After a lovely farewelling with John and Cookie…started making my way to my first stop – a very grey day so far, but sooo glad it isn’t raining. Arrived super early at the 13thC Franciscan Timoleague Abbey that was founded by the Franciscan order in 1240 A.D., on the site of a 6th century monastic settlement founded by Saint Molaga.

A cute pink house in the village….

Drove the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ and saw very pleasant beach scenes like this….

Loved the ‘Old Head of Kinsale’ viewpoint….a colony of swooping gulls and other bird species, craggy cliffs; closest to the point of land where the Lusitania was sunk in 1915 – and a seagull with pink webbed feet, perched on a tiny outcrop casually surveying the scene and oblivious to anything else… gorgeous!

Woo hoo, next stop Kinsale village. Loved the little streets, very colourful and enticing. So much so, I found a lovely shop called ‘Weavers of Ireland’…and found a scarf I had to have.

I wish it was a day that looked like this….alas no. Grey and dull.

I’d booked into Martin Shanahan’s ‘Fishy Fishy’ restaurant and loved the lunch …’Black Sole with Capers and Crispy Potatoes’. Yummy, yum yum. There was definitely enough fish there for me to be protein-rich for days…..!

Still grey day, but launched droney to get a perspective over Castlepark….and the small harbour….

Was excited when I arrived in Killarney as weather had improved, nay there was SUNSHINE! So after meeting Sabine at the Air B&B, made a beeline for Muckross House.

Muckross House was built for Henry Arthur Herbert (MP for County Kerry from 1866 until 1880; appointed High Sheriff of Kerry in 1881; a major in the London Irish Rifles and a captain in the Coldstream Guards) and his wife, the water-colourist Mary Balfour Herbert. This was actually the fourth house that successive generations of the Herbert family had occupied at Muckross over a period of almost two hundred years. Work probably commenced in 1843 on the layout of the present Gardens at that time. Indeed, it appears likely that this work may have provided famine relief during the years of the Great Hunger (1845-1850). Many of the Scots Pine, Silver Fir, Oaks and Beeches in the vicinity of Muckross House may also have been planted during that decade.

Water views are incredible even from the estate….this gives you a better perspective….

Discovered, after hearing very noisy ‘broom broom’ car play along the highways on which I was travelling…..there’s a ‘Rally of the Lakes’ meeting on the bank holiday weekend that is …THIS WEEKEND. So when I want to travel along the ‘Ring of Kerry’ tomorrow, there will be road closures. Doing my research now to see if I can go slightly different routes and avoid this shite in any way!!! Cross everything people ….