Day 29...Diddle dee dee potatoes! Ireland - 25th July

Woke up feeling very tired but much better. Delicious homely cooking smells wafted up the stairs and greeted us as we went downstairs into the dining room. The room overlooking the garden which was grey and damp and the tables inside were all set up with tea cups and plates and it was all very orderly. Our lass obviously ran a tight ship. Everything was clean and cosy and had a doily on it. She bustled out of the kitchen and set us up with cereal and toast and warm bread. She "diddle dee dee'd" at me, but I figured out that she asked if we wanted an Irish breakfast. I didn't know what that was so asked her. It was a nice hot one with fried egs, bacon, tomato, sausages and black pudding. "Too right" we said, "we'll get into that" (This is all inclusive of room price mind you - the magic of the B&B!)

I knew what black pudding was but we both tried it anyway and it didn't taste too bad! It came in a small round cake about the size of a frion (small teacake) and is made of guts and bloodclots and stuff. But thats kinda like sausage when you think about it. Nate ate almost all of his. What a man. Other guests came down and joined us (an english guy said that having an Irish breakfast would be "grand" oh how fabulous) which makes you feel better. You really are sharing a strangers home but at the same time it feels comfy too and really safe. I felt like a safe warm child coddled by its mama or something. A great start to the day.

We headed north to Glengarrif and then straight out west onto the Beara Peninsula. What can I say? It was beautiful. Words can't describe how lovely it was, how every turn in the road (which was a tiny winding country road) was a breathtaking photo moment, but we couldn't stop every corner as we'd never get through! And the photos just didn't do it justic anyway.

The peninsula was a thin, winding road bordered by flowers and thistles and stuf and there wre large rolling farmland hills where we saw another stone circle which felt much mroe authentic than the drombeg one. I can't remember its name, I'll have to recheck the photos. It was thousands of years old, on a cold and wet hilly tussok with big grey rocks thrusting up at the sky. Much better than the one I had in my backyard haha! There were a few people turning up to have a look at that one too. So no private moments there haha. Driving further, the hills turned into a grey and misty volcanic area. It had thick green grass and gray rocks spewed all over the huge mountains and hills that were ribboned and rippled with volcanic rock. Some parts were so misty and zyou could almost catch a glimpse of ancient Irish pagans running about...

With the peninsula, there were so many vies of the ocean and river with huge rocks and boulders reaching into the water. The farmlands on the other side stretching up into the hills had spray-painted sheep! (this was in case a sheep wandered over into its neighbours land. so one guy had red spotted sheep, while his neighbour had blue). We stopped at the farthest tip of the peninsula where there was a small cable car that travelled to a small island off it. A guy used to live there hundreds of years ago. What a cold and lonely spot! It felt so isolated - particularly if you had been him back then! And it was cold!!! Even at the height of summer. Nathan loved it.

We stopped off further down the road at a small pub. I had one of the best toasted sandwiches ever and Nathan drank a pint of Murphys. We watched an old Irish farmer with a windbeaten face and muddy gumboots chatting with the bar guy and they were the only two there (apart from us). He sounded like a pikey from the movie Snatch (remember how you couldn't understand Brad Pitt?) but I picked up a 'fookin gret' (translation: f#cking great) and a "diddle dee dee potatoes" (just jokes). When the barkeep was busy, the farmer amused himself by singing and humming Irish ballads. It was fookin gret!

Nathan loved the Beara Peninsula road. It was one long and winding rally track! At one point a medieval tower oomed above the rocky hills overlooking the bay, it was beautiful. We also saw another stone circle. This one was my favourite...
It was on a tiny dirt, off-road track on isolated farmland. From our park we scrambled over moors and a stile and up a hill staring up at it as we approached. It was on a massive rocky hill with a huge mountain in the immediate backdrop. Nathan and I hummed the Lord of the Rings theme and laughed. Inside the ring was beautiful and grassy - not gravelly or concretey like some we have seen. The view was out over the hills to the bay. There were definatley no other people around this one, it felt really authentic, like we'd gone back in time or something. Apart from a farmhouse far back up the hill there was no one there - so despite nathans consternation I shed off my clothes and did a quick lap around the circle naked! haha!!

We finished driving around the Peninsula and drove up through a National Park that was full of buses and wasn't half as pretty as what we had just been through. The road was good though.
Poor nate, everytime it got into good road we'd get stuck behind a bus the poor thing!

We headed up to Limerick. It was kinda large and pooey so we headed further on out of town to Loch Gur and found the cutest B&B on an isolated farmland road. It was on a back dirt track overlooking fields and stuff. A cute Labrador dog came up for a cuddle and as I patted her she let out a mega fart! I looked at Nate shocked (he first thought it was me!) and then we both burst out laughing - just as the door opened and I couldn't control myself! The B&B was a real family home with family photos and kids running about. I think there was only two or three rooms in this one. The lady was a middle aged mum this time and quite nice. We dumped our bags in our room which was floral bedspread and massive wooden backing and ducked out to the local golfclub. We had a light meal and a teriffic view of the local golf course and surrounding hills (i thought I could see a ruined castle tower jutting out there too) then went back and watched TV and went to bed. It was a big day of driving.

PS: I saw a bumble bee!