On the Rocky Road to Dublin

Well today went from mauzy to pouring rain and back again, a couple of times! It was a perfect day to prove if you didn't venture out becasue it was raining, you sure would miss a lot! We decided to try driving the Slea Head Loop Trail on The Wild Atlantic Way, since hiking didn't seem advisable. We started with a hearty breakfast at our B&B and then started the loop that was literally outside our door. Though we suspected there wouldn't be much scenery nor exploring, we hoped that driving along the loop trail with our Rick Steves travel guide would fill our morning. The peninsula is home to 50,000 sheep, so I thought I would be entertained enough. Little did we realize! Traveling along the fuchsia lined roadways bursting with tropical colour is lovely. When we spotted a sandy beach in the town of Ventry we decided to head off the road to check it out. At this point there was not much more than a thick mist so we took our chances with a walk on the beach. We explored ti...

Heading out of Limerick today, again toward the western coast. This time the destination of the next couple of days is the Dingle Peninsula. Once again driving through lush countryside I am the entertainment for the trip as they laugh at how excited I can get over a field of sheep. Fair perhaps, but come on...those fat and fluffy creatures covering lush green pastures...in fields designated by hand build rock walls...watched over by stone cottages, ocassionally thatched stone cottages...all nesting between the Kerry Mountains and the sea...who is not squealing in delight!! Our destination for the evening is a B&B along the waterfront in Dingle. The view from our window is fantasic, even in the rain. Never one to be deterred by weather, it's not long before we are exploring Dingle's charms. In Newfoundland we would call this a mauzy day! Speaking of Newfoundland, there is a sign here in town apparently, we haven't yet seen it, that claims that the next parish over is Bos...

Actually, it isn't a long way to Tipperary at all! It's really just down the road a ways. We have learned that everything here in Ireland "is just a short ways - maybe 5 minutes". In fact we have dicovered that has very little to do with distance, nor the time it takes to get there! We suspect these helpful guidelines that are offered by many people, many times refers to "as the crow flies". Not very helpful for us though! However today the "just a short ways" held true. My family comes from Tipperary and although I was armed with little more than "a farm in Donohill" we set out this morning to see what we could find. Finding Donohill was pretty easy if you don't count the narrow, hedge-lined road to get there. When we arrived we started at the cemetry and quickly found a family plot with HORAN written at the top and a list of first names that left little doubt that we were likely in the right place. The grounds keeper confirmed that ...