Ring of Kerry is a scenic drive around the west coast of Kerry.
Killorglin has held the "Puck Fair" every year since 1603 for three days. The event pays tribute to the goat that broke away from its herd and warned the town's people of the advancing Cromwell army during his conquest of Ireland in the 17th century.  The goat's arrival alerted the inhabitants to the danger and they fled to the hills until the forces left. Their houses were burnt down but they survived. Every year they catch a wild goat from the hills and celebrate with it. Here is a local enjoying the tourist trade.

Passed Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain, then to the Cahersiveen ring fort.

Views of Dingle Penisular from Kells.  Visited Daniel O'Connell's birthplace then onto Valentia Island - the most westerly point of Ireland where they first connected telegraph cable to the USA.

Lunch at Waterville and up to the Coonmakista Pass all unfortunately in a total white out. This is a photo of the statue on the spot rather than a white photo (see background)!

Stopped at Moll's Gap and the Lady's View.

Took a quick walk to the Torc Waterall.

Visited Muckross House gardens.

Dinner at Failte Restaurant (Welcome in Irish).

Day 6 - Dingle

This morning the weather started out fine, then turned foggy then cleared in the afternoon.

We headed for the Dingle Peninsular and saw the McGillycuddy Reeks Ireland's highest mountain range.  We stopped at lots of tiny towns with tiny stone houses and then at Inch beach.  A lovely beach of sand which would be wonderful in summer if the sun was shining. No one in the water and no one taking up the offer of surfing lessons.  Drove around Slea Head to Dun Chaoin with views of Blasket Islands and the Ring of Kerry which we visit tomorrow.

Visited The Gallarus Oratory a perfectly preserved 1500  year old stone building with a curved roof.

Really amazing. Lunch in Dingle. Drove up the Conor Pass - Ireland's highest pass at 1500 ft - to get a spectacular view of Mt Brandon at 3100 ft. On one side you can see Dingle and all the way to Dingle Bay and on the other side you can see the Atlantic Ocean.  Stopped to see suffolk sheep climbing the steep sided hills.  In spring they are allowed down on the flats to lamb but before the summer they are sent up to the mountains again.

Somehow I corrupted Ronnie's photo card and lost a day and a half of photos.  Luckily we are travelling with a group and I should be able to get a copy of someone else's photos.  So upsetting.
(When we got home Ronnie recovered all the lost photos using a computer program!)

Day 5 - Killarney

Dunguaire Castle:

Visited Corcomroe Abbey a 13th century Cistercian monastry on the Burren.  We thought Patrick was saying "The Burn" but it was the Burren which comes from an Irish word "Boireann" meaning a rocky place. It is all exposed rock hills.  Now a national park.  It is thought that it used to have trees on it but early farmers cut down the trees and the soil got swept away and only rock remains.

This is the Portal Tomb on the Burren known as Poulnabrone Dolmen.

Drove through Lisdoonvarna a match making village! Then on to the Cliffs of Moher.  Ireland really turned on the weather for us.  "A little bit of mist" (according to Patrick) was to anyone other than an Irish man cold wind, rain and fog. The visitor center was reminiscent of Ski cafeterias. We braved the weather and walked along the top of the cliffs to the look out and took photos of white fog - just to prove we were there.

Caught the ferry across the Shannon river to County Kerry and on to the Kingfisher Lodge in Killarney, a luxury B and B for 3 nights.