A driving day today, leaving Kinsale at 10 AM and arriving at our new digs in Killarney at 6 PM. Tonight we’re going out for the two hour Celtic Steps Show at 8:30 PM. So tonight I really am going to try to keep this brief. Here’s the summary.
– Stop in Ballymodan to buy a tin whistle for David’s 11-year-old daughter. Think flutaphone. Her teacher says she’s really good at it.
– A pass through the town of Bantry where Napoleon’s troops arrived to defeat the British and take over Ireland. Unfortunately for them, their fleet was divided by bad weather. One part was in Bantry Bay, the other somewhere near Kinsale. The Irish troops had fled in fear of the invasion. The French, not recognizing the clear path in front of them, retreated. Was Ireland saved? If it had gone the other way they’d be speaking French and maybe the Brits would be speaking French too.
– Bantry is also the place where the first electricity was generated in Ireland. Some guy learned how to do it in America and put in a water wheel that is still rotating today (it’s not clear whether it’s still generating electricity).
– We stopped for lunch In Kenmare and a visit to a woolen shop where I bought a sweater and Judy a cap. Nancy scored there too. Kenmare is advertised as a town less crowded and touristy than Killarney, but that’s all relative. It’s got its fair share of tour buses and tourists. But a nice town nonetheless.
– A visit to the Kenmare Stone Circle, one of many stone circles in Ireland but said to be one of the most complete. It’s a circle of stones erected in the Bronze Age some 3,000 years ago or so. The circle is thought to be of some ceremonial purpose and there’s a stone in the middle thought to mark a burial spot. There are also two stands of hawthorn trees. Hawthorn trees mark a sacred portal to the fairy realm. Cut one down and you’re in for bad luck. Leave a ribbon and it’s a gift to the wee folk. We left a wish on a card provided for our €2 entrance fee. It was drizzling all afternoon, so the place had an aura to it.
– A tour of the Muckmoss House in the Killarney National Park. It’s been redecorated to the Nineteenth Century, approximating what Queen Victory would have experienced when she visited in n1861. It seems Henry Herbert was rising in the ranks of London society and governmental circles and the queens visit was, hopefully, the prelude to peerage and untold wealth. Unfortunately, Prince Albert died a few days after Victoria’s return, and the peerage deal slipped her mind. Henry died, his son took over the place, times changed with the Irish Land Wars and within five years the bank in Scotland called the mortgage. Eventually a member of the Guinness family owned it briefly and later it passed to the park service.
– It took a while, but we found our apartment on a narrow lane. David had to move the van, so I hefted all our luggage up two flights of stairs.
– It’s now almost time to venture out to find a cab to take us to the Step show, whatever that proves to be. A full report will follow.
The scenery changed as we moved from West County Cork to County Cary. Green pastures with cows changed to rocky terrain with sheep and then, crossing to Kenmare over a mountain range. Throw in a Norman castle and wall or two (from 1,500 years ago or so), the occasional windmill farm on a ridge (they generate 30% of electricity via wind) and continued drizzle and low-hanging clouds and that was our trip.
We found a taxi and the Step show was great. Lots of Irish music and song and unbelievably great dancing by four women and four men, many world champions several times over in Irish dance competitions. A perfect end to a great day.
Tomorrow a Juanty carriage ride and the Ring of Kerry.
