Going back in time: West Cork, County Kerry and the Beara Peninsula

Back in April, I took a 3 day trip to West Cork and County Kerry in the south west of Ireland.  I was still living in North Cork and was scouting locations to move to once I returned from Scotland.  The trip had 3 parts:

1) West County Cork: Exploring Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Schull, Ballydehob (a favourite village name), Bantry and the southern portion of the Beara Peninsula including the village of Glengarriff (Letters C, D and I on the map below).

2) County Kerry and the Beara Peninsula: 2 nights at a wonderful holiday home in Lauragh (J) and exploring the northern portion of the peninsula and the town of Kenmare (F, J and H).  Kenmare was where I stayed with my parents on my first trip to Ireland in 2005.  I also drove back over to Glengarriff in West Cork to visit with 2 American couples I met through an expat forum.

3) The Iveragh Peninsula: Exploring Sneem (K) which is part of the Ring of Kerry, a drive through Killarney National Park (between K & L on the map), and the return home to Castletownroche (M).

This area of Ireland is much more rugged than where I had been staying north of Cork City.  The scenery was amazing and thankfully, the weather cooperated.  A little rain, but there was also blue sky to be had.  Not bad for April.

Of course, being the sheep fanatic that I am, I was in heaven when I found out the holiday home I rented near Lauragh (pronounced Lore-och) was located on a sheep hill farm.  These are some of the visitors, just outside the door.

Heaven!

Some of the neighbours.

The ewes were just about finished lambing for the season.  Eugene, the sheep farmer, puts these yellow, biodegradable jackets on the lambs to help prevent attacks from foxes and also help a little with the weather.  

This ewe and her lamb didn't seem interested in moving as I was making my way down the hill from the house.  I was at a standstill and tried honking the horn and hollering out the window to no avail. I even had Riley barking, but she was not interested in moving. 

Eugene feeding Mutt the sheep some bread.  Mutt was a pet sheep (known as a bummer lamb in the US) and is more dog than sheep.

The holiday home is owned by Mag and Eugene McCarthy and is advertised on Flipkey.com under home for let in the Kenmare area.  You can find the link here.  It is an old home up a steep hill that was renovated several years ago.  Mag and Eugene live below and were very nice and helpful.  I took some pictures inside, as I may return in the Autumn and stay the winter in their holiday home.

This is a mussel farm just up the road from the holiday home.  This is the bay that is seen from the front of the house.

It was a terrific trip and I am looking forward to going back soon.