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Ireland-Isle of Man Adventure Segment #2
Day
#5 - Day #8 -Wednesday, May 15, 2002 through Saturday, May 18, 2002
Subjects: Blarney Castle, Cork
City, Cobh, Queenstown Heritage Center, Midleton, Jameson Distillery,
Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Lough Hyne, Baltimore, Kilkenny Castle, Kildare
and Irish National Stud.
Day #5 - Wednesday May 15, 2002 - Galway to Bunratty to Blarney to Cork
 Don Driscoll risks being even MORE Irish by kissing the Blarney Stone. For some unknown reason, the stone must be kissed upside down. |
Weather continues to be blustery, cool with rain showers here and there. Group does a smooth check out of the hotel, and then Mike takes us on a quick tour of Galway before we head out to the main highway (N18). We stopped at Bunratty Castle for a break - excellent visitor's center, shops, cafeteria and bathrooms. Then head south, through Gort, Limerick (where Michael notes that the locals were not too thrilled with the portrayal of their fair city by Frank McCourt). The countryside begins to change again, fewer stone walls and then none at all. Hedge country.
Blarney Castle - Just north of Cork we left the main highway and traveled a short distance west to Blarney Castle. We had lunch here in a large, high-ceilinged cafeteria. Excellent food and service. Then we walked over, climbed the 103 spiral steps and yes, allowed ourselves to be hanged upside down to kiss the stone. This was to ensure that we are "forever endowed with the gift of Irish eloquence." The surprise of this visit, however, was the beautiful gardens adjacent to the castle. The climate is extremely mild at this latitude, and the Gulf Stream comes up and tempers the climate so that you find stuff growing where you wouldn't expect to find it. Beneath the yew trees, there are a number of ancient Celtic sites, including the Druid's Altar, the Witch's Kitchen and the Wishing steps. Some of us negotiated the steps (backwards with eyes closed) and made appropriate wishes.
 Vivian Driscoll strolling among the oddly-shaped stones in the Blarney Castle Garden. This was a Druidic center for many centuries. |
 Vivian Driscoll finds herself enveloped by the Celtic mysticism of the Blarney Castle Garden. |
 Annie Lydon negotiates the Witches' Steps with her eyes closed in order to get her wish. |
Cork - The name means "marsh." Vikings plundered the place regularly - twice - and then the third time they stayed. The city lies between two branches of the Lee River and has a navigable channel that enabled trading ships to come up here in the early years. The streets, such as St. Patricks, were originally canals, and even though filled in later, the water table is quite high. During high tides and winds, there's a warning and shop owners are warned because some of the lower streets flood. The city is based on the trading - with mercantile houses now becoming hotels (The Imperial, for example), and up on the hill to the north there's was a butter exchange where the dairymen from nearby counties brought their butter and it was shipped all over the world. There's a butter museum on the hill. Georgian buildings down near the Imperial have stairways up to the ground floor, and cellars where goods were stored through arched doorways beneath.
The downtown has a nice, human scale, but not nearly as "shoppy" as Galway. Bigger stores, more like a modern US city. But down the alleys, there are pubs and smaller shops. They stay open later on Thursdays nights - 9:00 PM.
During the walking tour on Thursday evening, we learned that Cork had the first public library in Ireland, and it was a visit from a Corkman to the US that inspired Andrew Carnegie to start his public library campaign.
 The Kingsley Hotel, Cork. One of Ireland's best hotels, on the banks of the Lee River. |
The Kingsley Hotel - We checked into the hotel, a beautiful hotel on the banks of the Lee River. Michael said that this might be the best hotel in Ireland, and I would agree. Absolutely lovely. Through the opened curtains I watched guys flyfishing across the way, but they didn't seem to be catching anything. The hotel is about a 20 minute walk from downtown and most of the group had dinner in the hotel.
Day #6 - Thursday, May 16, 2002 - Cobh and Midleton - evening literary tour of Cork
Cobh - Boarded the bus at 9:00, group rested and in good spirits. Drove down the river to Cobh, one Ireland's major ports. Lots of industry in the area, including fertilizer factory, steel mill, oil refinery, automobile factory. Also there's a wild animal park (look! a giraffe!) and arboretum. The port has a series of islands, some connected by bridges, others accessible only by ferry.
 The Queenstown Heritage Center, Cobh. |
The Queenstown Heritage Center - This may be the most modern museum exhibit in Ireland. (The Guinness brewery in Dublin might be an equal.) The old passenger station has been refurbished, and the exhibit focuses on the emigration story - it has very strong emotional impact - three sails turned into audio-visual screens with two outside having slides and the middle one with some vintage square-rigger sailing ship stuff - huge waves, ship pitching and rolling. With the sloped floor that mimics that of a ship, it is possible to be a bit nauseous watching the film. Displays on the potato failure, the hotel, the later cruise liners, the wars, and eventually the last emigration in the 1950s before ships were done in by airplanes. One entire section on the Titanic, and another on the Lusitania. Extremely well done. Nice restaurant across the railing.
 St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh. |
Cobh the town - After a snack, we walked into the adjacent town to visit St. Colman's Cathedral. A lovely and huge church overlooking the harbor toward the sea end of the town. Dominates the landscape. Built of Dalkey Granite and Mallow limestone. Named after St. Colman the patron of the Diocese of Cloyne. Built over 47 years - from 1868 to 1915 with some money coming from the US and Australia. Very imposing church, high stained glass windows, dark quiet interior. Roman Catholic. Has largest carillon in Ireland and Great Britain. The brochure notes, with apology, that there's no toilets for the public - the "architects didn't consider these to be essential." Worth at least an hour - views from up here are also great not only of the harbor, but the surrounding neighborhoods.
The town at the bottom of the hill has pubs named for the various ships, including the Mauretania, the Titanic and the Lusitania. Monuments to the various disasters in the town. The town fronts right on the harbor and is worth some time to wander. Also an interestingly shaped Garda station - looks like an ocean liner with portholes for windows.
To
Midleton and Jameson Distillery.
We drove about a half-hour eastward from Cobh to Midleton.
Hooligans - Just as we turned in to the road down to the distillery, a large group of high school? students were assembled at the head of the street, and some behind a nearby wall were hurling ice cream bars and plastic soda and water bottles. It was a pretty mild little fracas, with girls huddled in the doorways watching and pointing. Then, we turned in and drove between the warring factions, stalled for a moment by traffic. A plastic water bottle hit the side of the bus, and then a small fist appeared above the wall on our right, its middle finger extended in the universal symbol of defiance. Kids. Young Irish rebels.
Jameson
Distillery in Midleton -The Heritage Center for the Distillery
is nicely done. A bit droney of a tour by a large, Irish woman - and
we were joined by a group of Germans, one of whom actually used his
cell phone while we were in the distillery. The tour began with a video
with the title - "Water of Life" to describe whiskey. Important for
the economy of the area, and the video emphasized how the company was
good to the workers. Then, during the Famine, they had troubles, but
it got better in the late 19th century - as popularity of Irish whiskey
grew throughout the world. Described the process - the difference between
Scotch whiskey and Irish is that coal was used to fire the kilns to
dry the barley in Ireland, while peat was used in Scotland, giving it
that smoky flavor. A lot of water was used, both in the product and
also to power the mill. Big hunks of machinery still here, mill race,
etc. In all a good reconstruction, though a bit more of a "tour" than
necessary.
The
tasting room at the end was fun - four people selected out of the group
- three of us and a German - Joanne Nelson, Bill Smythe, and Jim Walsh
were our official tasters. A taste test that proved - surprise! - that
Irish whiskey was superior to Scotch and Bourbon. Don Driscoll pointed
out that it was not a fair comparison.
 Tasting Test at Jameson Brewery. Joanne Nelson opposite, Bill Smythe, left, and Jim Walsh, below join unknown German tourist in whiskey tasting. |
 Joanne Nelson expresses her opinion of an American-made Bourbon. |
We
drank a bit of the stuff, with some folks pouring their measure into
our glasses - it is powerful stuff, warming one down to the feet - perhaps
that's what makes it so popular to the Irish - in this cold, damp country,
something that can warm your innards would be quite handy.
Cork
in the Evening - Dinner at Clancy's - Literary Walking Tour
Back in Cork I found an Internet Store - huge one with over 50 terminals
- GREAT connections - very very fast. Then Annie and I walked around
a bit, found the Imperial Hotel, tried to get oriented, and then met
with 7 other group members for dinner at Clancy's. Nice dinner, but
not much very Irish about the menu, however. Then we met the walking
tour lady - her first tour of the season - usually beings next week.
Judy Jones had called her and arranged for her - 9 of us made a critical
mass - 7 was the minimum required. The tour was OK as our guide tried
very hard to connect some of the literary greats of Ireland to the city
of Cork - O'Conner and several others connected, but she had to stretch
to get Joyce - he visited with his father once - and others. It was
a great tour of the city, however, with explanations of the architecture
as we walked through the neighborhoods.
Day #7 - Friday, May 17, 2002 - West Cork - Skibbereen and Baltimore
 Our Tour Leader in Henry Ford's Replica Model T, Ballinscarthy. |
An overcast day that turned to partly sunny throughout, getting warm enough to begin shedding clothing out in Baltimore. Nice day.
Left at 9:00 AM, out through the southwest of Cork City in the morning rush hour traffic, and finally out into the open countryside. More hills as we got farther away from Cork. Ran alongside the Bandon River for a time that ran through the town of the same name. Lovely looking fishing river, lots of riffles. Then, we came to the Model T.
Ballinscarthy and Henry Ford's Car - Somebody made a replica of Henry Ford's Model T in aluminum beside the road, and Michael told of Henry's father leaving and coming to America. We took photographs and Michael said that the Ford family homestead is just down a side road to the south from here. We are in Michael's home turf here, and he waves and says hello to everyone he sees.
 Clonakilty, County Cork, a friendly town. |
Clonakilty - The surprise town of the trip so far. Michael lives here, and we drove through the town (waiting at one point for two delivery truck drivers to put their hand trucks in the back and move over so we could pass) and parked just beyond the church - Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. There was a service going on as the parking lots was full - found out later it was a funeral.
Clonakilty has a very nice feel to it. People were friendly, scale was great and there were some interesting spots. We ran into a plaque on the side of O'Donovan's Hotel that told of a B-17F that crash-landed nearby in 1943. We followed up the story and found a funky little exhibit in a back hallway that looked as if some of the guys came back after the war. Then I later came and got a copy of an article about the crash and the recovery of the aircraft which I photocopied. Great story.
 The B-17 Taint a Bird resting on the field outside Clonakilty, April 1943. |
The Landing of "T'ain't a Bird", April 7, 1943 - A B-17F ran out of fuel and landed in a marsh outside Clonakilty believing that they were in Norway. The eleven Americans and one monkey became the toast of the town (Ireland was neutral during World War II), and after three rather riotous days, they were taken away and sent back across the border into Northern Ireland. The monkey, alas, died, and is buried behind the hotel. A month later, the B-17 was refueled, and took off across a makeshift runway to eventually be reunited with its crew. The aircraft had a distinguished wartime career flying bombing runs over Germany. Years later, a number of the crewmembers came back to be reunited with their friends in Clonakilty.
We wandered around, found one of those coin-operated toilets - this one had Barbara and Lud confused - then we changed some money, and finally got back to the bus. A GREAT little town. Well worth further exploration - doesn't have a bad traffic problem like many other Irish towns. Then we left the main road and dropped down to the coast, through Rosscarberry and eventually to a stretch of coast where the bays and inlets had small towns perched above them.
Glandore - A lovely little town perched on the east side of a cove - we stopped at a wide spot that had a park and lovely restrooms - all very nicely maintained. Fresh, bright, sun coming out. There's a sparkle in this area. A great place to visit in May, but avoid it in June and the summer months. Audrey Stanley said that she was going to come back here.
 The Skibbereen Heritage Center focuses on the Famine in County Cork as well as the natural history of Lough Hyne. |
Skibbereen was one of the goals of this part of our adventure. The town has historic connections to the Pajaro Valley as a number of Santa Cruz County Irish families (Sheehy, Driscoll, Casey) originally came from this area. The town is also extremely famous for suffering hardships during the Famine.
Skibbereen Heritage Center - A relatively small, but nicely appointed building. We first watched a video on Lough Hyne - (pronounced Lock Hine) - a saltwater lake - flushes twice a day by the tide - one of the most southerly in all of Europe. Video showed the geology, and also some of the creatures that now live there.
The manager, Terri Kearney gold us that Skibbereen was hit hard by the Famine, apparently because there were a lot of laborers here, and the potato crop failed totally. Actually, we figured out later that the impact was harder here because the soil is quite fertile, and farming did well - thus, everyone in the area was dependent on potatoes - very dense population - twice that of other parts of Ireland. Thus, when the crop failed several years in a row, LOTS of folks were knocked into unemployment, starvation and death. Parish coffin - had false bottom, used over and over again. The exhibit on the Famine is good, with several audio and video stations.
The Holy Well - Then Ms. Kearney got several of us aside and began to tell us the story of the Celtic well that is located near the Lough Hyne. She showed us where it was on the map and recommended that we go there. She told of the fairies being underground and accessible to humans only through wells and caves. This well was ringed with a circle of white limestone rock, and those who come to it leave pieces of cloth in the hawthorn tree that is beside the well. She said it was one of those powerful places. And also told of the stone circle to the east and how she goes to a big party there on December 21 when the sun lines up with a notch in the hills and two of the stones. Big Celtic party, Druids and the like. She told of the superstitions and then noted that she does them all too - waving to a magpie, etc.
 Lough Hyne, a rare marine (salt water) lake. |
Lough
Hyne and the Holy Well
Just
outside Skibbereen, we took a left on a much narrower road that dropped
down into a valley that became increasingly forested. Conifers on the
right. And, in places, the lower hills had fields that swooped up to
crests much as you see on the eastern side of the Pajaro Valley. It
is very easy to see the similarity in countryside as the rolling, green
hills here in southwestern Cork to those of Central California. The
only difference would be, of course, our summer time brown. The bus
crept down to the northern tip of Lough Hyne where Michael stopped and
let us off. We had seen, off to the right, some white rocks that appeared
to be the Holy Well in question, so Vivian Driscoll and I went off up
the road while the rest of the group went on a wooded trail into the
reserve, parallel to the road. We could hear them talking off to our
left as we went up the relatively steep road - much too narrow for the
bus just as Terri had said - we found the white rocks, but there was
a Virgin Mary statue in their center, and it was all very orderly. Also
had the pieces of fabric, rosary beads, medals, etc. tied in a hawthorn
tree. The well seemed fabricated, however, made out of the small stream
that came down the swale. We took photographs and then somebody mentioned
that there was another well that we had walked past.
 The Holy Well near Lough Hyne that Celtic Druids used for centuries. The water is supposed to be washed over the eyes to cure eye ailments. |
Walked down, across the creek and sure enough, there was the Holy Well from Celtic times. Moss-covered limestone rocks lined it, and fabric in the tree beside it, just as it was supposed to be. We learned later that this was an eye-well - we were supposed to wash our eyes with the water to cure eye ailments. Unfortunately, we learned that too late. Took photographs and milled about for awhile, and then walked back down to the lake itself. Stood and watched some rather impressive fish - trout? (it's salt water, after all - but maybe fresh back at this end?) swimming about and swirling in the clear water. An idyllic place. Lovely forested break from all the towns we've been seeing today.
Baltimore - A seaport of some importance at one time - though they got raided by Algerians in 1631 and apparently moved everything up river to Skibbereen. The small business area - a short row of pubs, grocery store - sits above a harbor with ferries that connect with the outer islands. Cape Clear, etc. We spent an hour here, attempting at first to walk out to the beacon overlooking the Atlantic - a local man in a church yard said 15 minutes when we asked how far, but the young woman standing beside him laughed when he did so and said "more like an hour." Which it turned out to be because Lud and Barbara came closest to making it and they were still 15 minutes away after walking for 20.
This southwestern Cork coast is summer time holiday area - lots of holiday homes perched above the coves and inlets, each with small boats, sailboats upside down in their yards. Michael said that it was extremely crowded in the summer months, and that there were a lot of Germans and Scandinavians who came here for the summers - lots of outside money coming in and buying old houses and fixing them up or building new ones. A tone of resentment in his voice about it all - he said that 30 years ago you could come here during the summer and know every other person you met on the street. Today you'd be lucky to recognize any.
 The seacoast near Skibbereen. The landscape of California's Central Coast reminded Irish immigrants from this area of home. |
Some group members spent the time in a pub, others sat in the sun and drank tea. Very relaxing and relatively warm time spent here. And, then onto the bus for the ride back to our hotel in Cork. We were running against the traffic flow, as Friday evening traffic was heavy coming toward us as folks were heading out to their holiday homes on the coast. We nodded off periodically, with Michael singing all the traditional songs - Rose of Tralee, etc. We were back at the hotel at 7:00.
We walked over to the Crow's Nest for dinner. It was a modern and somewhat fancy pub, but the service was very slow. The food was great it took as 45 minutes to be served, and then another 15 or so to get out check. Waitress' first night on the job. Why, Lord, do we always get to break them in? Murphy's Law #7 - If you're in something of a hurry, your waitperson will always be new.
Day #8 - Saturday, May 18, 2002 Cork to Kilkenney to Stud to Dublin
Left the hotel around 8:30 - cloudy day, a bit windy, sun peeking through here and there. Streets are relatively deserted as it is Saturday. Drive through Cork - swung around harbor to pass the Jeanie Johnson, an old square-rigged sailing ship docked across the way from us. Stopped at Cachel - the castle on the rock - a pit stop but many group members hustled up the hill to see the castle and the Abbey down behind it. Countryside is rolling, but the pitch is diminishing - still a lot of cattle and sheep. Hedges instead of walls.
Kilkenney Castle - the waiting room had a high ceiling and was quite large. We had a tour guide who looked like a very young Bob Newhart, with ears jutting out on either side of his head. When he stood in front of the window, they were translucent - something like a large bat's head? He had a nice, not-too-thick Irish accent. Introduced us to the castle - originally begun by the Normans in 1172, and finally focused on by the Butlers who bought it in 1391 and owned it until the 1960s. It has been remodeled and renovated extensively over the years so that it resembles a Victorian mansion more than a castle - huge, frayed tapestries on the walls, interesting furniture, including a love-seat that had room for four. The crowning glory is the Long Room - over 100 feet long and over 30 feet wide - Lud paced it - with high ceilings done in Viking motif, and dozens of portraits hanging from bottom to top of the wall with the fireplace in the middle of it. Window seats on the opposite, high-windowed wall. Very impressive building, but certainly not a functional "castle" that had knights and such folks living in it. A genteel castle. The ground also seemed huge, spreading out to the south away from the building. Huge lawns and flower gardens that we didn't see.
We then re-boarded the bus to continue working our way northeast toward Dublin. Darkening clouds on the western horizon. The road wound its way, first the primary road of N78 and then, beyond Athy, we turned onto secondary roads to sneak up underneath Kildare. The country here is underlain with limestone and covered with pasture. Good for horses. The county Kildare is now the second fastest growing area in Ireland, second only to Dublin itself, because of the horse raising that goes on here.
[Photograph Segment 2 Photo 20 Digital - Folks at Strawberry Stand Caption: Group members attacking a strawberry stand. Note the image of Prime Minister Bertie Ahern looming behind them. Bertie easily won re-election while we were in Ireland.]
 Group members attacking...| |
Strawberry Stop - somewhere in one of those small towns that we wove through, there was a strawberry stand beside the road - about a half-dozen folks jumped out, including, of course, the Driscolls. Vivian bit into one and made a hugely terrible face. And Don declared them to be OK - and then sorted the tray, tossing out half of them as not passing the muster for strawberries shipped out of the Pajaro Valley. About five trays were purchased and made their way through the group. Michael was really a sweetheart to pull over at a moment's notice and let us fool around like that.
Kildare County and the Irish National Stud - Kildare County has no mountains and is the flatest of all the Irish counties - and also the largest. Very rich area, with great grain growing, silos, and very little livestock - almost no sheep seen in this area. Finally, with sunshine breaking out all around us, we drove into the relatively-empty parking lot of the Irish National Stud.
 Two of the "boys" rough-housing at the Irish National Stud. |
Irish National Stud - We gathered in the front waiting room, folks using the bathroom and Michael joshing around with the women behind the counter. We were hooked up with a tour guide named Shirley, who led us out into the pasture area. She explained how the place works - privately owned mares come in and are "covered" by privately-owned stallions - there are seven working at the present. They get huge sums - all of which is not taxed by the government - and the government takes a cut. That cut pays for the entire operation. Indian Ridge is the most expensive stallion there at present - not a great racehorse himself, but has fathered many successful racehorses. He gets somewhere around 40,000 Euros per visit.
She told the story of Tommy the pony - Tommy the Tease she called him - he's the one they put behind the wall near the mare to see when she's in heat. He gets her all hot and bothered, and then they take her away to visit the resident stud, and Tommy, gets disappointed. She said that they bring in a pony mare from time to time to let Tommy get some satisfaction. Otherwise, he might lose interest. No kidding.
 The ever-alert group on the bus as it rolled toward Dublin. |
We wandered around the black-fenced corrals, watching newly-born foals gamboling around in the grass - one in particular was doing such interesting things - kicking up his heels, etc. Lots of very interested questions from the group. Then, we walked back up to near the birthing areas - though we couldn't go in because we hit it at the bad-magic time between 3:30 and 4:30. She wound up the tour as it began to rain, so we dispersed - some to the Irish Horse Museum - Vivian was sketching the skeleton of Arkle - and some of us over to the gift shop to buy "Irish National Stud" baseball caps that have improved dramatically since we were here in 1998. Joanne Nelson later suggested that we append a phrase to the top of the hat like - "I survived..." or "I'm married to..." - funny stuff. Group wandered about and seemed to be happy to do so.
I wandered over to the "Japanese garden" which is really an English garden mixed with a Japanese garden - lots of flowering bushes and plants - along with the rocks and mosses and Japanese maples. They also had two dawn redwoods - both of which were bright green and about 80 feet high - again, related to the grandfather tree in Moudaoqi.