37 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: 'Day 9: Killarny to Cork'
|
|
date: 2013-06-16T14:51:14+02:00
|
|
Tags: []
|
|
Categories: []
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
## The watery ring of Kerry
|
|
|
|
{{< image src="/img/map-day9.png" width="400px" float="right">}}
|
|
|
|
Oh, Ireland. Such diverse weather! A slight drizzle, standard rain, rain with wind, heavy showers .. and this is
|
|
just in one day! When we got up this morning, it was actually almost dry. After a bit of a disappointing breakfast we decide to visit the
|
|
Ross Castle (Caisleán an Rois in Irish) on the shores of Lough Leane. We're there before they open up, so we seek shelter from the rain
|
|
while we wait the few minutes until the doors open up at 09:30 sharp. After purchasing two tickets for the guided tour (which is to start at
|
|
10), we visit the exhibition room to learn a bit about the castle's history. At ten o'clock Tom the Tourguide shows up and shows us around
|
|
the castle. There are lots of defensive mechanisms built into the castle, and we learn about some interesting history facts along the way.
|
|
Must've been pretty tough living in such a castle back in the day, but at least the view over the lake is spectacular (must be even better
|
|
when the sun is actually shining).
|
|
|
|
After the tour, the rain has gotten worse, so we quickly jump in the car and continue our road trip. The plan is to drive around the ring of
|
|
Kerry, which we've heard a lot about. We'll just hope the weather will improve. Our first planned stop on the ring (not counting the castle)
|
|
will be the Gap of Dunloe. It's only a short drive up there from Killarney, but unfortunately it's still raining. We decide to skip the gap
|
|
and look for better (or at least drier) sights to see. We continue along the ring and see many beautiful places, all covered in dark clouds
|
|
and very, very wet. We stop in a small town along the ring on a foraging mission. Salmon, salami, cheese, ham, baguettes and milk are
|
|
acquired and we drive on.
|
|
|
|
Pim prepares our lunch as the kilometers (and liters of rain) fly by. At one point it seems to clear up a bit as the windscreen wipers fall
|
|
back to interval mode. But alas, all good things come to an end and before we know it we're back in a proper shower. Just before Sneem (this
|
|
is a town in Kerry county, Ireland, not a character in a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings book), we hit 4096 kilometers on the odometer!
|
|
(the wonders of switching between the imperial and metric systems...)
|
|
|
|
So, we've just checked into the Radisson blu hotel in Cork. Let's find out what we can do around these parts (preferably something that
|
|
doesn't involve being outside, as it is still raining).
|
|
|
|
**Posted by Paul de Weerd at 9:06 AM**
|