7 Day Irish Road Trip

Over the 4th of July Mike, Mike's Dad (Pat), Sophie and I all went on a 7 day road trip through Southwest Ireland.  We drove from our house in Ely, England across England and into Wales. From Fishguard, Wales we took a ferry across the Straight of St. George to Rossalear, Ireland. Once in Rossalear we drove through New Ross and stopped our first stop in Kinsale in the County Cork.

Kinsale is apparently the culinary capital of Ireland and the food was pretty tasty! The beer was better though. =) Kinsale was once a large port area but was silted in and since then has become a fishing town. Instead the city of Cobh became the main port town. In fact, Cobh was the last stop of the Titanic before sailing into the Atlantic. I really enjoyed Kinsale for the people. The Irish are amazing and funny. And many times we were told "you must know my cousin that lives in America".  Apparently, lots of American's say the opposite.

Any way, from County Cork we drove around the Ring of Kerry but didn't see much due to rain and fog and then we stayed in a cute little town of Kenmare. Usually the tourists hordes stay in Killarny but we decided to skip that craziness. In any case, Kenmare has a great old stone circle and I just love a good stone circle. From Kenmare we made the trip to Dingle. Oh, famous Dingle!  If your American your family probably came from this southwest area. I know mine came from County Cork so lots and lots of Americans. In fact, Pat said that he was "glad to come to Ireland and all the American's were really nice."

Dingle is amazing though. The Ring of Dingle takes you around to where the famine can still be seen. Since the population was so devastated they never re-plowed some of the fields and therefore you can see the lines of crop that failed all those years ago (1800's). Amazing! A crop that only failed for 2 to 3 years created so much damage. Mainly because a man would eat something crazy like 13lbs of potatoes a day in Ireland at that time. Hard to think that was all there was to eat.

Dingle Peninsula

From Dingle we drove across the country to Cashel for the ROCK! The Rock of Cashel looks like a big castle but in fact it was a church.  The place where St. Patrick baptised the King. It's said that during the baptism St. Patrick jammed his staff into the Kings foot and the King didn't say a word. At the end of the service St. Patrick saw his staff still in the Kings foot and asked "why didn't you say something?" the King replied "I thought that was part of the service." Apparently, he thought that was symbolic of all the suffering that Christians had been through. Oh the Irish!

On the way from Cashel we stopped in Kilkenney just to take a look at the Smithwick's brewery. Unfortunately  they don't allow sleeping babies on the beer tour so we skipped it and toured the castle instead.  Then we stopped in New Ross at the Dumbrody Famine ship but just a little more history on the plague and the hordes that left Ireland for the New World. The ship is a replica but it is really amazing to see how people would have made it across the Atlantic. Most would die on the trip but I'm still amazed at what Humans will do to give their children a better life. It's a testament that we will survive!

If you have a chance to go... then go to Southwest Ireland!