Our trip to Waterford, Killarney, Dublin
and the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
October 1-12, 2009
Brandon Mountain and John Benny Moriarty
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Brandon Mountain and John Benny Moriarty
Wednesday, October 7
Gallarus Oratory, Connor Pass, and Brandon Mountain:
We woke up late today, after 10:00am, and although we could have slept longer, we grabbed a quick cup of Herb’s delicious coffee, threw on some clothes, and were on the road to Brandon Mountain at 11:30. The weather was flawless today.
Herb asked if we could stop at Gallarus Oratory so we pulled off there on our way and watched a short film which had not been playing the last time we visited. We were surprised to see how many archaeological sites there are so close to our cottage and hoped we’d be able to visit a few of them. We didn’t take many pictures as we were there on our trip in 2007.
Barb at the oratory:
Our only shot of the oratory, me peering through the small window:
After the oratory we stopped at an old church, mentioned in the film, and saw our first Ogham stones.
Small stone church:
Stone Church:
Ogham (pronounced oh-um) stone outside church:
Ogham stone inside church :
Ram – look at those horns!
Farmer herding cows:
Dogs herding cows on our way to Brandon Mountain:
Dogs herding cows on our way to Brandon Mountain:
The dogs:
Fuchsia lining the road:
Brandon Mountain:
We got to the base of Brandon Mountain’s 3,127-foot (952 meter) peak at around 2:00pm, ate the sandwiches Herb had made for us that morning (mine was delicious!), and then started up the western (the easier side) of the peak. I was out of breath within minutes and decided that, if I was going to enjoy this trek, I would have to take it at my own pace so I lagged behind the others most of the way.
The Three Sisters from the base of Brandon:
Our goal, the top of Mount Brandon:
The motley crew starts out:
KC hamming it up:
I almost turned back when we reached a ravine but we managed to find a way across it and forged ahead
Traversing the ravine:
Climbing Brandon Mountain (Barb always brings up the rear):
Climbing Brandon Mountain:
Climbing Brandon Mountain:
Climbing Brandon Mountain:
Climbing Brandon Mountain – the white sticks mark the path:
We took a short break at a stone cross which, I found out later, was one of 12 – the Stations of the Cross – which are positioned on the way up. Elke and I turned back just past the second one while the guys went on.
One of the 12 stations of the cross:
View from Brandon Mountain:
The point at which Elke and I turned around:
The guys made it about half-way to the peak and were back at the bottom at around 3:30pm. Next year, if we attempt this again, we’ll start earlier and not plan anything else for that day.
Since it was relatively early, we decided to go through Connor Pass on our way home and KC had a great time whipping around the curves until he came face to face with an oncoming car! The road is so narrow that one of us had to back up to the closest spot where 2 cars could pass. The first time we backed up, the second, the other car did.
When we stopped at the overlook I was surprised that it looked SO different that it had last year.
Connor Pass – how different it looks this year:
Connor Pass last year – it looks almost surreal:
Oncoming car on Connor Pass:
By now we were all ‘thirsty’ so we drove into Dingle and stopped at John Benny Moriarty for a pint. I ordered my first-of-many Irish coffees and the others had Guinness and Jameson’s (in two separate glasses, not combined!) I asked about the music and was told that Elis and Tommy Sullivan would be there that night and a trio (I didn’t catch their names) the following.
When I mentioned to KC that I might be interested in both nights he flew into high gear, trying to accomplish all the other things we needed to do that night, like laundry, so that I would be able to. I eventually realized that it was an unrealistic expectation and gave it up, although that meant we would have to go the following day and we were planning to spend it in Killarney….
We made a pit stop at Garvey’s for bread and some veggies for dinner, but forgot the apples for the ponies, so we gave them some oatmeal when we got back to the cottage. They actually ate it!
Feeding oatmeal to the ponies:
Feeding oatmeal to the ponies:
Feeding oatmeal to the ponies:
There was a fresh batch of scones waiting for us when we got home (thank you Phil!) so I had one with a bottle of cider while Elke put the meatloaf in the oven and tossed a salad. She and I ate our salad right away and I updated my journal while the guys did the laundry and the meatloaf finished cooking. KC and Elke read, Herb took a nap, and the foal suckled but I wasn’t able to get a picture.
When the meatloaf was ready, Elke fried the left over potatoes, heated 2 cans of corn, and dinner was served at 8:30. It was delicious, and not because we were starving! We had bought bread to make sandwiches from the leftovers but there were none! I’m pretty sure we played cribbage tonight, and that Elke and KC won, again, but I don’t have a record of the score… I think it is now HB=3 EK=3.
Herb and KC did the dishes and we were all in bed by 11:30 – tomorrow would be a long day!
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Note to self: bring the following next time: boat shoes, knife sharpener, speakers for MP3 player, adaptor plug.
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Last Revised: October 20, 2009
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