Holiday Diary - Day 27

Today we visited Blarney Castle, Kilarney and Tralee. There were a lot of people at Blarney Castle, which is probably normal, and many went to the trouble of kissing the Blarney Stone, but we didn't. Here are some of the photos we took of Blarney Castle and the surrounding grounds.

Our first view of the castle

We were greeted by the sound of a babbling brook

A rather imposing sight

Three entrances from right to left are a kennel, sentry and dungeon

The watch-tower

Another side of the castle

We were being watched, but not by these eyes, there were plenty of cctv cameras around

Another side of the castle and the Blarney Stone

The hole that you can see is where people lie on their backs, hold on to a couple of grab rails, tilt their head back and kiss the stone. It used to be quite dangerous as there was nothing to stop your fall if you should lose your grip, but now there are bars below the opening to catch you. Just thinking about these contortions make my itises ache and my head spin.

Anyone hungry?

I'm not sure what this represented

Of all the plants here I found this the most surprising. Apple and Rhubarb pie anyone?

The remains of the Battlements which are adjacent to the garden

They even have a waterfall

Another unusual sculpture

After visiting the castle we went for a bit of a drive to admire the country side. Here are some of the things we saw.

I managed to get the address of at least one wool shop that we could visit on this trip so I was able to check out one of the local yarns. It was quite course and only really suitable for a jumper or cardigan to be worn as an outer garment and I didn't want to buy that much yarn. I have every intention of buying some yarn while I'm over here but I only want a small quantity suitable for making a beanie and/or scarf, just so that I can say it was made with Irish wool.

I think I must have been quite tired when I wrote yesterday's blog as it appears that I didn't hit the "Publish" button, so you get a double helping tonight.

Tomorrow we're going to Waterford where we're hoping to buy some crystal. I'm not sure what we're going to get and I probably won't tell you about it anyway as we might want to surprise some people with it.

Richard.