With the rising sun, we were up and out of Cork.
Breakfast was very entertaining! I have my trusty tube of vegemite with me. I need the taste some days to make the day 'rosy'! Well... an Irish fellow sharing our table saw my trusty tube, and his interest was perked. He'd never tasted vegemite before.
So he asked if he could...
Hahahahah! I gave him the tube, after explaining for newbies to have it on toast with butter, and he squeezed a small blob onto the edge of his plate. Proceeded to dip the tip of his knife into the blob. And licked the knife....
His reaction was PRICELESS!!!
The face he pulled, and comments that spurted out of his mouth afterwards, just hilarious! So we (the few Australians sitting around the table) then sat there taking the mickey out of this burly looking Irishman for not being tough enough to hack vegemite! Ahhh such fun!
Breakfast behind us (and vegemite packed), off the seven of us left. The lass doing 4 days was dropped at the bus station to return to Dublin, and then there were 7. Seany spent the morning trying to remember the Enid Blyton books, The Secret Seven, and The Famous Five, and decided we could be the seven from the stories! This conversation drifted into ghost stories as we past the mental hospital in Cork city (creepy looking place, I need to add), and the stories that were told. Enough to make your hair turn white!
The landscape changed, and we arrived at the start of the Ring of Kerry, a route taken by Queen Victoria and her ladies-in-waiting. We stopped at a point called Lady's View which got its name after the admiration shown by Queen Victoria and her ladies-in-waiting. At one point, Molly's Gap, Seany stopped the bus for us to hop out and take photos of the valley and the road (where little race cars once a year travel down at high speed!!). We all sat solid, the sky was beginning to open up, and the wind had picked up. Seany looked at us in disbelief, and said "So is this my cue to drive on then??? No one wants to get out??" We looked at him, and he laughed and drove on. It was cold outside!!
More winding roads and tall trees, to open valleys and towering mountains, and we found our way to Torc Falls, a small walk along side a stream up a wooded hill, to a beautiful waterfall. I remembered before I left the bus that I am a photographer, so I grabbed my tripod - good thing I did! The waterfall was beautiful, and climbing down the rocks to be closer to falls made me feel totally at peace. Further down found me precariously placed in the middle of the stream with my tripod set up again, and the greens of the moss filling my eyes. I did get some odd looks at one point... Oh well!
Back in the bus, we made our way to Waterville, where the one and only Charlie Chaplin would take his family to visit and to be free of the limelight of fame. There is a statue of him along the beach line, along the main (and only) street through the town. Another town, Sneem, built across a waterfall (??) and finally we reached Annascaul.
Seany pointed out several things as we drew into the village, such as the hurling / football field (which has a faery fort in one corner - they never one a game in that field), and a building that Seany was forced to learn maths (his primary school). The hostel - The Randy Leprechaun, caused a stir with both it's name and the murals on the wall in the village, as it is directly across from the local parish church... Annascaul has no atm, and one road, and if you want to get money out - you need to ask the right people in the right shop (I got lucky!).
Seany left us here, and returned to Dublin, so we were told we have a new driver for tomorrow. He won't be as crazy as Seany... In dedication to Seany, one of the fellows on my tour sung a song we as a group shared the chorus with Seany - "I Want it That Way" - by The Backstreet Boys. Such class, the entire pub sung along!
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