Ever since Kilkenny we have seen road signs indicating “The Wild Atlantic Way.” I didn’t get it until today. Among other things it is how you take a day to cover just over 115 km.
We began the day at breakfast with two fellow Californians who were staying at the same bed and breakfast. Afterwards they literally led us to the Drombegg Circle an early Bronze Age memorial.
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| The circle |
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| Another view, from behind the altar |
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| These are thought to have been a family complex, a habitation in the foreground and a kitchen and workshop in the distance |
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| The house |
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| The workshop was fed by a spring, a fire pit was used to heat water for cooking and work |
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| Ma and Pa among the stones |
From there we separated from them, and we headed off through Bantry, hoping to see the Bantry House. No luck on a Monday, but chance took us to a tea shop and a fellow who pointed us to Glengarriff and Garinish Island, and after a ferry ride out to the island and its semi-tropical botanical gardens, we made our way along the rest of N71 through some spectacular scenery in the National Forest to Killarney, where we will be for another two days.
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| Anna wanted pictures of ponies, you get to see them too. |
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| The ferry out to Garinish (or Garnish, the spelling seems to vary) Island. |
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| The Island's microclimate supports one of the largest colonies of seals in Northern Europe, I think we were told |
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| Two generations of the Bryce family and their designers lived and worked here to create an exotic semi-tropical garden using the island's micro-climate |
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| The walled garden |
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| Sharon, the constant gardener, contemplates the plants |
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| The entry to the Italian Garden |
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| The grotto |
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| Sharon wanted an image of an European robin |
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| The Blue Pool and the ferry to the island |
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The scenery changes dramatically here, looking more like the Scottish highlands or even the Mediterranean or California coast and mountains
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