Another tip from Chi was that there was a chocolate factory in the back of beyond on the ring of Kerry. Without the recommendation, we would have driven straight past it none the wiser. Based in Ballinskelligs, it looks out onto the Skellig Islands and the puffins that live there. Skelligs chocolate (http://www.skelligschocolate.com) is a small little place, but has a cafe which serves six different flavours of hot chocolate, and lots of sweet treats. The real draw is that, for nothing at all, they let you sample all of the chocolate made on site, and were very welcoming to Betsy, providing unlimited chocolate buttons whilst we tried some of their boozy offerings. Their generosity worked - we spent big in the shop!!

The journey out was farcical. We were driving the southern section of The Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a very famous tourist trail, touted as the providing some of most picturesque and scenic views in Ireland, if not the world*. (*after The Hills of Donegal of course!) The rain started in earnest as we turned left out of Kenmare; before long the mist had draped itself over the landscape. Mid August, and we had the windscreen wipers going full wack and our fog lights on; visibility was about 5 meters in front of us and about 2 meters above us. I repeat, it is the height of summer! We laughed when we saw a placard for a hotel that had 'the most beautiful view in Ireland!' It did provide a very atmospheric way to listen to The Lord of the Rings audio book that Ed had downloaded for our trip.

However, Kerry had the last laugh; the weather had blown over by the time we were coming back, and they weren't wrong about the scenery. It was stop the car, get out and gawp beautiful. I'll let our photos do the talking on this one as we had to retract our disparaging remarks from earlier.

Chatting about coming back, after the chocolate pit stop, we followed the road round to Portmagee for a late lunch. The road sign showing a right angled triangle with a car sitting on the hypotenuse side should have been a red flag! In the driving equivalent of Alpe d'huez, the 8km to Portmagee was exclusively uphill with tight hair pin turns. The coastal view was pretty special but we were mighty pleased to make it to the top safe. Ed really earned his chowder in the pub!

Thursday morning was designated a chill out morning, visiting the playground and mooching around Kenmare before heading to the airport in the afternoon to collect Ann, Ed's mum, who was joining us for 5 days. The morning proved to be a bit of stress. First off, Betsy took a tumble down the stairs. Thank Goodness she was completely fine if a little shocked. It was a little (unwelcome) window into the coming years as she (and then Patrick) become more adventurous and independent. The second stress came when we were led to believe that the taxi Ed had organised for his mum had no record of the booking and no cars available. Many phone calls and missed calls to Ann later it was revealed that the taxi had arrived 20 minutes early for the pick up and Ann was safely at Luton airport with time to spare!

We collected Ann from Kerry airport - which took Ann by surprise with how small and quiet it was! We drove back via Killarney. We had had a sneak preview of this road on Tuesday with Bon and Andrew, but it was well worth returning to. The road winds around mountains and valleys filled with lakes. I know I keep repeating myself, but it really is stunning and well worth visiting. We pulled in at Ladies View, a viewing vista, where you can take deep breaths and take in the unaltered and unspoilt view like many many others before you. And take some photos obviously!!

It was great to see Ann, and the kids were delighted that their granny had appeared from an aeroplane! Ed tried to get Ann to have some Guinness on arrival in Kenmare - a sip was sufficient for Ann to decide that it wasn't really her thing!! We finished the evening with a steak dinner at home.