Wednesday, August 27, 2003 (Kinsale - Republic of Ireland)
Nothing square about it. Kissing the Blarney
Stone. South towards the coast. Star Trek withdrawal symptoms. As ever, we never
really know what tomorrow brings.
Day 168. Let’s see, where did we start
today? Oh yes, I remember now. The weather this morning was a marked improvement
over yesterday with the sun shining brightly once again. We left the campsite
shortly after breakfast and securing the electricity hook-up and went to visit
the nearby Ballyscourt Castle. I’ve lost track of just how many castles
we’ve now visited over the past few weeks but it’s been quite a
few.
Ballyscourt looks kind of like a
big square block reaching up into the sky. Not a very bit castle by all accounts
but it was fascinating visiting all the hidden nooks and crannies on the various
levels. Some recently discovered frescos in the upper level has brought with it
the attentions of a team of archaeologists who are working hard to uncover and
preserve the new findings. Unfortunately, this put the entire upper level (the
castle towers) off limits to tourists. Te guided tour of the place was no less
enjoyable, however.
After
Ballyscourt, we had to drive through the Cork city centre again to reach our
next destination of Blarney Castle. We couldn’t possibly come to Ireland
and not ‘kiss the Blarney Stone’. Blarney castle is an impressive
castle in it’s own right and is situated within some very tranquil and
idyllic park grounds but everyone who visits is really doing so to get a chance
to kiss the stone. You have to lie on your back and tilt your head backwards to
reach the stone. Even though there are bars just below and a helpful pair of
hands to hold you steady, you are still four or five floors high up with a clear
and mostly unobstructed view of the sheer drop to the base of the tower several
dozen metres below.
Having kissed the
stone, perused the castle and the surrounding grounds, we departed Blarney and
turned South towards Kinsale – the clear, undisputed, culinary capital of
Ireland. Kinsale is strewn with restaurants and pubs all vieing for the
attention of the many visitors that come to this small town just to taste the
world famous culinary delights. We came here just to have an evening meal at one
of the restaurants. We parked the brick and walked around for a bit to try to
decide exactly where we would eat. We were so completely spoiled for choice that
the decision was actually very difficult but we ultimately decided on a very
small restaurant located in one of the small backstreets. The food was, indeed,
delicious. Although it was well over our current daily budget allowance (for
everything), it was still reasonably priced in the grand scheme of things. If we
weren’t travelling and tied to a tight budget, I wouldn’t have been
overly concerned about the €55 price tag for what was a very nice
meal.
We left Kinsale to find a nice
place to park for the night and set off in the direction of the South coast.
I’m not exactly sure where we are now. We were following sings to a
campsite for a while before the signs just disappeared and we meandered around
the countryside for a bit before stumbling into a campsite (which may or may bot
have been the one we were looking for) where we have now settled in for the
night.
A recent bank holiday in
England has delayed shipment of the new Star Trek Deep Space 9 season four DVD
set to pretty much everywhere in Ireland so I was still unable to find it today.
Having just recently completd watching all of season three, we’ve now
started on season two instead.
Not
too sure what we are going to be doing tomorrow but we will be heading in a
Westerly direction along the coast towards Bantry. Thereafter, we will be
following the Ring of Kerry route through what promises to be some fantastic
coastal scenery. As usual, we will decide what we will be doing tomorrow as soon
as we start the engine and look at the map. I wonder where it will take us
next.
Posted: Wed - August 27, 2003 at 01:14 PM