June 11 - Back to London - Journey near the end

We did get out early and to Cork on time for our flight to London, Heathrow airport is an amazingly busy place... Internation departures about every minute and all types of people and languages there. Got the bus to our hotel, then took the 81 bus down to Hounslow to shop a bit, but it was a busy crowded not so nice neighborhood so we cut it short came back and ate at the hotel, now getting early to bed got a 6:45 am Uber scheduled, it's only 1.4 miles to the airport terminal 3 but they say allow 3 hours and we leave at 9:15 so... well 5:30 is early enought! OK goodnight and thanks for reading, we'll be home tomorrow evening. Look forward to my own bed again.

June 9 - Tralee to Fenit and Ardfert

Tralee town center has numerous shops of all manner, tho it seems pubs outnumber everything else, live music on the street here and there and lots of the pubs offer live music every night, tho variety and quality vary widely, we decided not to do any pub trip after our Edinburgh experience oh once was enough. I have been picking up a regular pint of Guinness for evening time and that's good enough. I went to rent a bike but it's only for the day, not 24 hours, and as it was nearly 2 oclock when i got there i would have to be back by 445 so decided no not worth it, and besides, it was 59 degrees they say, but it sure did not feel like it wind howling in off the ocean, well actually Tralee Bay.

So we took a little drive to see the greenway route, figured it would go along the cost the 7 miles or so.. but no it was not near the coast at all, it was a scenic drive tho glad we saw it, so iffy about the ride for tomorrow. We then drove north to Banna Beach, supposedly the finest beach in Ireland, which is saying something because it's an island with beaches all around, but yes it was quite nice the pics don't do justice. Surrounded by tall grass covered dunes, it was so windy sand was blowing up off the beach across the parking lot, and it was on M's side of the car she could not even get out of the car the wind was so strong. I got out for a few seconds to make a video for the kids... but not for long... a couple pulled into a parking space near us and got out, for about 2 minutes lol then they hightailed it back into their car.. yup it was kinda sunny 59 degrees but it felt like 45 with that wind. We did see a well insulated red headed woman come down to the beach and strip down to a one piece bathing suit, and get into the water for a few minutes, the lifeguard came down from his shack with his life saving gear, barefoot with a swimming suit and a hooded foul weather jacket... he watched her til she came out then went back to his post.

Ardfert was the town on our way back from the beach and there was a ruined old church (cathedral) there, we went in and got an orientation from the guide, it dated to the 12th century, burned ruined rebuilt a couple times and a lot of the stones were used for the above ground burials there, many are above ground cuz the ground is so rocky, lots of old tombstones. They had artifacts carved stones and things going back to about 800 ad they say... Brendan who was born about 400 a.d. or so sailed over and discovered Newfoundland so this about 1000 years before columbus "discovered" north america. It was a good full day and now we are down to our last day in Ireland tomorrow, with a promise of 65 degrees and sunshine....

June 08 - Tralee - Ring Of Kerry Ireland

The Ring of Kerry is quite scenic and not what you'd expect, its a lot of windy narrow mountain roads where 2 cars can barely squeeze by some times, and caravans and tour buses bring you to a near stop to get them by some places, and other places it's a wide lane and people are flying 50+ mph passing inches away... so it's not for the faint hearted to drive. The views tho, are quite spectacular, wide green valleys and mist covered mountains sweeping down to the sea with rocky shores and islands in the distance. There are harbors and beaches, fishing towns and ferry excursions to take to outer islands or along the coast to see the sheer cliffs rising high above. We opted not to see go to the cliffs, once we saw its on private property and you need to buy a ticket to to, and it was several hundred yards of a hike up a steep rocky/gravel path. Leave it to the tour buses and crowds just looked like a long tiring way to go to snap a photo and turn around and go back down. But here are some of the views we saw all day long... one followed the other...