So now we are in Ireland. The first morning I went for a walk to the beach, very like a NZ beach – lovely, no development or deck chairs and lots of sand – although make that a NZ beach in winter, the Irish mist made it a bit hard to view much through my glasses. Gus stayed in camp because we had free internet and he decided to listen to the test (NZ/Aussie) instead – I think he’s been suffering withdrawals from lack of sport to listen to/watch. On my walk I’m sure I also discovered the door to the secret garden!
Today we drove to New Ross and had a tour of the replica ‘famine ship’ The Dunbrody. It’s an exact replica of a ship that sailed from here to New York and Quebec on a regular basis. It was originally just a freight ship but when the famine came and people were desperate; they crudely converted it with rows of bunks. Then for the return journey they just ripped the bunks out and it was a cargo ship again. There were about 160 people on board but sometimes up to 320; the ship was only about 160 feet long and the steerage area was only about 2/3 of that. Each family had one bunk – about the size of a double bed with up to six people living in it for 4-6 weeks. They were only allowed on deck for ½ an hour a day, to cook their food and empty their buckets (toilets).
The first class passengers and crew were a bit better off, with cabins and allowed on deck whenever they chose, as well as much better food. If there was a storm the hatches were bolted and the steerage passengers could be shut down below for up to a week – no way to cook their food or empty buckets. They couldn’t wash clothes except in sea water and had very little food.
This basket was the allowance of a family for a week, some brought extra food with them but not all could afford to. Often their fare was paid by the landowner to get them off his land so he could graze sheep, much less trouble. An average of 50% died on the way to America.
Tonight we’re staying at Tramore. We walked down to the beach (in our jackets) and were amazed to see lots of people swimming – although we did notice that a majority were wearing wetsuits. The beach reminded us almost of Malta with the rocks that people were jumping off into the water – although here they’ve manmade some as the natural ones are pretty rough – and the temperature is a tad different!
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, so really enjoyed the extremely scenic drive from Annestown to Bunmahon. We had to keep stopping every few kms to wander round and photograph the pretty coves. I asked some locals if the weather is usually like this and they laughed and said “No, today’s our summer so enjoy it!” The summer lasted till lunchtime - ah well.
We came around a corner near Bunmahon and saw some ruins – Gus immediately said he thought he recognised them from a movie he’d seen. I was a bit doubtful... Anyway it turned out he was right – the movie was “The McKenzie Break”. It was an old copper mine and in the movie a Bedford truck was pushed into the big hole behind it and immediately burst into flames – apparently the poor old truck is still there. A group of Russians were trying to escape from Ireland but what they were doing here and why they were trying to escape he can’t remember.
Looking at my travel folder this morning I realised too, that we are near the ancestral Smyth home – my mother’s grandfather emigrated from this area as an 18 year old and was shipwrecked off the Kapiti Coast in NZ. I hope he didn’t travel steerage! It was probably a steam ship by then anyway? Not sure on this... Anyway he came from a little village called Ballindangin, SW of Mitchelstown in County Cork. I had seen a photograph of the house but didn’t really know where to find it. I talked to an elderly man who was very interested that we were from NZ and had an ancestor from around here but he didn’t know the house. He said “Ah well, I suppose it would’ve been a while ago now” (but with a lovely Irish accent).
While we were in the area we went and saw the Mitchelstown Cave (no photos allowed again,damn, how's a girl supposed to keep a blog!). The cave was discovered in 1833 – I can remember this date because the young woman guiding us called it 18 tirty tree, made me smile (on the inside) every time. They’ve been taking guided tours since that time but people used to have to climb down a wooden ladder and squeeze through small gaps and use torches (in the early days candles) to navigate. Thankfully we’re far too soft for that now and they’ve put in concrete steps and electric lighting. It was a great cave, lots of stalactites and stalagmites and very natural – not too touristy. In the third chamber they have a stage where they regularly have concert singers perform.
On our travels today we also went through a corner of the County of Tipperary (not Tipperar contrary to what it says here) but we managed to refrain from breaking into song, it didn’t even seem a Long Way – ha ha. FYI of any youngsters reading this, there's a very old song called ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’.
We intended to stop in Cork City but couldn’t find any parking for the Enterprise – all the carparks we saw were in buildings and too low for us. So we carried on to Glengarriff and started on the Ring of Beara (a circuit of a peninsular). We stayed in a camping ground lined with cabbage trees! In the distance in this photo is Bear Island, you can get a ferry to it – we didn’t, it looked pretty barren.
The area we stayed in seems to be a bit of a boat graveyard, we saw several in various stages of decay. Lovely bays though as you can see.
We found another ring of standing stones - I was brave enough to touch the big stone for those of you who've read Diana Gabaldon, there was no humming and the stone was cold, but there was a crack of thunder just as I touched it - made me jump and Gus shake his head at my madness.
The west coast of the peninsula, in particular, was very barren and stark but also had a beautiful, craggy coastline.
Right at the end of the peninsula is a gondola that goes back and forth all day and is the main transport to Dursey Island – apparently it’s the only gondola in the world that goes to an island. It was very windy and pretty cold there so we decided not to visit that island either...
We also travelled around the Ring of Kerry (over 2 days) – this has a better road so is far more popular especially with the coaches but we didn’t think it was as spectacular as the Beara peninsula but still some great views. We went out for my birthday dinner to a restaurant on the beach. By the way thank you for all the birthday wishes and even poems from my work colleagues. Gus gave me flowers - well a clump of Ragwort complete with roots attached... The restaurant advertised seafood and steak so we thought it would suit both of us. I ordered ½ a lobster and Gus a steak. The waitress looked embarrassed as she admitted that they were out of lobster and beef... So I asked for mussels, no out of those too – hmm, this was fast starting to look like an episode of Fawlty Towers, it was tempting to ask what they did have, but that may have spoiled the game – I ended up with fish & chips and Gus with a steak sandwich – I guess they had enough off cuts for that. We heard someone else order crab but that was off too!
Tonight we’re staying near Killarney, we drove to a big homestead nearby and went for a bike ride around the grounds. It has a beautiful lake at the bottom of the lawn, every home should have one. The weather has been pretty wet so far as Ireland is so famous for. Mostly it’s torrential and then sunny, then showery again all in the space of an hour. You think ‘Oh good, it’s fining up’; then 5 minutes later it’s pouring again. We were woken this morning by a magnificent thunderstorm at 5.30am!
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