Waterford to Tralee

On Monday we headed down the copper coast in blustery wind and rain, giving us our first peek at the stunning, wild, Irish coastline. We had lunch at an English market in Cork, a delhi-lovers paradise, and stayed in Kinsale next to the harbour. In the morning we walked out to Charles Fort. Perched on the edge of the water looking out to the harbour entrance the impressive fortress was built in the fifteenth century. It's very interesting star-shaped design was popular when canons were first being used, as it was less vulnerable to damage than an oval fortress. It also made it difficult for attackers to find cover at the base of the fort if they managed to get close. The thing I love about all the forts we've seen- both in India and here, is the way they blend the stone walls into the natural rock below using it as a ready made foundation. And all my life I thought Andrew was the only one in our family awed by castles!

Killarney was our next stop, though we're only there long enough to spend a couple of hours exploring the edges of Lough Leane, in Killarney national park. The forest was wrapped around the lake and it reminded me of Nelson lakes in New Zealand, except that instead of beeches there were oaks. The undergrowth was mossy, with lichens and ferns not dissimilar to the ones at home. We saw some sign of the deer but didn't manage to catch a glimpse of them. I'm sure we could have spent days exploring the park if we had more time.

We made our way up to Tralee and for the next two nights we experienced very generous hospitality from Catherine’s friends Phil,

Maurice, and Brendon. Living in the country, we enjoyed seeing their small flock of sheep brought in and out from the cold every night, and learning about dairy farming from a neighbouring farmer who milked 80 cows. For breakfast we were completely spoilt, offered eggs from Phil’s goose who only lays about 24 eggs a year! Another animal to add to my flock, if I'm lucky enough one day.

We did a day trip out to The Dingle peninsular to Dunmore head, the western most point of Ireland facing the wild Atlantic. We were both blown away by the windswept beauty of the coastline here, and the blustery allure of the Blasket Islands. We drove back along the Connor pass road and got caught in one of the many passing horizontal hailstorms on a walk to a highpoint above some beautiful lakes. We couldn't complain that we weren't getting the full Irish experience.