Cork, Blarney, Tipperary, Labbacallee, Cork

22nd August
Cork, Blarney, Tipperary, Labbacallee, Cork
Quite a day!!! Getting about in Cork is an absolute nightmare. They even keep you in training in the hotel. To get to our room on the second floor we have to remember a little rhymme lift left left lift. In between the left lefts are long hallways. It takes a bit of getting used to but would be frightening if there was a fire!!! Oh well...back to driving around Cork - the receptionist gave us a printed sheet for the directions to Blarney. They have printed directions for the most asked for places. The maps that are normally all you need are quite useless in Cork.
So today...we followed the directions to Blarney Castle (1446 built on the area of a previous hunting lodge built in the 10th century) only 7ks from Cork. It is very impressive. We took lots of photos and it was difficult to decide which ones not to include...so there are quite a few. There were people everywhere all with the sole purpose of kissing the Blarney Stone. Well most any way - when Den and I saw what was required we decided that it was not for those with dodgy backs. I have too much respect for what the surgeon was able to achieve for me to undo it kissing a bit of rock with germs from goodness only know how many people who had already kissed it. We wanted to go up to the top, see the view, see the kissing in action, and climb down. It was quite a climb to get to the top - a spiral staircase in one tower took you up while one in the other corner took you down. The castle had been 3 or four stories high, all of the floors now missing as is the roof.
The surrounding gardens are beautiful and really well kept. There are banks of azaleas, rhododendrums and camelias. It must be stunning when they are out in flower. There is a lovely walk out around the woods with a circle of Druids stones, wishing stairs, and stories of witches. It really is quite special. We had some lunch in the stables courtyard and then drove on towards Mallow.
This part of County Cork is very pretty, everything very green like all of Ireland but there are a few higher peaks as well. There are also many pretty villages. At Charleville we headed towards Tipperary. On the way we went past a little town called Effin. We had a giggle as to the fame of Effin things that we had heard of and now we knew where they were from!!!! We reached Tipperary. I don't know what we were expecting but it is just another town, not anything special. We had past much prettier towns. Perhaps its' name just lends it self to a song.
From Tipperary we headed towards Fermoy and on to Glanworth where there is a large wedge tomb. The roads were so narrow. Our driveway at home is wider than some of the roads we travelled today. A scary moment when 2 trucks met!!! One village we went past, Bansha, had its' Show today. Horse trailers were having to be dragged onto the roads by tractors. It was quite something to see. We were travelling along quite happily when we a detour took us miles out of the way onto even narrower roads. We found no signposts to the Wedge tomb, so in the end I asked a girl in the post office/general store for directions. We thought we had followed her directions but nothing, we asked another lady out working on her garden. I had trouble understanding 'bd beds' two of them and on the right 1mile down the road. It wasn't till we were on the way and noticed the bending road signpost that I realised she must have said two bad bends, This area mainly speak gaelic all of the time. We found the Wedge Tomb. It was amazing - so close to the road, and virtually nothing to let you know it is there. It was discovered in the 1930s and has been dated back to 1300bc. Human bones and pieces of a Stone age pot were discovered buried there.
It was time to head back to Cork. We only made a few wrong turns - thanks to the lack of signs that make any sense - and were very pleased to turn into the carpark of the hotel. It has been a very full but extremely enjoyable day.