The Ireland trip - with some detours.

[OZDUCK]

More of Cobh

As I said, the Titanic is a feature of Cobhs' touristic efforts.



This statue commemorates Cobhs' significant involvement in the mass migration to North America after the Potato Famine. It is actually in honour of Annie Moore who, in 1892, was the first person processed through the Ellis Island facility in New York Harbour. It was also a major port of embarkation port for the transportation of convicts to Australia . Some of your ancestors may have passed through here - one of mine probably did. But, in line with my superior breeding, he was a Pensioner Guard bound for W.A. and not one of those dreadful convicts.



There is a pretty little park on the shoreline with a bandstand and cannons. By the flags and sky you can see were experiencing another typical Irish day. Th Australian flag was not flying.



There are plenty of reminders of the glory days of tTrans-Atlantic travel. Cruise ships still call here.

 

[OZDUCK]

After 2 nights in around Cork we headed off for The Ring of Kerry. We took a large detour on the way there and first headed south to Kinsale and along the coast a bit before heading north towards Killarney.

Our first stop for the day, and a fascinating one it was too, was at Charles Fort (built in 1682 and named after Charles II). It, along with the smaller James Fort across the water, guarded the entrance to Kinsale Harbour. It was actually handed over intact to the new state of Ireland in 1921. The buildings inside were burnt down by Anti-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War in 1922.



I would have hated to attack it. But, actually it had been poorly sited and once artillery captured higher ground around it the defenders inside were gone gooses. This actually happened in 1690



Inside the walls.



It is a perfectly safe place to visit.



A bit of beauty to go alongside the grey walls.

 

[OZDUCK]

It is worthwhile mentioning here one of the very good ideas of Irish Heritage. Each one of the major sites had there own on-site cafe. They are leased out to local groups and provide excellent snacks and meals. For example at this fort we had some lovely home made cakes in a restored building. All the ones we ran across advertised home made food - such as soups & chowders and often specials such as soup and sandwiches for a very good price. This means that you can look around as long as you like without worrying about meals - and puts money into the local economies.

More of the fort.

Another bit of artistic license. By this time the sea fog had closed in.



The ramparts and a guardhouse





As you can see there is a lot of space inside the walls. The people are congregating around the cafe.



Kinsale from the car park of the fort. Within 10 minutes the fog had come in and visibility had dropped to about 1 Km and all sight of the town had disappeared.

 

[get me outta here]

Great TR photos. I loved Kinsale and the whole drive trip around the SE, S and SW of Ireland.

 

[drron]

Really enjoying the TR.I am not sure if Ireland needs to be added to the bucket list because of the sights or dropped because of the weather.

 

[craven morehead]

OZDUCK did you fly AY or QR on the SIN-HEL legs ?

 

[OZDUCK]

Really enjoying the TR.I am not sure if Ireland needs to be added to the bucket list because of the sights or dropped because of the weather.

I am trying not to be negative but the weather certainly got me down on occasions - especially on the Ring of Kerry & The Giants Causeway. Possibly we were too hopeful for good weather in late spring and early summer. Maybe it would be better to bite the bullet and go at the peak tourist times in the hope of good weather. Then again, you see the floods in Berlin a few days ago and the rain-soaked Tour de France last night and nothing is a surprise. There really wasn't a huge amount of rain but mainly low lying grey clouds, fog and cold winds.

 

[OZDUCK]

OZDUCK did you fly AY or QR on the SIN-HEL legs ?

We were due to fly AY on that leg but they decided to cancel our flight. We ended up flying QR J Sin/Doha/Hel and had two great flights. Probably the two best flights for service and food I have ever had.

 

[craven morehead]

We were due to fly AY on that leg but they decided to cancel our flight. We ended up flying QR J Sin/Doha/Hel and had two great flights. Probably the two best flights for service and food I have ever had.

Cheers , I've just booked SIN-HEL-TXL with AY for end of August and was wondering about J on the A350-900 booked 3 nights at Holiday Inn HEL on the way home as per your suggestion that it is well located. Enjoying the TR.

 

[OZDUCK]

Great TR photos. I loved Kinsale and the whole drive trip around the SE, S and SW of Ireland.

Yes, Kinsale is a pretty little town. There are a couple of photos of it coming up.

 

[OZDUCK]

Cheers , I've just booked SIN-HEL-TXL with AY for end of August and was wondering about J on the A350-900 booked 3 nights at Holiday Inn HEL on the way home as per your suggestion that it is well located. Enjoying the TR.

The AY A350 was very good. The seats are laid out in reverse herringbone pattern, the same as CX. The seats are slightly smaller - especially in the foot cubby hole - but are still perfectly ok. The cabin crew were all "contract" ethnic Chinese with no Finns in sight. But, they were friendlier than the CX crews we had on Per/HK/Toronto return, They patrolled the cabin in the middle of the night and if they saw you awake would offer snacks or drinks. They occasionally forgot to bring something but on the whole were fine.

The food was ok, but on the midnight return flight it is an express meal all served on one tray with a ice cream cup offered later on for dessert. I had the reindeer, ordered in advance, and it was tender and tasty. The breakfast was also on one tray but was fine.

The IFE library was adequate - nothing special but it did the job. However, the touch screen for the IFE was the best one I have used - crystal clear and very responsive.

The non-Schengen lounge in HEL is very glossy and "Nordic Modern" looking and the showers are nice - if unnecessarily complicated to operate. However, the food available for our midnight departure was terrible. A couple of stews, some soup and a few uninspiring salads and cheese. The Schengen Lounge we had breakfast in was much better stocked.

 

[amaroo]

Great report. We really enjoyed Ireland.... hard to believe where that 25 years went. Did you get to see Newgrange?

That prison has been a very popular film set .... the one I remembered when viewing your report was "In the Name of the Father"

 

[OZDUCK]

A few photos of Kinsale

Low Tide in the harbour



Back streets of Kinsale. The "artistic" framing of these photos is because I dropped my camera one too many times and had intermittent problems with the lens cover.
That problem is now fixed - the cover is jammed open.





The inside of a nice bakery in Kinsale - taken with permission.We agree with the kidnapping sentiment.
As an added bonus, this gives you an idea of what you would pay for a slightly dearer than normal lunch.



Driving along the estuary out of Kinsale - with some added "Blow-Up" action in the rear view mirror.

 

[OZDUCK]

Some more photos of the Kinsale bakery & products. Not to make you hungry but to give you an idea of what was generally available for lunch on our trip..







The green roll had pesto in dough - it was very nice

 

[OZDUCK]

Great report. We really enjoyed Ireland.... hard to believe where that 25 years went. Did you get to see Newgrange?

That prison has been a very popular film set .... the one I remembered when viewing your report was "In the Name of the Father"

Actually I now remember that the guide did mention the filming of "In the Name of the Father" at the prison.

As for Newgrange, I am sorry to say we missed it by about 20 Kilometres. We were heading that way and stopped at the "Battle of the Boyne" Historic Site.(With a very good cafe and the best toilets we have ever seen in a National Park or almost anywhere . I think there might have been a bit of politics involved as the site was opened to symbolise the Northern Ireland peace settlement.) It then proceeded to get dark, pour with rain and blow a gale and in fact stopped us from looking around the lovely grounds. We were so over the weather by that time that we just kept going towards Dublin Airport. A poor decision but you can only take so much of anything.

 

[VPS]

I've had dire weather in the middle of summer in Ireland and beautiful weather in October so whenever you go it's a gamble

 

[OZDUCK]

I've had dire weather in the middle of summer in Ireland and beautiful weather in October so whenever you go it's a gamble

But do you :-
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

 

[OZDUCK]

After leaving Kinsale we headed up towards Killarney and the Ring of Kerry. Our Cork B & B host had said to make sure to visit the Ladies View lookout. As the weather had cleared up in the afternoon we decided to visit it in the sun. That was a good decision, weather wise, as later photos will show the weather we had on the next day when did the full loop.

Many people recommend that you do the loop in a counter-clockwise manner as this is the way the tour buses have to travel. Others said it was better doing it clockwise as then you didn't get stuck behind slow moving vehicles. As it was getting late in the afternoon and the lookout was only about 10Km up the track from Killarney, we drove directly there - clockwise - before intending to backtrack. This was a mistake as we met a lot of tour buses coming the other way and one forced me off the road and into overhanging branches. The road maintenance people seem to prune the bushes only to the edge of the road and there is usually no verge whatsoever. This excursion cracked the lense of the repeater indicator in the passenger side mirror and putt a few scratches on the car. Luckily, as I have said elsewhere, we had 100% insurance coverage but it did annoy me.

Plenty of room to maneuver - not. As you can see the buses take up 1/1/4 lanes the road - and this was a wide spot.



Narrows a bit here



As a recompense, there were magnificent views from the lookout. This was looking towards Killarney

 

[love_the_life]

Plenty of room to maneuver - not. As you can see the buses take up 1/1/4 lanes the road - and this was a wide spot.

View attachment 100725

I like the way that the large tractors are driven through village streets usually by someone who looks all of 16. Have seen them straddle the whole street and up on the footpath.

 

[OZDUCK]

I like the way that the large tractors are driven through village streets usually by someone who looks all of 16. Have seen them straddle the whole street and up on the footpath.

And for bringing your wife back from church.