If you couldn’t guess from the beautiful green landscape and the blue, craggy sea, we are in Ireland. Spent our first few days in Abbeleix, which is pronounced Abbeyleeks, as I belatedly discovered. Using it as a quiet base, Ross did some riding, and together we explored Kilkenny castle and its Medieval mile, as well as the Rock of Cashel. We moved to our current digs at Lissigivenny, near Killarney, after driving through the Valley of Aherlowe, all very picturesque. We spent yesterday exploring Bantry, Mizen Head (pictured) and The ring of Beara. It was such a full day, that at 7pm, we were still travelling home, so we stopped at Kenmare for a quick pub dinner. Mizen Head is amazing, and you can see Fastnet Island and it’s lighthouse from it. While we were there, a small group of seals were frolicking in the waters under the bridge. At the tip of Beara peninsula is Dursey Island, which can only be reached by a cable car (the only one in Ireland) or ferry. Until very recently, farmers were allowed to transport stock in the cable car. Can’t think why it has been banned ..... certainly another spectacular site, with the water roiling between the island and mainland and the twilight.

Today we went to Dingle, to play in the tourist traffic. You can pick who is from a country where they drive on the right - they hug the very edge of the road, and often struggle with the gears - we speak from personal experience ...... Combined with huge tourist buses on tiny little roads, it makes for mayhem. We stopped to look at a prehistoric beehive house settlement. The canny farmers on whose land this edifice was constructed were charging 3 euro each to view it. The construction was impressive, and was probably based on original discoveries, but we doubt it had survived intact for quite that long. We resisted the temptation to explore any further such wonders - and there were plenty! We made it to the end of the peninsular and climbed the Hill to overlook the Blasket Islands. Ferociously windy, but worth the effort. Headed back to Killarney, and had a brief walk around Ross Castle, before returning to the accommodation to sort more washing and clean the mud off the bike ......