Kissing the Blarney, a Lot of Balony- But a Great Day

We left Dublin and headed SSW through the midlands of Ireland, heading for the Rock of Cashel located in County Tipperary in the island of Ireland.

Our Dublin hotel- The Royal Marine

The complex has a character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture found anywhere in Europe.

Rock of Cashel castle

While few remnants of the early structures survive; the majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Having tea and scones at the farmhouse

We toured the existing structures, then boarded our buses and headed for a working sheep farm for a sheep dog demonstration.

We arrived at the farm and were invited into the farmhouse for tea and scones which were absolutely delicious.

The dogs doing their job

The farmhouse, built in 1790, was akin to an English manor style home situated on a large farm. It was a very quaint and beautiful home and one we definitely enjoyed visiting,

All herded up

We then headed outside to watch some sheep dogs, or border collies, demonstrate their herding abilities. We spoke with the farm owner who provided a lot of information about raising his sheep herds which were not raised for their wool, but rather for their meat.

Wondering why they were chased

We very much enjoyed this stop and the hospitality of the hosts, even though they were very likely paid by the tour company to provide this event.

We left the farm and returned to the motorway heading for Cork, Ireland, where the Blarney Castle is located.

The Blarney Castle

The castle dates from before 1200 and is home to the famous Blarney Stone. The castle is now a partial ruin and at the very top lies the Stone of Eloquence or the Blarney Stone. We had to climb a narrow staircase to get to the top of the castle.

Tower by the castlke

The climb took almost an hour due to the number of tourists and the time-consuming process of kissing the stone. Tourists visiting Blarney Castle have to hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence.

Looking for the enemy

The positioning for most tourists is a real struggle. We finally made it to the stone where Frank, Jane, and Capt. Larry successfully kissed the stone, but Carol Ann, due to the unnerving position one had to assume to carry out the procedure, elected to blow it a kiss and move on.

Shot from atop the castle

After kissing the stone, we overheard some people talking about staff members peeing on the stone after hours when the tourists are gone! We certainly hope that is not true, but it really doesn’t matter much.

Looking down from the top

Everyone’s picture is taken while they are kissing the stone, and these pictures are available for purchase. We descended to the gift shop, and Jane decided that she had to buy her pictures.

Blarney Castle from the top

As she was checking out, Capt. Larry felt a hand grip his arm and a female voice say, “Larry?” He turned to find Sue and Jim Birke in the crowd. Jim was the Chief of the Physical Therapy Department and worked with Capt. Larry at the National Hansen’s Disease Center. They would run together at noon on a daily basis and were much more than casual acquaintances.

Jane kisses the stone!

To run into each other at the Blarney Castle was a distant long shot to say the least. We caught up with each other for about 20 minutes until the damned bus schedules dictate that we go our separate ways.

Amazing encounter!

We did, however, learn that their tour was taking them to Killarney which was where we were headed, so it might be possible to run into them again. After we left Jim and Sue, we toured the castle gardens with Frank and Carol Ann, before boarding our bus.

We arrived to our hotel, the Killarney Avenue Hotel, and got checked in. We met up with Frank and Carol Ann for a mini-happy hour and browsed through some nearby woolen mill shops. Capt. Larry found a really neat Irish woven sweater that we figure is the McHugh Clan weave (each clan has a distinctive weave). We had dinner with Frank and Carol Ann at an Italian restaurant, and we ended up at a singing Irish pub which we left to singing "When the Saints Go Marching In." We retired to our room where Jane took a Jacuzzi bath while Capt. Larry had a couple of drinks while recording his blog notes for the day. It was an interesting day to say the least.