We were all tired - it had been a full day before. I got up at 9am - the latest I've slept in years. Had some toast and juice then I walked over to the Big House with Just Patrick around 10 for coffee with John. The rest of the house was just beginning to get up. We spent a rather lazy morning around the house - fog had lifted slightly but a light rain was falling. The weather is what the Irish describe as a 'soft day' - not quite raining but the air heavy with mist and fog.
We loaded up the two cars around 11 and headed for the Ballenskellig
chocolate factory.. (There's not much information on their sparse website
but here
is a good article about it.) The factory is a small and crowded place, far out
in the country with a view down the mountain towards the Skellig Islands. Inside,
we queued up behind the half dozen people in front of us and waited briefly
for our turn. Soon the ladies working there handed out tastings of 4 different
chocolates - all delicious. Most of us bought at least bag of truffles. No photographs
were allowed inside the factory. Here we are planning our next move as we come
out of the factory (actually, just a large shed.)
A ruined church with burial yard wasjust up the road in the village of St Finan.
We walked up a short path past a herd of cows in the fog and mist and spent
about an hour investigating - finding a partially open grave with a glimpse
of a skull.
Then on to Portmagee - and the award winning toilets - for lunch at the Fisherman's
Bar and Skellig Resturant. (aka O'Keeffe's).
Terrific food - crab sandwiches, beef stew, and lemon sole with chips. (Although all I see on the tables at this point is Guinness?!)
Then, onto the ferry that took us across to KnightsTown to the Kerry
Fish Processors to get some smoked salmon for dinner.
On to Cahersiveen for groceries. We
walked around this rather scruffy town for a bit (described in one tour book
as a linear town) - the town is pressed up against a very tall steep hill on
one side.
We were back home by about 5:30 to loll about for a few hours. A bit before sunset (which happens after ten pm and takes half the evening to transpire) Theresa prodded us into taking a walk. We left a pot of water warming on the stove for pasta - for the kids' dinner - walked out the drive and turned left down a long path leading west towards Ballenskellig Bay . The path turned out to be a narrow road - with an occasional car roaring along.
We walked perhaps 15 minutes ending at the edge of the bay with a boat ramp leading down through an extensive tidepool area. Here Patty, Betty and Kit try to ravage this pristine spot for a few take-me-home rocks.
Then strolled back to the house, dodging the occasional motor car. The children
had gotten impatient and cooked their own dinner.
We had our adult dinner of fresh smoked salmon on Sheila's homebaked bread.
After dinner, we all headed off to the small house for chocolate (from the Skellig
chocolate factory) and champagne.
Just Patrick and John lagged behind and showed up 10 minutes later with a large bag of freshly-harvested peat for the fire.
They had happened across a pile in a field we had passed on our earlier hike and smuggled it past the Garda and Theresa - the watchdog of Ballenskellig-.
While under the cover of fog
John and Patrick went out for a jog
Then just down the street
They discovered some peat
And saved us a trip to the bog
The kids played cards (contract rummy) at the table -
while we sat round the fire sampling our Skellig chocolates truffles with champagne and Jameson's discussing important matters such as the quality of TV westerns and who was better - Dr Kildare or Ben Casey. I believe John had an opinion on this - but none of us (likely, save John) can recall what it was (nor what our own opinions were, for that matter.)
We spent a bit of time making plans for tomorrow's hike then off the bed early - by 12.