I wish .....

Day 25 - Cobh to Killarney

After checking out of our hotel we walked the loop of the famous Deck of Cards, a steep street in Cobh with identical houses painted in different colours. They say that the houses look like playing cards, and if one fell down they all would.

It rained most of the drive to Kinsale, giving the impression we were not going to be able to see or do much today. However, as we arrived the rain stopped and we were able to walk around the colourful touristy town (along with all of the other tourists, it seems to be getting busier as we go on).

Kinsale is the start of the Wild Atlantic Way and after a quick stop at Charles Fort we drove on to the Old Head of Kinsale, a windswept diamond shaped headland with old ruins.

It rained again all the way to Kenmare but once again it stopped as we arrived. We visited Cromwell's Bridge, Our Lady's Well and the Stone Circle. 

The Stone Circle consists of 15 boulders arranged in an oval with a large round stone in the centre. The circle itself was interesting, but we could have done without the bit of card and the instructions to write a wish on the card and tie it to one of the trees. We did end up writing wishes, though - one was that we didn't have to pay, the other that they didn't ask people to write a wish and tie it on a tree.    

The rain started again as we left for Killarney, but it didn't get too heavy while we drove the first part of the Ring of Kerry, the famous loop that we plan to do completely tomorrow. Doing part of it today means we can skip some of it tomorrow, as we expect it to get very busy and it could be a long day.

We struggled for a car park when we arrived in Killarney, finally managing a spot after about 15 minutes of circling. We wandered into town and were unpleasantly surprised at how many tourists there are around. We had hoped that Ireland in September might be starting to quieten down, but so far it hasn't looked that way.

We found a quiet pub a short walk from the busy area and sat in one of the "snugs" - a small booth that were built so women could drink out of the public eye, before dinner and heading back to the hotel.