We’ve left Dingle itself and we’re heading today to Blarney Castle located just west of Cork. Our journey takes us east to the beautiful Inch Beach where we stop for a very quick photo op. From our photo position you could walk along this beach for 5.5 km, and as you can see, there are very few people about enjoying this amazing place.
Before we get to Blarney Castle we have a wee stop in Kenmare, a lovely little village famous for the “Cromwell” bridge, a very weird little thing that has probably been an item of many a “dare” by the local children. I didn’t attempt to cross it but rather headed for the nearest coffee shop for a drink and something to eat.
Wandering around the village was fun as it had some very nice residential options and a nice central parkette.
We’re soon on the road again and the next stop is the place where you’re supposed to kiss a rock. Apparently if you kiss this rock you’ll be blessed with the gift of gab. I know a few people who should go there and un-kiss the rock.
The rock of interest is at the top of that big pile of stones and there is a winding staircase that takes you to the top…puff…puff. The scene at the top is organized chaos as everyone lines up to bend over backwords and kiss this special rock.
I’m sure it’s at this stage that a lot of the people seem to remember that they are no longer as young as they used to be.
The views from the castle were quite nice, primarily because the entire “estate” is surrounded by park like gardens.
It was interesting to see some of the interior rooms on the way down another spiral staircase. There were rooms on several floors although there was no furniture (aka place to sit) just more stone walls and a couple of gloomy alcoves.
Some of my pals were really enjoying themselves.
While others had been misbehaving and were sent to the stocks.
I really think that the nicest part of the whole area was the park-like setting. Lovely walkways and well maintained areas. Lots of old trees surrounded by colour. Quite impressive for this time of year…a bit unexpected.
And then of course there’s the manor house.
And the family filly.
I’ve only provided a few shots of the place…there was a lovely rock garden walk and other spots where you could amble for hours. All that walking exhausted me and it was getting time to find our bus. I found it and the rest of the crew lounging around outside another shop and Peter very kindly agreed to take our group photo.
I’m the surely looking one on the upper left…in case.
That’s it for our rambling by bus. We’re headed to Vienna Woods, a lovely resort type hotel outside of Cork, situated in the woods, and we are all going to sit down to dinner together and tell tall tales about our day “oot and aboot”.
Until next time….stand down.