Ireland: Day 5

Day 5 started with a drive around the Dingle peninsula and then driving up to Limerick. Dingle is a very remote place that looks a bit like the Ring of Beara, but with even more types of scenery to be seen.


Finally, there was a stop at Lough Gur. There are a bunch of tombs, and circles, and other neolithic structures around this little lake. Unfortunately, they are hard to find and not quite as impressive as you expect once you find them.

Pics are here.

Ireland: Day 4

Day 4 in Ireland was spent in Killarney National Park. It started with a morning hike up the Gap of Dunloe. This is another place the guidebooks warn you about. The books say the road isn't for cars, that there are pony & traps bumper to bumper on it, and only fools walk it. Well, along my hike up to the top of the pass and back, I saw several cars, only two traps, and plenty of walkers, lots of emptiness, and one show off of a lamb.

To prove my point, after I got back to the car, I drove back up the pass and down the other side. This was a good decision since it led to some beautiful and remote scenery.

Next was to the main part of the park to see Killarney House, the lake, and the waterfall.


The rest of the pictures can be found here.

Ireland: Day 3

Day 3 was spent driving the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara. People I talked to and my guidebooks all told me how bad the Ring of Kerry would be. They said it would be a tiny little road, that you could only go one way around it because otherwise the buses would run you off the road, and that you'd be stuck behind buses creeping along the entire day. For me at least, none of that was true. The road was quite wide by Irish standards, plenty of room for two way traffic of all sizes, and I never saw a single bus all day. That said, I didn't think the Ring of Kerry was all it was hyped up to be. It was a nice drive, and scenic, but not as scenic as a lot of other parts of the country. But, check out the color of the water

and this sheep overlooking the ocean.

The sheep picture was taken from Staigue Fort, a bronze age stone fort. It was at the end of a very long gravel road. The road was so long and so isolated that at one point I decided I must have made a wrong turn (I hadn't) and turned back (and then turned back again). I made a turn in a driveway, and the resident border collie came running down barking and bit my car.

Much more interesting, I thought, was the Ring of Beara. This ring didn't come with the admonitions the Ring of Kerry came with, but should have. It was definitely on some very small roads and I nearly had a couple of head on collisions with locals taking blind corners too fast. The Ring of Beara is on the peninsula just to the south of the Ring of Kerry and is half in Co. Cork and half in Co. Kerry. One of the highlights was Healy Pass, a scenic pass with a narrow strand of asphalt snaking up in an endless series of switchbacks; probably one of the most fun drives anywhere.

Other parts of the road have cows and horses in addition to the usual sheep in the road.

There was hardly any traffic on this road, but when I got up to that horse and slowed to a crawl to go by it, someone woman almost drove straight into the front of me... On this ring, there weren't many big attractions, but the scenery every mile of the way was beautiful and highly recommended.

Pictures for Ring of Kerry.
Pictures for Ring of Beara.

Ireland: Day 2

Day 2 was spent driving the coast from Cork to Killarney. The main sites were Charles Fort in Kinsale, Drombeg stone circle, and Mizen Head. Charles Fort was quite large and interesting, with a good view of the harbor. The weather was a bit foggy, but that added to the character I think.


From there to the stone circle was my first real introduction to the profoundly small roads that make up most of Ireland. They are far from straight, often bumpy, hard to manage at the speed limit, and you have to pull into the hedges for oncoming traffic. In other words, it was a blast. The stone circle, when I got there, was small, but well preserved and worth the little detour.


The next main stop was Mizen Head, the most southwesterly point of Ireland. Getting there took a lot of miles on a one lane road, but there weren't any oncoming cars. (On the way back, I had to back up twice to find a place where the oncoming traffic could squeeze by me). At Mizen Head, there is a lighthouse reached by an old iron arch bridge. The view is pretty good and the scenery is very rugged.


From there, it was along the coast to Glengariff, then turning up into the mountains to get to Killarney. The road into Killarney was wide, fun, and full of dramatic views as you climb to Molls Gap, then descend past Ladies View into Killarney.

The pics from Co. Cork are here.

Ireland: Day 1

Yes, this is posted quite late, but I am quite slow...

Day 1 of the Irish adventure was mainly an easy day to adjust to driving on the wrong side of the road, and irish roads in general. I have to say that by the end of the trip, I found driving on the left quite easy and even a little easier than driving on the right. Maybe this was because using the left hand to shift kept the more dominate right hand on the wheel all the time.

First stop was to drive from Cork up to Castle Cahir in Co. Tipperary. The weather was a bit grey, and the castle wasn't as large or exciting as those found in the rest of europe. Later, I found that it was probably one of the biggest castles in all of Ireland. Irish castles just aren't that big or impressive.

Next stop was Blarney castle. Before I could get there, some guy drifted over to my half of the road on a narrow city street and I ended up whacking the mirror into a bollard trying to avoid him. The same thing happened again on my way out of Blarney... Fortunately, the car, being mostly plastic, was unharmed; and that was the worst of driving problems in Ireland. Blarney castle was quite nice, though they really hype up the Blarney Stone. Naturally, I did lean over the parapet and kiss the stone. Time will tell if it has any effect on me.


The next stops were back closer to Cork. First, to Fota Island, outside Cork to see the house (closed) and gardens (impressive). Then to Cobh to see the history of irish immigration and the last stop of the Titanic. I was slightly disappointed, though, because I could not find the Titanic monument. I think I know where it should have been, but it seemed like all the paths leading there were blocked off.

The final stop was Cork itself. I walked around the center of town, through the market, and did some shopping.


The pics aren't organized by day, the link to them will be in day 2.

Finally White Sands

Believe it or not, after all my time in New Mexico, I just now finally got around to seeing White Sands. I didn't really know what to expect (other than lots of white sand). I thought it was really fascinating. Out of the normal desert you just hit this abrupt wall of perfectly white sand. At first there's some plants scattered in it, but eventually, it's just sand. Sand as far as you can see. And the lighting gets very weird. The sky seems to have a strange purplish tinge to it. What surprised me even more was the photo in the visitor center showing the size of the park relative to the size of the sand sea; it was less than a quarter of it. That is a lot of sand.



Afterwards, I swung through Alamogordo and had lunch before going up to Cloudcroft for a bit. Cloudcroft isn't all that exciting, but it's interesting that a climate like it has exists in the middle of the desert.

As usual, you can find the pics here.

PS, I think I am probably now technically a criminal because my shoes were full of white sand (which I think constitutes removing pieces of a national monument), and keep finding traces of it whenever I wear those shoes (which I think constitutes bringing soil into europe without an agriculture inspection). It's been nice knowing everyone.

A week in Heidelberg

Regular readers will no doubt notice that this post has been back-dated a month. Yes, I have been that bad lately. Between work, being away for work and just being away, I've fallen dreadfully behind in updating the blog. Hopefully I can fix most of that this weekend.

So, way back when, I had a weeklong meeting in Heidelberg. It's a city I've been to many times before, and one that I quite like. Having a full weekend and a travel day to myself down there gave me a chance to see a lot of things that had been on my list, but not high enough up that I would have gotten to them otherwise.

Most of the trip was spent in Rhineland-Pfalz and Baden-Wurttemburg, but there was a tiny sliver of things that were just across into Bavaria. The first day was spent just doing a scenic drive down to Heidelberg. About 2/3rds the way there, I got off the autobahn and took to the back roads. Not so many pictures from this part of the trip, but it was pleasant and relaxing.


The next day was basically a big loop to a lot of little things around Heidelberg. First to Mannheim, and Worms, of the Diet of Worms fame. There's not much to see there anymore, but at least you can say you stood where Luther did when he was hauled before the Diet. From there, to a few mountain top castles, a couple of palaces, and a monastery.



And lastly, I found some time to go to the museum at the Hockenheimring. It's a decent museum, but was much more focused on motorcycles than I expected. That said, it had a number of very interesting motorcycles on display.


The rest of the time in Heidelberg was spent working. It was a little isolating to be there with 20 dutch guys all speaking dutch to eachother, but I did get to go out to Zum Roten Ochsen for dinner, so I can tick that off my list.

The links to the pictures can be found hereand here.