Sunny Skies and Stone Circles

Weather was much improved today. We woke up to blue skies and sunshine that stayed with us all day. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel, then checked out and departed for the Cahergal Stone Fort which was not far from the hotel. The fort is a large stone circle maybe 20 feet high with an inner circle about 6 feet high. Stone steps are built into the wall that allow you to climb to the top. Ethan seemed to enjoy walking around on the upper edge. I went up for a look but that was enough for me.  Not far from the fort are the ruins of the Ballycarbery Castle. These are also open for exploring and climbing. Ethan did plenty of both.

After leaving the ancient architecture we stopped for a brief look at the Daniel O'Connell church in Cahersiveen, then continued on our Ring of Kerry tour. We made a detour off the main Ring route to visit a beach at Ballinskellig where Janet seized the opportunity to get her feet wet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Leaving the beach we continued around the Ring and enjoyed many awesome vistas as we circled the mountainsides. We took another detour to visit yet another stone fort where Ethan again demonstrated his skill scaling sheer stone walls.

We did a little shopping and had a late lunch at a nice bakery/cafe in Sneem. Continuing on we entered Killarney National Park and enjoyed awesome views from Moll's Gap and Ladies View. We also saw the Torc Waterfall whose torrential surge was likely bolstered by yesterday's rain. We finished our touring at the Muckross House and Gardens and although we arrived too late to tour inside the house, we were able to walk around the grounds and gardens all we wanted.

We got to our hotel in Kilkenny too late for dinner in the hotel restaurant so we had sandwiches from a near by fast food restaurant called Abra Kebabra. Our hotel is right across the river from Kilkenny Castle although our room has a nice view of a parking lot. Tomorrow we tour the castle and other Kilkenny area sights.