What a day!

So walking is always a lot of our vacations, especially when we go somewhere like France. But we don't always take in the local flora, or in this case, the local mountains and hiking trails. But we did yesterday and we had a blast. Gleninchaquin park was special. Cody was especially pleased.

The park also brought out some of his theatrical side.

There was another stone circle here. If you are going to have a stone circle, why not have it in a location like this? Location, location, location.

Then we drove in further - very slowly - and got to the main area with the trails, all beginning with this view of the waterfalls. It was gorgeous.

This is also a working farm, and there are sheep everywhere. Vicki and Cody do not see eye to eye on eating these. One sees cute, the other looks for mint sauce.

I definitely see wool. I've already decided I am leaving this country with an Aran Islands sweater (covering the extra pounds I am taking back). 

This is a 19th century farmhouse that is being restored.

There were several lakes on the hike. Neither my camera nor its amateur operator could capture the height or beauty well. I need more lessons.

That is Vicki and Cody down below me.

There were several stiles we had to cross and gates we had to pass through. All had to be be closed to keep the sheep where they were, although we saw sheep, or their evidence, everywhere we hiked. The technology varied from gate to gate. Some were much simpler than others, eh Cody?

Back in Kenmare, we chose to relax over lunch and shop around a bit. According to my spreadsheet, there were many things we should have been doing, but this was a very pleasant afternoon.

On the way back to the B&B, Vicki saw this church ruin and we checked it out. There was a cemetery adjacent, so we looked for any O'Keefes/Keefes/Keffes - any spelling will suffice.

Inside the tower...

Unfortunately, the day ended with Cody getting sick. So Vicki and I headed to the grocery for bread and cheese, and Cody headed for bed. 

This morning, Cody feels somewhat better, and Vicki seems to have caught whatever Cody had. I hope everyone feels better soon. We will all need help - and about 8 extra hours - if I have to drive. 

Climb every mountain...

We started the day be going to Gleninchaquin Park, just south of Kenmare on the Beara Peninsula. We started out on a normal, narrow road but turned off onto a really narrow gravel road which took us first to a stone circle near a lake. It was quite beautiful, and we walked around for a bit, avoiding the sheep shit and taking in the views. Dan will be posting those photos, since I left my camera in the car. We continued on to the actual park, which is a working farm in a valley full of (you guessed it) sheep. There were some adorable little lambs, which Cody said would be good with mint sauce. :(

So the way the game at the park is played is that you choose one of six walking paths around the farm area. There's a beautiful waterfall, and one of the walks is called "Over the Falls," 115 minutes. Sign us up for that one. The nice Irish dude described the route, and off we went across the field, less worried about stepping into sheep shit, since it was everywhere. Here are some photos of the places that we saw on our little two-hour jaunt up a freaking mountain:

Dan's photos will be much better. I couldn't catch a shot that would show just how high up we climbed, but it was high. I think that Dan said that it was 600-something feet. I'm guessing that the two men working the reception area lay bets on who will and who won't finish a trek. Well by God, someone lost a bet on this fat, White woman because I made it on this Grade 4 (whatever that means) hike over the falls. Anyway, Dan and I both took an Aleve as soon as we got back to the car, in hopes of staving off the stiffening muscles that are sure to follow tonight's sleep

After a late lunch in Kenmare, we headed back to the B&B after strolling through some shops in the village. We took a quick detour to an old church with (of course) a graveyard, which was mostly overgrown and sadly unattended. There was this particular monument, which was behind an iron fence with steps that led nowhere:

I love cemeteries, but this one was sad. 

Upon getting back to the B&B, young Cody decided to empty his digestive system. Poor Bear! We are hoping that he's gotten rid of whatever it was and feels much better tomorrow. We may get some rain as we head north to the Kilarney National Park and then to the Dingle Peninsula.