HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ACROSS THE SEA TO.....

...well, Ireland of course. We've been warned about the weather, but what the heck, and when we land at Cork airport it's bucketing down, to be sure to be sure. No matter, into our trusty vehicle and we head into the city for lunch at Bracken's Corner cafe.

"A muffin, 3 ham-n-cheese toasties, 2 Sprites, a coffee and an English Breakfast tea please". "OK, that'll be 3 toasties and a full English breakfast and a coffee...", "no, just English breakfast tea without the breakfast"; "roit, full English breakfast..." and so it went for ten minutes; we couldn't get our first order sorted out - it's gonna be a long trip!

Latte!!

The Quest continues needless to say. 

Five famous Irish actors and a little Aussie kid - street mural

Aunt Mollie's Lolly Shop

Fifteen minutes outside Cork and the LegsyBoys are storming beautiful Blarney Castle, built in 1446 on top of an 8 metre high rock foundation.

Oops, excuse the raindrops on the lens

The guard and dog house

We stroll around the beautiful gardens and make the famous pilgrimage up the circular stone steps (there are over 100 of them and it's a tad precarious given the weather) in readiness to kiss the fabled Blarney Stone.

The Blarney Stone

Its history is long debated, but the one thing that is a given is that by planting a wet one on the stone the gift of eloquence will be bestowed upon you. It's not the easiest thing to do, lying on one's back and held by an attendant as you arch backwards, looking directly down at the ground 40 metres below.

Dulcinea, Buzzy and Don L all partake, but Aimee figures she's got talking covered and passes.

Behind the battlements we locate the Poison Garden, an educational display containing plants from across the globe, including Mandrake and Wolfsbane (for all you Harry Potter lovers), and we're surprised to find that a part of rhubarb is poisonous (no wonder I hate the stuff).

Now that's what I call a tree

Al fresco afternoon tea anyone?

We head an hour south for our first night, a splendid B&B that overlooks the River Brandon and the postcard village of Kinsale.

Rivermount House B&B, Kinsale

The narrow streets are lined with brightly coloured buildings (a common theme throughout the country) and we settle in to Kitty O Se's pub for dinner, whereupon Don L has his first crack at Guinness from the tap - it's delicious.

Temperance House - in Ireland???

 The only disappointment we feel is that live trad music isn't scheduled until 10:00pm (a real pity given it is a highly renowned venue). This becomes a familiar theme right through our trip, many locations not having music at all as it is "out of season".

We take in the ruins of Charles Fort, built in the shape of a 5 pointed star in the 1670's strategically overlooking the entrance to Kinsale harbour, initially as protection against attack from King Louis XIV of France - which never eventuated! Sadly, it was badly damaged during the Irish Civil War in the 1920's.

We head south starting our journey along the Wild Atlantic Way,

the road pretty much follows the spectacularly rugged coastline, sprinkled with little villages, each with its own story, like Timoleague with its Friary that was built in the late 13th Century only to ultimately be razed in 1642 by those damned English invaders and which now serves as the district's cemetery.

Clonakilty is terrific, and we partake of delicacies from the award winning local pastry cafe Gearoidin's bakery and cafe. Unfortunately, it's once again a little early in the day to hear any music at the famous Oe Barra pub.

Lucky for some I guess

Famed for music...but not today

....still searching...

There are many stone circles in Cork and Kerry, and Dromberg is one of the most complete. The 17 free standing stones of the recumbrent circle served as ceremonial, ritual and burial grounds and radiocarbon dating of the burials found here place them at 1100 B.C. (the Bronze Age)...amazing.

From Leap we're able to look out over the appropriately named Roaringwater Bay,

and in pretty Ballydehob we bump into Danno O'Mahony, the heavyweight all-in wrestling champion of the world in 1935-36, and check out the memorial to three local girls who bought their tickets and sailed on the Titanic (none of them was named Kate Winslett).

Bantry is awash in colour ad we learn of local hero Theobald Wolfe Tone's eminently laudable efforts "to unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter".

We're staying at a B&B in sleepy Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula, the first of the three major Cork/Kerry peninsulas we're going to explore.

We check in and then pop down to Castletownbera to have dinner and catch some music at MacCarthy's Pub, except there is no music (again!).

No matter, we have a delicious meal at Murphy's where you get "great food at affordable prices", just don't forget to take cash as the concept of credit/debit cards hasn't reached this wild'n'woolly part of Ireland just yet.

Again we strike gold with our B&B, which has stunning views over the Kenmare River to the Iveragh Peninsula (aka the Ring Of Kerry).

Intriguingly, the Kenmare River is actually a bay and there is no proper river...aagh, another Irish prank. Did I mention the weather?? Well, after the initial Cork welcome we have had nothing but sunshine - go figure! The Beara Peninsula is the least developed of the "Big Three", but that brings its own charms,

including Castletownbere, Ireland's premier whitefish port.

Off the tip is Dursey Island, accessible only by a cable car that runs very intermittently to and from; sadly, we saw it coming back but were not able to catch it. It's actually a livestock car formerly used for cattle, and is the only cable car in Europe that operates over open sea.

We're heading for Killarney, and to get there we cross the Caha Mountains at Healy Pass. The serpentine road climbs its way through sheep up over 300 metres where the counties of Cork and Kerry meet (and referenced in the opening lines of the folk song 'Whisky In A Jar').

First crossed in 1847 it's named after Ireland's first Governor-General who, just prior to his death, was instrumental in constructing the proper road in 1931, and his coffin was passed from one county to the other at this point (now called Flat Rock).

Kerry....Cork

The countryside is covered in the golden-yellow flowers of gorse, it's beautiful to see and is literally everywhere despite the thorny bushes having an adverse impact upon livestock.

Sheep and cattle also abound, often penned closely together to protect against predators (or, as Liam thought: "perhaps they keep them like that so they can bond").

We arrive in Kenmare for a lunch break

....passable...

and to check out another 3,000 year old circle made of greenstone and brownstone, unusual in that neither stone is found in the area and it is the only stone circle actually located within a town.

The short drive from Kenmare to Killarney is part of the Ring Of Kerry. At Moll's Gap there are sweeping views of the snow capped MacGillycuddy Reeks, the magnificent Gap Of Dunloe and the glaciated Black Valley.

Black Valley

MacGillycuddy Reeks

Gap Of Dunloe

From Ladies View the vista takes in the UNSECO World Heritage Killarney National Park and lakes,

we take a 30 minute walk through the forest to the Meeting Of The Waters (where the three lakes meet),

Old Weir Bridge

and get up close to the fast flowing Torc Waterfall surrounded by ethereal moss covered trees.

Killarney is home for the next three nights, and it welcomes us with a torrential downpour. We check into our B&B and then walk into town for dinner at Salvador's.

Afterwards, we plant ourselves by the fire in the Grand Hotel and are regally entertained (finally) by some local folkies who churn out nice renditions of popular classics including The Wild Colonial Boy (dedicated to Liam no less!).

Of poor but honest parents he was born in Melbourne

We get back to our apartment to find that...shock, horror...the wifi doesn't work. Aimee has apoplexy and the rest of us peacefully retire to contemplate the next day's adventure. It surely can't get any better than the spectacle we've already been blessed to see...can it?