Day 11 - Unicorns, Visual Harks, Army Men

Today was a big day, we did a lot of driving, achieved a lot of things, and laughed a lot.

After a lovely bed and breakfast, we started the drive to Barney Castle. First though, our quest was to hunt down the unicorn sign from last night. Amanda saw it on the drive to the kayaking location, but with no time to stop, a re-visit was required but Amanda was beginning to doubt herself, after all, what was the chance of there being a road warning sign, warning of approaching unicorns? There it was, plain as day though, a road sign warning of unicorns. We stopped the car on the winding road to take a photo, laughed, and drove on.

So many narrow windy roads that were not a problem, but the volume of them does slow the travel time down as they are used as major thoroughfares. After a quick garage snack stop, we were driving down another narrow winding road when up ahead, there was an army man waving us though as several vehicles were parked on the either side of the road and verge. There were many army man, carrying rifles, peeing in a bush, and wearing the stereotypical Scotsman hat with the orange bobble on top. It was so strange, we thought it was the rebel army, but not sure, it certainly wasn’t a normal army as the heckles all seemed to be private cars rather than typical army types.

Eventually arriving at Barney Castle, it was warm and sunny, but so very humid. So much so, despite the warmth, Amanda had to commit to a hat to keep the frizz under control. We joined the Blarney Stone queue which promised about an hours wait. Tash decided she could not do the stairs due to claustrophobia, which was entirely justified. A narrow and steep and winding staircase climbing exceptionally high, packed with people and moving so very slowly. The castle was stunning on the way up and by the time Amanda and Sarah reached the rooftop to perform the ‘kiss’, they were relieved to be out in the open again.

Kissing the stone is meant to provide you with the gift of the gab, but to be honest, the whole experience was a little intense. First you lye on your back on the floor and a strange man leans you over so your head and shoulders are arched right back. You are suspended in the position snd have to really stretch to reach the stone with your lips. The stretch is so far, you do give way your trust to a complete stranger and hide for the best. Of course, you are not in any danger, but you are lying down on your back on top of a castle, suspended by a strange man, arching to kiss a stone that has been kissed by thousands if not millions of people before you. But we did it and have the video to prove it! After a slow walk down the winding staircase and a visit to the murder room (a hole in the floor above the entry to the castle, so if an unwanted guest made it through the first door, either fire or hot burning substance could be tipped down the hole to land on the intruder’s head, A certain death).

Next up was Cork. Sarah had ordered a football shirt so after some aggressive driving, we returned to the mall which in addition to the sports shop, housed a Tesco and a Primark. We were all excited to go to Tesco, snd did great work here, collectively spending over 100 euros on snacks. Not wanting to miss a deal, we had joined the Tesco Clubcard program to maximize discounts snd when the self checkout did not register them, we called over the staff (4separate times) and she worked literal magic to make sure we got our discounts on the vast amount of chocolate bars we had purchased. A meal-deal sandwich in the car (egg mayo) and a ridiculous amount of snacks taking up every spare space in the swifty.

Next stop, Kinsale. An adorable walled harbour time with its multi-colour buildings and artisan shops kept us entertained for a while before a quick drive took us to a distillery for honeycomb rum!

After starting the drive to leave Kinsale and head to our hotel, Tash kindly offered to help a Calgarian who had returned home to Canada without her handbag. We drove back into town, struggling to find the police station, where Sarah went in and signed for the purse that we will take back to Canada and meet the owner at the airport.

We eventually arrived at our hotel after another 40 minutes and by now, there was no denying, we all looked a little on the rough side. Our clothes were dirty, hair frizzy, and generally just dishevelled. We squeezed out of the swifty, and every time a door opened, something fell out, she was literally bursting at the seams. We were a sight. Our hotel was probably the nicest one we had stayed at, and I think as we rolled in to reception, we were a little judged (understandably)as there were people all dressed up going to some sort of event hanging around. Once we had the key, it was time to unload the car. This was a task in itself a we also decided it was time to organize the cases, re pack everything and make sure we were ready first our flight home. We rolled out a trolley no loaded it up with bag after bag of Tesco treats, 4 cases, 3 backpacks and random full carrier bags. A number of people commented on the vast volume of luggage as we struggled to push the cart, even reception sad it was a lot of luggage for an overnight stay. She was not wrong. When we eventually made it to the room and started unloading the trolley, we realized we had dragged half of the outside fuscia flowers with us.

We repacked, showered, washed hair and ordered room service, all the while laughing at the various significant incidents that had occurred through the day and past 12 days.Read more