Ireland trip day four

6/1/10 Day four

Today was a very eventful day. We decided to tour the Ring of Kerry today. All the tour books suggest to get up very early and go clockwise around the ring to avoid the myriads of tour buses. We followed those directions and did very well avoiding those aircraft carriers masquerading as vehicles on the suggested two lane curvy roads.

Michael has somewhat mastered the art of driving on the left side of the road and as a result we had a very pleasant drive. We stopped at Fort Staigue and looked at a strange rock fort that was several thousand years old. It had crazy acoustics! We dropped in at several cliffs and paid a few euros to get better views and it was totally worth it. We stopped at the Skellig Chocolate Co and got the best chocolate ever --there will not be any left by the time we get home, sorry. This ring was a little more commercial but the views were much more spectacular. We have plenty more pictures to show you from this day.

It takes multiple hours to drive this ring and we wanted to make it to the other side to visit a sheep farm. We were almost to our sheep farm destination when those pesky aircraft carriers started appearing. Along towards 5 o'clock those guys want to get home and they start hogging the road. Around one particularly dangerous curve, one travel trailer fellow decided he was not stopping and pushed us all the way over into the "whisking" area. I heard a loud pop and a rush of air. Yes, our tire had been punctured by a sharp little rock on the side of the road. Stupid big cars on the tiny roads!!!! So Michael was a pro. We handled it well and decided that a flat tire was better than no arms or a door torn off the car. With the spare tire securely attached we went on to the sheep farm.

The demonstration was already supposed to be over but when we got there it turns out the bus was late (they probably killed some unsuspecting Americans...). We immediately headed to the field where we were to hear all about hearding the sheep with the specially trained sheep dogs. The only problem was that this particular group was from France and so they explained everything in French!!! There was another couple from Hungary who knew no French either so we had this nice German lady speak to us in English so we all could understand. It was amazing. The dogs were incredible to watch! Then we went to the barn to see the sheep get sheared. They showed us how to do it and let us touch the wool. There was a baby lamb in the barn that was only three days old. Even though it was in French it was still very enjoyable!

For dinner, we wanted to try the "take away". This is basically a little stand inside a store front where you order food and take it home to eat. We ordered fish and chips and took it home to eat. It was by far the best fish and chips i have ever had. We ate too much and are now so full of fish and chocolate that we must go off to bed. Stay tuned for day 5 tomorrow. We are off to the Dingle peninsula and also to get the tire fixed.

Have a blessed evening and thanks for reading my blog!