British Isles 'Cation 2017: DAY 11: Around The Ring of Kerry

Observation of the day: Sheep rule in Ireland. And while cows seem to be a close second, sheep are definitely winning the race here – 6.2 million PEOPLE in all of Ireland (including northern) yet 7.0 million SHEEP.

Tuesday we met up with Gerrit of Kerry Experience Tours (www.kerryexperiencetours.com) He picked us up at our B&B promptly at 9:30am to set off on our adventure – touring the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is one of Ireland’s most traveled circuits, providing incredible panoramic vistas of Ireland.

We chose Gerrit for this journey as neither JM nor I were brave enough to tackle this narrow path on our own, especially as many tour buses also travel upon it. Going with Gerrit allowed both of us to enjoy all the sights, plus Gerrit knew many back roads and paths that helped us avoid the pesky buses and best of all, the pesky tourists!

The Irish countryside is breathtaking, dotted with many old ruins and best of all for us, farms featuring cows, sheep and goats and more sheep! Below you will see many of the breathtaking views plus of course, the furry beasts. Gerrit did a terrific job of discussing Ireland’s past history and current challenges. We loved his stories, especially as he has had the pleasure of chauffeuring a variety of well-known celebs like Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Tom Hanks and Sean Connery. The first three were apparently nice, the fourth, disappointingly, not so much.

All in all, it was a nice day. We made it back at 5PM and headed out for an early dinner at a local pub. It was fab meal and I’m now on the hunt for a recipe for Beef & Guinness pie. We had intentions of listening to Irish music, but our server said they didn’t start until 8:30PM & even she seemed dubious that would be exactly what time they’d show up. Apparently, the Irish make up their own timetables & we were too tired to stick around.

Wednesday we head out eastward to Cobh, the site the Titanic left from, and then to Midleton to the home of the Jameson Distillery.

Girls have called it a day but EM reports 9,514 steps despite riding in the van for most of the day! We made the pit stops count.

Gerrit, a Dutch-Irish character, was born in Ireland, but raised for many years in Indonesia as his dad worked for Shell.
Here, he shows our troop how we will travel the ring.

We loved, loved, loved all the sheep. These guys were just as curious about us as we were about them.

And we, of course, love, love, love all the lambs.

Stretching his legs after a nice nap in the thrush.

Not India, Ireland. These cows were just hanging.

We enjoyed seeing the herding dogs "in action." Upon his master's commands,
this guy was assuring no sheep would go rogue on his watch.

Beautiful scenery everywhere.

This local entrepreneur knew how to please a visiting crowd. Daisy hangs out on Betsy's back
while he sells homemade Bridget Crosses made out of thrush. Needless to say, we loved this & supported his cleverness.

Daisy was incredibly sweet, but really loved JM. They know a good man.

This yellow shrub, Furze, dots the countryside everywhere. The farmers, however,
don't like it as they consider it a garbage plant as it's full of thistles & no beast will eat it. But it sure makes the
countryside really pretty.

One of our favorite stops was to check out a "circle fort" dating from the 500-800AD. No one knows
exactly how they were used but they seem to be an enclosure to keep a family or maybe livestock safe.