Beara

Our one week stay on the Beara peninsula was great, but the place was so remote that it lacked internet connectivity. So...need to catch up a bit.

This was the view from the front porch of our cottage near the village of Ardgroom. When we arrived there was an absolute gale blowing - winds up to 45 mph with rain...really lovely. Blew itself out overnight though and most of the rest of the week was actually pretty nice.

The travel books describe the Irish weather as "changeable". That doesn't quite capture it though. We've had all four seasons (sun, rain, hail, gale force winds) show up on a single hike, so a day out is never boring. Thank goodness for Goretex.




Did several hikes along the Beara Way hiking trail that circles the peninsula, and which featured lots of beautiful scenes along the way.

A pretty typical driving scene along one of the rural roads. Driving here is pretty mellow thanks to the understanding and patient locals, but there are some aspects of it that are guaranteed to cause a bit of anxiety...like the fact that most of the rural roads are about 1.5 lanes wide (except where they shrink down to a single lane), which happens quite a lot. The Irish word for road translates to "cow path", which is a pretty good indicator of what you're dealing with behind the wheel. Add the fact that the roads are all twisty-turny things, and that your sight lines ahead are blocked by old walls topped with vegetation so that you can't see around the next bend and get a little advance warning of what's coming at you, and you have the makings of some exciting encounters as two vehicles meet head-on at a junction where  there's only room for one to pass. Lots of hard braking and backing up then ensues as one or the other looks for a pullover spot to permit the other guy to get by. Thing is - the locals don't bat an eye about any of this, but just go barreling down the road at speeds that give the average Yank nightmares. 

The locals really do go out of their way to be helpful. On the drive from Kinsale to Ardgroom I got turned around enroute and couldn't find the correct turnoff to save my life. Finally swallowed my pride and pulled into a gas station to ask for directions. The first guy started rattling off directions so fast it made my head spin. The second guy then tried to direct me on to the correct road back thru the town, but in such a strong Gaelic accent that the only two words I could recognize were "pub" and "Corner"...everything else was gibberish. (Come to think of it maybe he WAS speaking in Gaelic). Anyway, a third guy apparently read the utter confusion on my face, took pity,  and said "I'm going that way, just follow me". So I did - for about 5 miles thru the serpentine alleys and back streets of a little Irish village until he pointed me to the sign that put me back on the correct route. Without his help I'd probably still be wandering around that town. Great folks the Irish.

We started out by stopping at every historic landmark that we saw a sign for, thinking that the stone circles, ring forts, and various megalithic sites were rare and therefore unique. Have since found out that they're all over the place, especially here in the western part of the country. Our Ordnance Survey Hiking maps are filled with them. The signage just points out the major ones...and those accessible from the roads at that. If you're on foot you come across these things all the time, like this old "Mass Rock" in the hills above one of the old villages. 

Following the "Little Yellow Man" around Ireland. Most of the hiking trails are signed pretty well, but if you venture too far afield they do tend to disappear. Have had some interesting experiences finding our way back to the trail after getting lost in the hills.

A lunch stop along one of the trails.

Some of the back roads are really pretty...like this farm track back into a little hidden valley.

A Stone Circle we encountered in a sheep paddock along one of the hikes. Haven't seen any Druids yet though.

One of the trails worked its way up and over this hill into a hidden valley.

Coming down the other side into the abandoned village of Cummeengeera...which was a thriving concern for about 50 years in the early 1800's. The famine years hit this area pretty hard, however, and the village was abandoned around 1848. It was like a little time capsule, with just the old ruins and the ancient stone walls marking the places where about 20 families once lived.  It was so pretty looking down on it from the hills above that it was like hiking into Brigadoon.

We wandered around the valley and explored the remains of the village for a couple of hours...had it completely to ourselves. 

There are a few rocks in Ireland.

More unnamed ruins. Actually, the one on the right is unnamed - the one on the left is named "Bob". 

Spent a week here driving around every rural road we could find - don't think I ever got the car out of 3rd gear. Lots of stops along the way to enjoy the pretty scenery...like this view from Cill Katherine church along the Beara Ring road.

Saturday is usually moving day the way our itinerary is set up. Good day to travel, plus it's about the only time all week I'm able to get the car into 5th gear, what with all of the rural driving we're doing.

I made it a point to rent a small "compact" car from Hertz...anticipating having to negotiate some pretty tight squeezes in the out-of-the-way places we're staying. Most of the cars here have manual transmissions, which adds another fun factor into the drama of driving on the wrong side of the road. You can rent automatics, but they're the exception and are twice as expensive as manuals (no kidding), so we went with the manual to save a few bucks. Turned out to be a good call since, with a little practice and continued familiarity, shifting with my left hand seems almost as natural now as it used to with my right. Now if I could just get my heart to stop spiking every time I meet an oncoming car on a one-lane road...

Heading for Dingle next.