DAY 1 – SHANNON TO KENMARE
-- This is the farthest distance I would again drive on Day 1.
-- Stayed at Sheen Falls Lodge. Grounds are beautiful. Common areas are very nice. Our room (with view of falls) and Spa were both beginning to look tired.

Day 2 – BEARA PENINSULA / CONSTANT RAIN
-- Beara was recommended by hotel for being a shorter (easily do-able in a day) but equally attractive version of ROK and Dingle.
-- Stopped at various ruins and at water’s edge.
-- Stopped at good gift shop near Adrigole. Highly recommend. Shop keeper recommended place for lunch.
-- Lunched at McCarthy’s in Castletownbere. Highly recommend.
-- Stopped at SW Gallery in Casteletownbere. Highly recommend. (Wind, heavy rain and thick pile of seaweed made the short walk to her gallery on a pier an adventure.)
-- Dinner at Sheen Falls (Oscars). It was pretty good.
-- Asked hotel about Day 3 weather forecast. Told to expect more of the same. Told we should consider staying in and reading (etc.) on Day 3. Checked many web-sites and saw rain forecasted for days. Panicked. Posted FODOR TALK question asking for suggestions as to what to do.

DAY 3 – SEARCHED FOR SUNSHINE
-- Checked FODOR TALK for replies; both appreciative and embarrassed by feedback.
-- Checked-out of hotel (one day early) to search for sunshine.
-- Stopped to tour Bantry House. Very interesting, b/c it’s falling apart. I’ve never toured a building in that sort of condition.
-- The sun appeared while in Bantry : ) and stayed-out during the entire, beautiful drive to Kinsale.
-- Arrived in Kinsale at 7 PM with no reservations. Looked at several dismal, extremely overpriced hotels and stayed in the least dumpy one. It smelled of mold.
-- Ate a very disappointing, pricey meal at Hobey’s.

DAT 4 – WOKE TO A FLOODED KINSALE
-- Cold rain, flooded streets, and closed museums and shops caused us to leave Kinsale by noon.
-- Did see the Charles Fort on the way out of town. I recommend it. It has a nice exhibit on the history of Irish involvement in the British military.
-- Drove through a very rainy Cork city.
-- Stopped at Blarney Woolen Mills and bought and shipped Belleek (best selection of trip).
-- Continued on to Mallow (where it had hardly rained all day) and checked into Longueville.
-- WONDERFUL. Couldn’t have been more happy with Longueville. EXTREMELY attentive staff. Lucked-out by being the only guests. Spent the evening curled-up in front of the drawing room fireplace. Loved it.

DAY 5 – WOKE TO RAIN. HEADED FOR CLIFFS OF MOHER.
-- Still raining as we approached the Cliffs parking lot. But then, just as we were walking-up to see the view, the clouds broke and we had gorgeous blue skies for seeing the Cliffs.
-- Drove around the Burren, which was somewhat interesting.
-- Since we were still feeling burned by the meal in Kinsale, we had Chinese for dinner at the Emperor in Lahinch. It was okay.
-- Checked into Moy House. Another perfectly wonderful place.

DAY 6 – ON TO GALWAY. RAINING AGAIN.
-- Intended but forgot to stop at the Burren Perfumery for bar soap. The Moy House stocks their bathrooms with these bar soaps, and I actually really liked them. (And I’m usually completely happy with dial or dove, or whatever. It’s odd that I’m still kicking myself for forgetting to buy this sort of thing.)
-- Galway was not much fun. Too much like a college campus -- a cold, wet, grungy college campus.
-- Moved on to Clifden.
-- Change of scenery was fun. Became mountainous. Very beautiful.
-- Checked into The Quay House. Quirky place. Quirky location.

DAY 7 – KYLEMORE ABBEY. MOSTLY DRY AND PARTLY CLOUDY
-- Interesting place. Worth the visit.
-- Drove to Leenane to see the fjord.
-- Stopped at Avoca (sp?)-- big, fun gift shop.
-- Drove back to Clifden and drove/walked the Sky Road at sunset—very worth while. Our best pictures were taken up there.

DAY 8 – DEPART FOR HOME – SUNNY
-- Flight was at 1 PM out of Shannon. We left Cliffden at 8:30 and arrived at Shannon at 10:45. It was a Sunday, so the roads were clear.
-- Returning the car (hertz) took a long time – they don’t have a quick drop-off like in the states.

Final Thoughts
-- The Blue Book was the best resource.
-- Glad we didn’t rented a tiny car (we instead had something like a camry). This was a driving vacation.
-- In the future, I’ll book city vacations in the off-season and country vacations in the summer.

Thanks for everyone's help with planning this trip.
--Kate1

Thanks so much for the report . . . especially the comment about booking "city" vacations during the "off season."

Hi Kate:

Sorry about some of those resposes you got when you checked from Ireland. They embarassed me too. You had two notes and I left one about trying to get to Inchaquin Falls. Doesn't sound like you hit them, but they are a nice choice.

Ireland is a little odd in that rainy weather can happen any time so you need to be prepared. May is one of the driest months and we've had times there that were all sun and others with day after day of rain. We usually go in May. It's just the luck of the draw.

That was cery fast time from Clifden to Shannon. Congrats.

Not sure what the "Blue Book" is.

Bill

Goodness...I'm sorry you had so very much rain. It's one thing to expect rain every day while you're in Ireland and another to have torrential storms every day. I'm so glad the skies cleared up for your arrival at the Cliffs, and that you had some other spots where weather was decent enough for you to enjoy.

Hopefully your next trip--Ireland or elsewhere--will be drier!

oopsy

Bill,

The Blue Book: http://www.irelands-blue-book.ie/

I guess you didn't stop at the ITB shop in Lahinch. You would have mentioned it if you had. The last time we were there they had 30% off on everything! We bought 5 (count 'em, FIVE) Aran woolen Irish Fishermen's sweaters there: 49-Euro each, less 15-Euro each (discount) and we got about 4-Euro VAT rebate for each at Shannon duty free. I posted this news before; sorry if you missed it.

Kate,

Excellent trip report. Thanks so much for coming back and posting all about it. Bummer about the weather but you had some good days and made the best of the rainist ones - not much else you can do, I'm afraid.

http://www.burrenperfumery.com/ for all your soapy needs.

Cheers,

Wendy

Ah, Elegant accommodation and fine dining. No wonder I didn't know about it. B&B and Pub grub for me.

Bill

Kate1, Thanks for telling us how the rest of your trip went. I'll never forget your SOS from Kenmare. Glad you had some good times. I did get to the perfumery and got soaps and ended up giving them away when I got home because they were perfect gifts. I'm going to follow Waffles advice and get some on-line. Great report. My best, Joan

Kate - I read your help posts and really felt for you! We spent a week in the Czech republic in nearly torrential rain. In September - you can never anticipate the weather. Thanks for letting us know how it all turned out.