12perfectdays

It was actually 17 perfect days on this 2nd trip of ours to the land that has taken hold of my heart!

I have tried something new and posted my pictures on FLICKR, fingers crossed, here's the link:
http://flickr.com/photos/12perfectda...911413/detail/

<b><u>Gearing up &amp; getting started!</u></b>
Our trip was from April 10th-27th, 2007 and the itinerary ended up:
Bunratty- 1 night
Killarney- 2 nights
Glengariff (Beara)- 3 nights
Castlegregory (Dingle)- 2 nights
Oughterard (Co. Galway)- 2 nights
Westport- 3 nights
Sligo- 1 night
Dublin- 3 nights

<u>Flying:</u> Aer Lingus from LAX to Shannon (via Dublin) and heading home from Dublin non-stop to LAX. The customer service is fantastic.

<u>Car rental:</u> Dan Dooley-love them! One very small problem turned into a wonderful thing...more on that later! We rented a compact automatic with Super CDW (for DH's peace of mind) 13 days for about $800 USD

<u>Cell Phones:</u> after much research and wonderful advice from Italian Chauffer (THANKS I.C.!) I harassed Cingular for weeks and got the unlock code for free just before we left. It ended up costing us about 15E for prepaid sim chip that we just slipped into DH's phone. The only problem was that there is no kiosk in Shannon airport and it really was about 2 days before we could get to a Vodaphone in Killarney. Other than that- wonderful and I used the leftover minutes at the end to call my mom from the Dublin airport.

<u>Misc. stuff:</u> Except for Sligo all of our B&amp;B's, our hotel in Dublin, our tour of Northern Ireland, the Beara driver we hired for a day and the Bunratty Banquet were all set up ahead of time. Yes, they call me &quot;Monk&quot;- but I just feel better having it all prepared ahead. (I even had bus times and #'s, train info. and fall-back plans and yes, all of my canned goods are alphabetical too!!!- LOL!)

<i>Stay tuned for our Zombie like arrival at Bunratty and how we survived 36 hours with no sleep! (Maybe that's why Shiela &amp; Frank at Ashgrove house were so funny!)
Dawn</i>

SandyBrit

Dawn,

Good start - enjoyed your pictures.

Sandy

Itallian_Chauffer

Dawn -

Thanks for the pix, the nice comments and the start of your report. I only returned home just last week, so am still working on mine. I see you DID take the Goat's Path. Did YOU also drive the Healy?? How did Bill (wojazz3)'s &quot;shortcut&quot; work out?

Can't wait for all the details ...

Bob

LCBoniti

I'm also looking forward to more details - great start!

chatham

12perfectdays,

Loved your photos and now I look forward to your report and Bob's. They really are lovely and bring back so many memories.

Joan

CAPH52

Wonderful pictures, Dawn! Thanks for posting them! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

12perfectdays

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!

Crazy work hours has me sneaking in when I can this week and I hope to post more late tonight.

I.C.- We ended up driving the Healy pass twice! Driving was much easier this time around and although I did buy the OSI map for the shortcut Bill suggested we ended up going through Killarney instead. (If I ever do end up talking DH into moving to Ireland I think Killarney would be his choice) After 3 days of being on almost every road in Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen I really couldn't complain- just added it onto our next visit!

Thanks everyone!
Dawn

wojazz3

Great pictures. It's funny seeing pictures that I have the exact same shots. There were a few which amde me smile. The one of Gelndalough came out beautifully.

Which shortcut was it that I told you about?

Bill

Nuttela

Those are some great photos. I am curious what camera are you using to take them? They are wonderful.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip. My husband and I will be visiting in August. Thanks for taking the time to post.

jumper22

I see from the pics you did the dinner at Bunratty Castle. Did you feel it was worth the $$$? I will be in Bunratty for one night soon and have wondered whether we should do this or not.

celticmoon

Your lovely photos sure bring back memories. We travelled Ireland for 19 days a couple of years ago and we're trying to find a window of time to return.
Looking forward to your trip report.

12perfectdays

Hi everyone!

Wojazz-
The shortcut was through the Ballaghbeama Gap from Glengariff to Castlegregory. I am keeping the map and the info. for another visit as I would like to explore more of the Ring of Kerry on another visit. (and get in shape for a stab at Skellig!)

Had a great time at the Shores again and was sure to tell Annette you said hi- got a huge smile!

Nuttela-
We used two cameras. A Cannon 35mm Rebel Ti (I am a film junkie) and a Cannon Powershot A520- 4.0mp

There really was an even mix of both used in my posted pictures and I am by no means an expert. The key is to just take a ton of pictures (I posted 104 out of about 1,200 digital and 200 film)

Jumper22-
'kay, so some say its a touristy, dorky thing to do- well, call me a dorky tourist but I really had a great time and the food was unexpectedly delicious and plentiful. I felt it was totally worth the expense. (hint: bring some wet naps!)

12perfectdays

<b><u>A few tidbits I wanna mention</u></b>

<u>The weather</u>
was unbelievably perfect (don't hate me but we really would have liked a little more rain since we live in a desert). I asked every shopkeeper I saw for a slip on visor (yanno, those plastic ones) and after explaining, using my hands to show what I was trying to find was literally laughed at quite often- I gave up BUT when you are shopping in Dingle I am sure you can ask about &quot;visor girl&quot; and they will have another laugh!

I had packed a lightweight and mid weight rain jacket, 4 scarves and 3 hats AND carried on a coat! Determined to have variety in my pictures this time for sure!!!

Yeah so-we had one misty overcast day, one rain day, one 15 minute downpour and 15 days of perfect sunny weather- I even have a couple of pictures with my top on inside out just for some photo variety &lt;sigh&gt;

<u>The driving</u>
really seemed so much easier on DH this 2nd time around and I really had no problem with navigation- we found everything we were looking for and I really got the hang of the Irish road system.
For roundabouts...when in doubt &quot;2&quot; it out (always take the 2nd left at the roundabout if you aren't sure...worked for us, especially through Galway!)
For shortcuts...don't drive through a field, if it is West on the map, take the East fork- it'll twist back that way anyway and if a road looks like it will end in the ocean- it really ends in the ocean!
Honking in small towns is a toot hello to the neighbor, driving on sidewalks is okay, park in whatever direction you happen to be in and if it looks like a one way street-it usually is- in whatever direction you happen to be going in!

<u>Walking</u> is always uphill both ways- the parking lot is on the top of one hill and whatever you want to see is 3 miles over on the next hill. A 5 minute walk is really an &quot;Irish&quot; 5 minutes translates to an &quot;American&quot; 20 and if there is a way to add steps to anything they have added them (and the only way is UP).
Like a carrot at the end of a stick we took to chanting &quot;Guinness and a nap&quot; over and over as we climbed our way through Ireland- hey, it got us through!

<b>AND I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT!</b>

12perfectdays

<b><u>Yeah! We're in Bunratty!</u></b>
<u>Ashgrove House </u> <i> 25E pp for the small room</i>
Low Road, Bunratty, County Clare, www.ashgrovehouse.com
353 61 369 332 pps: Sheila &amp; Frank Tiernan

This is a more traditional B&amp;B as a home turned into accommodations and what a fun time we had! Sheila and Frank are a hoot and are so accommodating! I never stopped laughing. Since we were only staying one night I booked us in her smallest room with the private bath across the hall &amp; 2 single beds. It was spotlessly clean and overlooked her beautiful front yard/garden. Her other rooms are larger and some have separate entrances Breakfast was filling, coffee pot, cereals and fruit were help yourself and a traditional Irish breakfast was served with Sheila coming from the kitchen with a hot plate full of leftovers for someone to finish off. Ashgrove is a 20-minute walk from Bunratty Castle but Sheila dropped us off at the Folk Park entrance and the next morning interrupted Frank’s singing to have him drive us to the castle front for our bus to Killarney! We hadn’t asked and did not expect this- just another example of Irish hospitality!

<b>Day one</b>
We arrived in Shannon early afternoon and took a cab to Ashgrove House in Bunratty where we received a warm and hearty welcome, freshened up and were off to see the castle and Folk Park. Sheila had made reservations for us for the banquet at 5:30 and had told us that it would be best to get to the park by 3pm to tour the castle before they closed it to prep dinner- and then insisted on giving us a ride to the entrance! This turned out to be an adventure in itself as Sheila regaled us with a few tales and decided to show us some sights and stopped in the middle of the road to call a lone dog over to see if she knew him. We were dropped off in time and pretty much fell out of the car from laughter at her wit!

We enjoyed exploring Bunratty Castle and Folk Park- it was not crowded at all. The banquet was superb – great entertainment, really good food. Funny- as we were heading up to the dining area DH and another guest recognized each other- one of DH’s customers! We even ended up seated together at dinner- what are the odds? At the end of the evening a lullaby was played and 36 hours without sleep caught us struggling to keep our eyes open at the end but coffee and a beautiful evening stroll back to Ashgrove was the perfect nightcap to our first day in Ireland!


<i>Next: Killarney (Ross Castle House B&amp;B, Liam O’Connor &amp; tour bus woes!) </i>

xyz99

Dawn,

This is a great report (and really wonderful pictures), and I’ll follow it closely since we’ll be there next month – almost the same itinerary as yours, except Westport, Sligo and Dublin.

Glad you have a good experience with Dan Dooley, there was a bad review here not long ago, and I was wondering if I made a mistake booking with them. The poster was complaining about getting an old car and about bad customer service – what’s your experience?

I know everybody is different, but how long would you say the Bunratty Folk Park takes? A couple of hours? Half a day, longer?

Looking forward for the rest of it, please don’t spare the details! Thanks.

12perfectdays

Thanks xyz99!
For the Bunratty Folk Park I would say half a day. We had a couple of hours and I know we missed a little but the park was mostly empty so I do believe we got to see more than if there had been alot of people about. 4-6 hours would do it...three in a pinch.

Dan Dooley was wonderful and the customer service was perfect. We have realized that the smaller the airport the less choice of cars you will have- which is what I believe was the crux of our problem but they were very quick to fix it and we really made out!

Dawn

12perfectdays

<b><u>Killarney</u></b>

<u>Ross Castle Lodge B&amp;B </u> <i>35E pp</i>
Ross Road, Killarney http://killarneyb-and-b.com/RossPage1.htm
353 64 36942 pps: Dennis &amp; Rosaleen O’Leary
This was a more built for B&amp;B and everything was perfect! Our room was VERY large with a huge king bed as well as a single across the vast room along with a wall length chifforobe and seating area. The big bathroom was nice and had shelving to place your toiletries. Extremely clean and freshened daily. (other rooms vary in size but are unique and lovely and I could have stayed in any of the ones I had seen!)
Breakfast was great and you had your choice of times and items from a menu that you were asked to fill out sometime before bed. I always chose the traditional breakfast but there was also fruit compote, porridge, pancakes as well as a sideboard of juice, cereal and yogurt. Coffee was french press. The breakfast room and seating area was lovely and everything was grand- inside and out
Rosaleen is a gem and is willing to set up whatever itinerary or tour to your convenience and each room comes armed with a handmade book of things to do morning, noon and nighttime pubs too. She spent some time with us and we had a grand time!

<b>Day 2</b>
We hopped on the bus in front of Bunratty Castle and headed to Killarney via Tralee and let off at Farranfore Airport to pick up our Dan Dooley rental- an “automatic” Ford Fiesta. A cute little car that just wants to be an automatic but must have been born of mixed parental heritage (I recommend getting a Nissan Micra if possible!) Customer service was great!

Headed into Killarney and decided to stop at Mucross and check out the Lake and Gardens since the weather was so perfect. We walked a few trails and had tea in the caf&eacute;. I would highly recommend this stop particularly with kidlets as there is so much that can be done there for all to enjoy, even on a busy day.

Off to Ross Castle Lodge where we met up with some friends of ours who were following the itinerary from my 1st trip. (We really had not planned on that originally and only as we were both making our itineraries did we realize that we would be two nights in the same place at the same time!) That evening we were off to O’Riain’s for some great craic and homemade Banoffee Pie. We stopped just down the road to another pub to watch some set dancing (cannot believe I forgot to write the name in my journal) and had an early evening as our friends had their 12 yr. old niece along (although we were able to keep her in the dancing section of the pub until 9:45pm and quietly snuck out as we knew the pub was being very generous in letting us stay)

<b>Day 3</b>
We were having such a good time as a group that we really wanted to spend the day together BUT since DH and I had already done the Gap of Dunloe tour and just did not want to re-do the exact tour we had already done we all switched around and I conceded to tour the ROK by bus. It was very inexpensive at 20E per person and we were picked up right at the door of the B&amp;B. The tour stopped at the Bog Village/ Red Fox Inn between Killorglin and Glenbeigh, lunch at Cahersiveen (DH and I walked across to the Spar and had a Pastie overlooking the water rather than a set meal in a set pub for an outrageously set price). We also stopped at an overlook on the Coomakesta Pass and in Sneem for shopping and ice cream and a last stop at Ladies View. All other sights were through the windows as we moved along. This is most definitely NOT my thing and we plan on exploring more of ROK (and the Skelligs) on our own another time. The best part of this day was sharing our time with our friends!

After our tour we were dropped off city center and used the time to find a Vodaphone store and pick up our SIM chip for 10E, stop at the internet caf&eacute; and hit Burger King for a very large soda with ICE and the largest coffee they made and dinner again at O’Riains!

We were offered the opportunity to pre-purchase tickets for the Liam O’Connor concert whilst we were on the tour bus and headed to The Grand at 8pm that night. He is an amazing accordion player and the venue was wonderfully intimate. A late night walk back to Ross Castle House had everyone pulling out their flashlights (boy- when my friends said they were going to copy our original trip- they really meant it- right down to the flashlights!)
<b>Beara Peninsula- Glengariff</b>

<u>Magannagan Farm B&amp;B</u> <i> 27Euro pp </i>
Glengariff, County Cork www.bearawaybb.com/index.html
353 27 633 61 pps: Bridget O’Shea
This really was a trad. farmhouse B&amp;B about 2/3rd of a mile down a tiny Irish road and quietly nestled in the upper valley full of mountains and scenery all around. As you round the corner and the house comes into view you feel as if you have fallen into a Little Golden Book fairytale! Bridget is a wonderful hostess and quintessential Irish grandma and fresh coffee and sweet bread awaited us upon our arrival! We really enjoyed our stay in this quiet spot of beauty. Yes, our room was a small bedroom with built in drawers and cupboards and a sink on one wall and a closet like toilet/shower addition on another. A double bed, 2 night stands and a chair are all we had for furniture but would I stay again- YES! It was spotlessly clean, refreshed each day, towels fresh from the sun and had a picture perfect view from a lovely huge window that took up all of one wall. There is a common room with a television and we did utilize this room to relax in each night and a garden nook with a picnic table that we could relax in and take in the bucolic countryside. This b&amp;b really fell straight from a storybook and I enjoyed it! Breakfast was served with a view and was traditional Irish. Our coffee, cereal, breads and all were served to us by Bridget each morning, including homemade brown bread and flutes of creamy Irish butter ready to spread!

<b>Day 4</b>
Another perfect day of sunny skies had us setting off from Killarney for Glengariff via Gleninchaquin Park (many thanks to Samantha Brown for that one!) We took the N71 through Moll’s Gap and Kenmare to the R571 and kept our eyes peeled for signs- turned left and continued to drive and drive and drive. The road got smaller and smaller and each time we thought we were totally lost another little sign would appear but I gotta tell ya- there is no place to pull over if another vehicle is comin’ your way!

We finally found it and headed to the house to be greeted by the owner and pay our 5E per person for the hike. We were talked into the 90 minute waterfall hike and headed out armed with my trusty walking stick, water and hiking boots. 90 minutes later we made it up the 2nd hill and saw the next mountain we needed to climb before getting to the 3rd mountain where the waterfall was and the ridge with the other two mountains we needed to climb down to come in from the other side. Fugettaboutit! (We wondered why a few people seemed to be coming back down as we were heading up). This is where DH began his chant of Guinness and a nap and took to calling each mountain Mt. Sonufab**ch and giving me the stink eye! We wandered off the path, took a few pictures of the view and headed back down the way we came, came across the baby path through the sheep fields and took that one as we crawled back to the house for tea, scones and ham&amp;butter sandwiches! It really was a fun day and I would recommend it- not to be missed! (just double the times you are told for the hikes and triple the difficulty of the trails if you are from the USA)

Leaving Gleninchaquin we continued on to Glengariff via the Healy Pass which we had to ourselves and DH likened to Autotopia in Disneyland…complete with the zoom-zoom sounds we made as we rounded each and every curve laughing our heads off! This would also be where we realized that the power port in our little Fiesta was broken and we would not be able to use the converter to power our camera batteries and iPod…YIKES- what to do???

Welcomed at Magannagin Farm with sweetbreads and tea, settled in and headed off to Casey’s Hotel &amp; Bar for great pub food at really, really reasonable prices! Fantastic Beef &amp; Guinness Pie with chips and a salad for DH and I had Bacon wrapped chicken and stuffing with chips and a salad, Guinness and a pint of milk all for 28E! An early night was needed and we headed back to the B&amp;B to relax and get ready for the next day.

<b>Day 5</b>
Light fog began our 10:30am start of a clockwise tour of Beara where we stopped in Castletownbere for the nearest ATM and on to Dursey Island. Unfortunately the cable car was closed for repairs but we did walk around a little and really had a good time getting there as we goggled at how far out people lived. I just envision “Honey, gonna go pick up a pack of cigs at the store” and like 3 hours later the person gets home. Some of these houses are really OUT THERE! We continued on and most of the small towns were pretty vacant as kids were in school and people were working. Allihies looked like a movie lot, Eyeries and the costal route to Ardgroom with it’s twisting narrow roads, blind corners and hairpin turns was beautiful and worth the drive! It was really neat to see kids playing in the street with no fear- just playing and having fun like the good ‘ol days here in L.A. We again headed down the Healy Pass and the fog was rolling in right behind us as we headed back to Glengariff and a repeat of dinner at Casey’s.

<i>stay tuned: Mizen, Sheep’s Head and walking into the middle of a funeral</i>

xyz99

Dawn,

Looking for more…for now, I just realize your title, 8 peninsulas – please list them, we’ll try to top that

Now, about that Ford Fiesta…that’s the same care we will most likely get (we’re also renting from Shannon). Tell me more about it, what was the problem with it, what didn’t you like? Is the Nissan Micra in the same ‘F’ class?

When you did the Gap of Dunloe, which company did you use, do you remember? Where you happy with them? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for the details on Gleninchaquin – the hike seems more than what I had in mind (I expected something about ½ hr long) so we’ll keep it as a ‘maybe’, but we’ll probably stick to driving Beara that day. Thanks and, as I said before….looking for more.

LCBoniti

I also appreciate this information, especially regarding Beara Penninsula. We had thought to stay in Kenmare, but I will now consider Glengarriff and the Magannagan Farm B&amp;B. Sounds like our kind of place.

12perfectdays

<b>LCBoniti:</b>
We really did enjoy Magannagan Farm and DH and I both agree we would stay there again, just remember that the rooms are on the small-ish side. Another great thing is that right out of their driveway you can turn left and take the scenic &quot;Maganagan walk&quot; (we had plans to do this but I was too tuckered out!). Also, the Blue Pool walk is just in town an ideal for an after dinner stroll through some scenic lookouts and woodlands.
I copied this from the Cork Guide
http://www.cork-guide.ie/glengarriff/garfwalk.htm

<i> No.8 MAGANNAGAN WALK
Travel approximately 1.5 miles from village on Castletownbere road, passing entrance to caravan sites and take side road on right at Pine Cottage. Directly ahead of you is Sugar Loaf Mountain, with turf bogs and forestry at both sides. Follow tarred road bearing leftwards all the time. The road deteriorates until eventually it joins with another tar road to lead you back to the main road. It is also possible to continue directly ahead and find the old road which was part of the route from Glengarriff to Adrigole. This runs by Magannagan stream and can be located on some ordnance survey maps. Distance on by roads - 2.5 miles.</i>

<b>xyz99</b>
'kay- here goes on the Peninsulas...
Mizen, Sheep's Head, Beara,Iveragh, Dingle, Sky(Clifden), Rinvyle, and Corraun (Achill)

As for the car- the Nissan Micra is in the same class and was the rental we had on the 1st visit, I loved that little car so much (very roomy on the inside/very small looking on the outside) that I want one to drive here in L.A. It was a 4hp but it had a little git up to it.

The Ford Fiesta we picked up was a tad worn- one hint we learned...it does not start unless it is in neutral! It has a stick shift that can go back and forth from automatic to stick as needed. We paid extra to NOT need it and unfortunately there was absolutely no &quot;oomph&quot; to go up hill, let alone pass even the slowest horse and the ride was really bumpy

The leg room and boot was fine- plenty of room and a sun roof for extra air (even with all of the sunny weather we were fine without air) BUT to our chagrin- the power port was broken! After frying my battery charger last time we thought we were set and got a car power port converter that would allow us to charge anything that plugged in whilst we were driving.

I think that if you are picking up from Shannon or Dublin this will be much less of a problem- suffice it to say that Dan Dooley customer service was more than accommodating and with one small change to our itinerary and one wasted hour we were VERY happy to have them help us in Shannon as we passed by on our way to Oughterard.

For the Gap of Dunloe we used Dero's tours and were very happy!
http://www.derostours.com/gapofdunloe.html

I did take I.C.'s advice on this tour- we ended at Ross Castle with no time for a tour so we sent the Dero's bus back without us and had a great tour of the castle (the best one, although that could be attributed to our guide) and then walked back to town. If you are staying near Ross Castle your tour can (most likely)be set up with the B&amp;B to run backwards and begin at Ross Castle- either way, be sure to build in enough time to check the castle out.

Something we are gonna do next time that you may be interested in:
http://www.adopt-a-sheep.ie/visit.html

and as for Gleninchaquin- there are other shorter trails that you can take and the area is so very lovely- stop if you can- since it is kinda off the beaten path you really may enjoy the pace and the peace!
http://www.gleninchaquin.com/

<i>Back soon with Funeral details, road bowling and our new rental- and wait'll you hear about the Guinness rolling in Cong- and they say nothing happens there!</i>
Dawn