Blarney

Bit wet overnight, we’ve been so lucky on this trip with the weather. V short trip round the corner to Blarney Castle. Got there early so we could ‘do’ the Blarney Stone before lots of queues. Quite a tight, steep, narrow stepped climb up a tower to the top of the castle where the stone lay. After a short queue, I laid on my back, under the guidance of the photographer and reached out to the stone, upside down as is the tradition. Needless to say I only touched the stone with my hand whilst Gary skipped past. Nope! We had already joked earlier that this was NOT going to be something he would entertain. Germs and wotnot. Kissing the stone is supposed to give you the gift of the gab - to string a yarn. The stone itself, however, is part of the Stone of Scone which was used by the Scots to crown their kings. This stone is now used by the British monarchs to be crowned upon. We had a lovely wander around the grounds observing absolute masses of wild garlic again. That and the new spring growth really lifted the views. We even spotted 3 or 4 baby foxes frolicking on the path but they scattered as we approached. So cute.
We drove eastward to Cork and in particular a little islet off Cork called Cobh (pronounced cove) to visit the Titanic museum. After the Titanic was built in Dublin, it sailed round to Cork to pick up its Irish travellers then on to France then across the Atlantic to New York. We all know what happened after that. The museum was the original ticket office for the ocean liner. On our tour, we were given a ticket with the random name of a passenger. We were then guided around as if we were going to be in the Titanic itself, how it was laid out, where the actual pier was interspersed with photos and stories from passengers and the captain. It was very interesting and obviously very tragic. We got to see at the end whether our characters had survived or not. (Ours did, phew!). After a quick wander around Cobh and an Aldi supplies stop we drove on to Kilkenny for the night. Whilst making dinner, a couple of robins bobbed about, one even sat in the step of the van to my delight! Then some ravens were circling so I threw some bread out for them all, they were all coming over very close. One raven even dropped me a feather it had been playing with. Thanks dude. Fair trade.
After dinner we walked in to Kilkenny town, stocked up on emergency mint imperials from a sweet shop that weighed them out - they were probably left from the war as they were a bit hard but I’m running low so needs must. Dropped in to a really old pub - Kytelers Inn, established in 1324! Got there at the right time to grab a seat and a pint before the local Irish band started. They were so good. Very talented and quick-fingered on the banjo/guitar/whistle. I might have to pop back when we visit the castle to get a tshirt.Read more