Day 114, 26 October 2012, Blarney Stone and Castle - We were moving far too slowly this morning, particularly after the most fabulous cooked breakfast at Ashcroft B&B in Blarney, but we eventually saddled up and headed into Blarney. We received some sage advice from the information office which was to get ourselves to Blarney Castle to kiss the stone before it was inundated with the midday tour bus hordes. So we did. Now we knew to expect the privately held castles to be expensive and we did think twice about the €12 entry fee each - but it was well worth it. Couldn't bring ourselves to splutter up another €10 each for the official photo of us hanging our heads over the edge of the castle to kiss the stone however! (In theory, if the stone kissing worked, we should have been able to talk the cashiers into giving us the photos for free... just a thought). Exploring the castle was great fun, and we know it would have had roaring fires and thick tapestries rich with jewel like colours, back in the day. But today a serious chill hit Ireland and we were officially COLD! for the first time in 4 months. Everywhere we went in the castle the wind was howling - the Earl's Bedroom (great view), the Murder Hole (breezy up the skirts), The Family Room fireplace (massive - James stood right in it. Fortunately no fire). Good stuff. Will wear more clothes tomorrow. After stone-kissing and castle exploring we ventured into the Poison Garden. Absolutely loving the non-nanny state approach. The gist of it is, if you or your dumb kid eats, touches, or interferes with these plants, then you might die... and We Told You So. Health Department in Australia would have the whole business shut down before some poor wee diddums paid no attention to the warning signs. In any event we had a look at yew, belladonna, juniper, wolfsbane and mandrake (positively Harry Potter-esque) as well as a few other more common poisons... rhubarb (leaves), tobacco and tea of all things. For the record we didn't touch, taste or interfere with any of the plants and emerged unscathed. Go figure. We gave up on the idea of the lake walk - despite the sunshine hypothermia was imminent. Instead we went to Rock Close (via a sun bathing garden gnome and some gorgeous pink crocuses fighting their way up through the soil.) Rock Close is said to be on the site of an ancient druidic settlement and contained all manner of mystical delights - a witch's stone - a druids' circle and a fairy glade. I was in utter heaven - all manner of fascinating things and a castle as well. But time waits for no tourists so we bypassed the incoming hordes and hot-footed it back to the car for the drive to Killarney in County Kerry. Winding roads, quaint villages and more Irish pubs per square kilometre than in the average university town. Now you may recall I mentioned the freezing thing. Well it seems we're not the only ones. Our first stop in Killarney was Ross Castle which was a very economical visit because it was closed for winter! Nevertheless charming from the outside. We headed into town for a 4 pm Lunch/Dinner and discovered Good Friends Chinese Restaurant. Goodness knows why but we managed to have the restaurant to ourselves for the best Chinese food ever (and that includes when we were actually in China) and managed to qualify for the lunch special - less than€22 for 2 starters, 2 mains and a fried rice and fried noodles. Yum. Be it the winter thing or coming into Bank Holiday weekend or the fact that daylight saving ends tomorrow night, they were keen for business and a chat. Awesome spot. Another trip to another information desk (fellow behind the counter either entranced or bamboozled by how far we're planning to drive tomorrow. Not sure which). Then off to Killarney Peaks B&B situated on the Ring of Kerry road. Snug as bugs, we are now preparing for tomorrow's adventures. Will definitely be making an early start in order to conquer the west coast of Ireland tomorrow.
(Weather update from our favourite app. Intellicast HD - currently 1 degree Celsius. "Feels like" -3 due to wind chill. Reached a staggering high of 8 degrees today. Two weeks ago it was 30 degrees in Spain... no wonder we're feeling the cold!)