No "major" holidays this year just a few special single weeks and long weekends. Venice was the first holiday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary with Madeira next and now here we are in Ireland for a relaxing week in September.

We arrived in Ireland to a lovely sunny day so an easy drive down to Ventry from Dublin airport. The evening light when we arrived was really pretty. Not sure why the photo is so grainy - probably had the camera on the wrong setting but you get the picture! This is the view from our B&B (Ceann Tra Heights).

Unfortunately when we got up the next morning (Sunday) it was chucking it down and very windy. We'd come prepared and Mary has a lovely comfy lounge so we settled ourselves in there for the morning in the hope that the weather would improve later in the day. No trips out on the boats this week though - far too choppy / swelly.

You can see from the photo on the left that Mary has a lovely garden, even taken through the window and the rain!

We didn't do much other than venture out at lunch time for a snack at the Chowder Cafe followed by ice cream from Kool Skoops and a wander round to get some fresh (if damp) air.

Dingle was all bunting in anticipation of the All Ireland final (Kerry v. Dublin) that was taking part that afternoon. This meant that most of the shops, cafes etc were closing at 3 p.m. so everyone in the town could watch the game (unfortunately Kerry lost by a fine margin).

We managed to get some tickets for a concert in St. James' Church for Monday night and collected the ones we'd ordered from the music shop for Tuesday. With dinner already booked for Sunday night that seemed to have got the evenings sorted (we moved on on Wednesday).

Dinner was at An Canteen - just as yummy as we remembered. Their 16 hour braised beef just melts in your mouth.

Monday dawned clearer and brighter so we set off in Ike (hire car for the week - a Kia Sportage) to explore the Ring of Kerry with a few added extras.

Our first stopping off point was before we'd even reached the Ring of Kerry - Inch Strand. We called back here later to try and catch the sunset (see below).

Our first detour was to Lough Caragh - very pretty.

The views on the "land side" of the lough were very pretty as well.

From there to Lickeen Forest where Jonathon tried out his new toy - an underwater camera - with great success.

The photos on the left and above is what it looked like to us mere mortals!

Another detour, this time to look at Rosbehy Point.

You can tell from the clouds that it was a bit of a showery day!

We finally put ourselves back on the "proper" Ring of Kerry and headed down south west. However, the Skelligs were calling out to us so another detour was required.

Drinkings /lunch first! Apple pie and ice cream - possibly not the healthiest but very nice all the same.

Next stop was to see the Kerry Cliffs. From here we should have been able to see Skellig Michael, Puffin Island, Valentia Island, Portmagee and the Iveragh Peninsula - we saw rain and mist!

This was the wettest we got on this day. It was a shame because the views should have been spectacular.

A little way on and we could look back at the cliffs. the mist had cleared a bit so we could see the islands in the distance.

A quick stop for diesel (this church opposite caught my eye) then we called in at a Ballinskelligs beach.

In Ireland they say they have "50 Shades of Green" - you can see why.

Again, looking landwards - the rock formations are very intricate.

We came across this beach by accident (I think it's Lamb's Head). We'd seen a sign for a woodturner so turned down a tiny lane and this was at the end of it. We never did find the turner.

By now it was getting close to tea time. We saw a sign for Westcove bakery and craft shop so turned down yet another little lane. We were so pleased we did - the food was all homeade, most of it home grown, and delicious. We both had quiche but Jonathon couldn't resist the meringue for pudding!

By now we'd realised there was no way we were going to get back to Dingle in time for the concert so we called in at Inch Strand to watch the sunset. It wasn't as spectacular as we'd hoped because the rain came (again)!

This was as good as it got for me before I scooted back to the car to get warm and dry!

A treat on the way home was to see the moon appear from behind the clouds - an almost perfect half circle.

The programme on the right is what we would have enjoyed had we got there on time. A shame to miss it but we simply lost track of time - a sure sign that we're on holiday.

A general observation ...

Last year when we were in the Western part of Ireland we were impressed with the fuchsia hedges. They were equally impressive this year but we didn't remember seeing any crocosmia hedgerows last year (perhaps they'd all died back?). This year they were everywhere - lovely, bright orange hedges!

Tuesday was also showery and not too warm but we took ourselves off to Muckross to admire the gardens. There was a formal area, an arboretum, a rock garden and a stream garden to name but some of the areas. There was also Muckross House but, as usual, we didn't go inside.

For staff only so we didn't get to look inside.

The manicured and the more natural - both were lovely to walk around.

Perhaps we'll go inside next time we're here if it's raining.

The best thing about showery weather is the rainbows. This one seemed to be really strong colours and we cold almost see both ends at one point!

Rather than call into Killarney for a mooch around we went back to Inch Strand to enjoy the lovely beach. Late lunch first at Sammy's (right on the beach) then Jonathon took lots of photos while I went for a longish walk.

Jonathon does like taking photos of patterns in the sand!

This time we got back to Dingle for the concert at Siopa Ceoil and really enjoyed it (after dinner at An Canteen again). Music from Donogh Hennessey and Teresa Horgan with an improptu performance from John Smith and a story and a song from Dara Herlihy. Jonathon did his photo work for them and I kept company with Houdini the cat who decided to sit with me for part of the show.

 

Wednesday arrived and it was time to move on to Kildare to stay with Alison and Mark. We woke up to rain so it looked like we were in for a wet drive but the weather picked up so we went over the Slieve Mish Mountains en route.

The hedgerows in this area were heather and gorse.

A quick stop for lunch at The Coffee Pot in Abbeyfeale and it was motorway driving to Alison and Mark's (or motorway sleeping in my case while Jonathon drove).

Mark's fish gave Jonathon another excuse to use his underwater camera.

Thursday arrived and it was harvest time so, after the grapes of Wednesday night, we moved onto plums and apples today. Alison had a new gadget which made peeling and coring apples a whole lot easier (Jonathon has now ordered one for us) and we got through several kilos. A lot of it was made into juice (all grapes, all plums and some apples) and the rest either stored or frozen for future use. The cooking apples were to be tackled another day but at least we managed to pick them all.

Jonathon got everything ready for his presentations at the IWG Seminar (Friday and Saturday) and Mark booked a table for dinner so we were all set.

We were, of course, suitably assisted by the dogs!

One of the reasons we were in Ireland this week was to attend the IWG Seminar - it was at the Radisson Blu, Dublin airport from Friday to Saturday. It seemed to us that the numbers were down and that there were fewer competition entries but the pieces that were there were great to see.

I particularly liked seeing all the wooden bikes that had been entered for the Chapter Challenge.

Jonathon did a couple of presentations on how to photograph turned wood pieces which seemed to go down well (so he might get asked back!)

One of the best things about being in Dublin is that it gave me the chance to meet up with Pat and Margaret. It was lovely to see them an catch up with family news.