T R A V E L   :  I R E L A N D   2 0 0 4 

Saturday 24th April 2004

Photos I took: 89 digital + 9 medium format (Link to pbase gallery)

Disaster?

Standing on the deck of the ferry, I held onto the rails, my coat drawn tight around my body to keep warm from the cool wind 6am had brought. The port drew closer. I went down below and sat by a window, near a group of people. The houses loomed ever nearer. Soon details could be seen on the houses - house numbers, door knockers and letterboxes. After a while, my stomach felt sick as it dawned on me, and the others around me, that we were going too fast and an accident was inevitable. "Oh no, not again!" exclaimed someone from the group near me. I didn't see who had remarked, but remembered the recent news article from earlier in the week - a ferry had crashed through the docks. Now we were rushing past the houses, possibly along the streets themselves. In the distance, but getting closer fast - very fast - was a beach with water the other side. As I braced myself, the ferry hit the beach and lifted into the air. Seconds later, we crashed down into the water again, still the right way up. I breathed again as the ferry finally started to slow.

I turned over in my bed, the cabin creaking as the ferry rode the waves with the ever present drone of the engines. That was a bizarre dream I had just had - it had almost seemed real. As I lay awake, I realised it was going to be a night of broken sleep.

The Previous Evening

We arrived at Port of Swansea, Wales and went through the basic security, where I was requested to open the boot of the car and whether I had packed it myself. The security guard poked around a little bit before waving me forward. I drove on and we joined the queue.

The ferry

An hour later, we drove onto the ferry, grabbed our night bags and climbed the steps to the reception. We got our key for cabin 404 and went to find it. "Down there and take your first right" were our instructions. We passed a door to the left that went to some cabins and carried on for the door on the right. We ended up in the bar at the end of the boat, having failed to pass any door on the right that looked like it might lead to some cabins.

After a lot of searching, we eventually found our cabin. Then we went back to the main level to take a walk around and explore. After taking a brief look around the expensive shops, we headed onto the deck. The sun was starting to set over Swansea but unfortunately, I'd left my camera in the cabin.

A Nightcap

Unable to resist any longer, I suggested we go to the bar. I, of course, had a pint of Guinness to get in the Irish mood. Soon, we were underway.

Paula bought me my second Guinness whilst she had another coke. She'd taken her sea sickness tablets earlier and didn't want the alcohol to affect them. I, on the other hand, refused to believe that I would get sea sick as I've never been travel sick in my life and even enjoy turbulence when flying. Some people question my sanity.

At around 23:00, we headed back to the cabin and climbed into bed. The bunk beds were aligned such that our bodies benefited from the fullest of the movement from the boat.

Our first view of Ireland, Roches Point

The Next Morning

We docked at 07:30 having, watched the approach to Cork from the deck. It was misty, but at least it wasn't raining, for which Ireland is so renowned. The movement and creaking of the cabin had made it difficult to sleep, but we both felt awake (despite my bizarre dream) and eager to start the first day of our holiday. Fortunately, neither of us had been affected by the motion of the boat. We got into the car and drove off into the cool morning.

The map below shows the general area that we covered during the week. Most of the week was spent near the Iveragh Peninsula.

South West Ireland

Rosscarbery Bay

With me driving and Paula navigating, we decided to take the scenic route along the N71 (the red road from Cork to Killarney) rather than the direct route. This was mainly due to us wanting to see as much as possible, but also because we couldn't go to the self-catering cottage we were renting until 16:00.

There weren't many drivers around at this time on a Saturday morning, which allowed me to get used to the Irish roads. Driving in Ireland requires you to be able to work in both miles and kilometres. The sign posts are, mostly, in kilometres whilst the speed limits are, mostly, in miles per hour. I think it is to do with a mix of the old British rule from many years ago and the more recent joining of the European Union. Britain works in miles whilst most European countries work in kilometres.

A Cornish Digression

I had been mildly apprehensive driving in Ireland with British licence plates on my car - we'd heard of rumours about the Irish not liking the British, but we didn't notice it during our time there. I had my Cornish flag on the car to show we were Celtic and not English. Paula and I (despite being born in Devon - it's not my fault there aren't any hospitals with birth facilitiesin Saltash!) are both from Cornwall. Many Cornish people treat themselves as separate from England. We even have our own Cornish language, for example, "Dyth Dha. Fatla genes?" is Cornish for "Hello. How are you?" In an ideal world, we would be a separate country like Wales and Scotland, but unfortunately, we are annexed onto England. Cornwall and Wales are Celtic, while Scotland and Ireland are Gaelic. The Celts and Gaelic people are fairly closely linked, hence my logic about the Cornish flag.

We had been awake since 06:00 and driving for a couple of hours. As we had skipped breakfast on the ferry, we were now feeling very hungry so we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking Rosscarbery Bay. The sun was struggling to break through.

Roscarbery Bay in the morning sun

We were the only ones at the viewpoint and the roads had been virtually deserted, which was nice. It looked like our plan to avoid the hoards of tourists by coming in the off-peak season had worked.

Bantry

We drove on to our next stop at Bantry. There were a few more people on the roads, but not many. It was a very welcome change from the overcrowded, aggressive roads of Britain. In the South East of England, don't even consider driving as slow as the speed limit - it annoys all those BMW drivers and they are forced to drive two inches from your bumper in order to teach you a lesson.

I was driving about 15 miles per hour below the speed limit, enjoying the view and the drive. We stopped at the viewpoint which looked across Bantry Bay to Whiddy Island. I jumped out and took some photos, suddenly feeling very touristy as lots of cars zoomed past.

Whiddy Island

We also stopped at the end of Bantry Bay for another photo, by an honesty stall selling mussels - we weren't tempted.

The far end of Bantry Bay

Healy Pass in the Caha Mountains

A couple of days ago, I had had some helpful suggestions from a guy on DP Review of what to do in Ireland. Going to the Caha Mountains was one of them. At Glengarriff, we turned onto the Beara Peninsula and the Caha Mountains. The map showed a 360 degree viewpoint - that was a must, so we headed towards Healy Pass.

On the road through the Caha Mountains

The road had turned into a proper mountain road which hair-pinned its way up the side of the mountain. We reached a point just below the summit and I got out to take a few photos - the temperature was noticeably cooler.

The view from Healy Pass

We made a brief photo stop at the other side of the pass before continuing.

A viewpoint the other side of Healy Pass

It wasn't long before we stopped yet again. This time, it was a bridge crossing a mountain stream with a waterfall. I have a passion for waterfalls - check out the water section in my Gallery. Paula stayed in the car again, whilst I took both cameras and headed down towards the waterfall, taking photos as I went. I almost slipped over at one stage, but fortunately she didn't see!

The Bridge Crossing the Mountain Stream

By now, I was starting to feel rather tired and hungry. It wasn't quite midday yet though, so we decided to press on to the next viewpoint.

The Kenmare River

At the viewpoint, we got out of the car and went down onto the beach for a short walk, and to utilise the hedge - we hadn't seen a single public convenience all day, which wasn't very convenient! The view from the beach was very scenic, so I thought it was about time I tried a panoramic.

The Kenmare River with the Iveragh Peninsula in the distance

We walked around the promontory and back to the car - we still had a long way to drive.

Moll's Gap

We drove back the way we'd come and then onto Kenmare. A few miles after Kenmare, having pulled over to let the occasional car pass, we came to Moll's Gap. It gets its name due to it being a gap in the mountains and, presumably, someone called Moll was involved with it at some time or another.

The view from Moll's Gap to Macgillycuddy's Reeks

Killarney

It was now about 13:00, but felt much later - well, we had been on the go since 06:00. There were several viewpoints along the road, but we still had quite a way to go, so we only stopped once. As we were going to be in the general area, we thought we would come back and spend more time here during the coming week.

Looking into Killarney National Park

We drove into Killarney and, thanks to a map I'd found on the internet, drove straight to the car park next to the Tourist Information office. The Tourist Information office had a sign saying "Closed for lunch. Back at 2pm" so we walked around Killarney and eventually stopped at a café. Sat at the table, the caffeine started to flood into my veins and pump around my body and I began to feel more awake. Paula, however, didn't - she had succumbed to the tiredness which had been gnawing at her. I did most of the talking, whilst Paula did most of the looking absolutely exhausted.

When we'd finished, we went back to the Tourist Information office, which was now open, and immersed ourselves in the maps and walking books which were on sale. Failing to remember we were only here for a week, we bought:

I even bought some postcards to send tothe family - most unusual for me!

The Final Push

Back in the car, we drove out of Killarney, passing a horse and cart of tourists who waved at us for some reason. In Killorglin, we turned onto the Iveragh Peninsula. The roads were noticeably worse, especially for a National Road. The general technique is to drive in the centre of the road until you face oncoming traffic. The Irish appear to repair their roads by filling in the potholes with tarmac, but not very well. The suspension on my car got the biggest workout it had ever had. Driving at 60mph (the speed limit) was virtually impossible so I settled for around 45mph. At one point, I grounded my suspension as the springs slammed into the rubber stop at the end of their travel. Ouch!

Looking across Dingle Bay to the Dingle Peninsula

Kathleen's House

Soon after the brief stop, we entered Cahersiveen (according to the internet, no-one can agree on the spelling of this place, so I've used the version from the map). We were now close enough to follow the instructions given to us by the owners of the cottage that we were spending the week in - Kathleen's House.

We arrived, opened the front door and entered the living room/kitchen.

"Oh Daniel!" Paula exclaimed, hugging me.

"Wow!" I replied.

We both stood at the patio door, taking in the view. We had chosen very well. The main view looked out onto the harbour below and across to the Dingle Peninsula (see photo on tomorrow's page). We explored the rest of the house - it was wonderful! From what we could determine, the cottage was owned by two women who live and work somewhere in County Dublin. They had split this cottage in two and rent out half all year round, maybe to pay the mortgage. Presumably the other half is where they spend time off work. What a great idea!

We had found Kathleen's Cottage from Shamrock Cottages (Click on Kerry and search for cottage 166 - details correct as of August 2004). My experience with this company was very good - they responded very quickly to my emails and booking request. Plus, if you book the ferry through them, it appears to be much cheaper. The total for 7 days at the cottage, the return ferry trip and a cabin one way was £369 - very reasonable, I thought.

Settling In For The Night

After tea we sat down, glad to be there after our long day - we had been on the go from 06:00 until 17:00 when we'd arrived at the cottage. 11 hours is a long time to be almost continuously driving.

I had bought some board games with me - we planned to not watch TV all week. We played our first game of Scrabble, which I now have Paula hooked on. After I won, we went to bed very early at 20:30. But, as there were no curtains and Ireland is much further west than Britain but still in the same time zone, it didn't get dark for quite a long time. We talked for a couple of hours, planning the week ahead, before falling asleep.