Kinsale

Friday, May 9th

We decided to take the back roads to Kinsale and we found them, after a fashion. The Vee drive is certainly worth the trip, and we got there via a route we hadn't planned on, but it worked. The view of Co Tipperary from the lower lookout point is breathtaking. The 40 shades of green sprawl beneath you. From there, the road winds down through some forested areas with trees arching gracefully over the road as if you had been invited to make the drive.

We arrived in Lismore and stumbled upon Lismore Castle. Alas, it doesn't open until 1:30 PM and from what I can tell, you can only visit the grounds. It's a quite majestic site and you can get a fine photo op from the little road across the river. Though we didn't know it at the time, accommodations are offered for a princely sum of €3500 (when the Duke is not staying) for up to 12 guests. We stopped in town for a quick break and to get some water. The morning bacon had left us begging for water as if we had been lost in the desert for weeks. The town of Lismore is a quaint little place and is one of the many Tidy Town winners. Of particular note though, is that the public toilets were voted the finest in all of Ireland. We were quite impressed.

Our next trick was to find the road south to Youghal. We followed the main road out and saw a sign that might be the right one, turned around, missed it coming back, drove past it again and stopped to turn around once more. At this point a truck showed up complete with driver. Eureka!! Certainly he could give us directions to the road in question. Perhaps his direction giving ability was clouded by the hysterical laughter at my pronunciation of Youghal, or perhaps he was too focused on the subsequent good-natured abuse he was forced to heap upon me, but either way, he was unable to direct in me in the appropriate direction. So back to Lismore for the third visit. I bit the bullet and walked into the Lismore hotel and asked directions. Clear as mud of course. I needed to drive through downtown Lismore, on roads that, like any good Irish town, should be one way, but weren't and turn left at the school. It worked and we were off.

This road, which from everything we could tell had no number, is a wonderful drive and has VERY little traffic. There will be a few moments of confusion and it you take the marked scenic drive, you will make it back to the "main" road. The Blackwater River will appear sporadically on your left with one beautiful vantage point along the way, and once again, a great photo op. The forests become thick at times and you might expect druids or hobbits or some other creatures from middle earth to come leaping out at you. Not to worry, you should be able to escape. The drive winds slowly along and you eventually hit the main N25. This was a great choice for a back road.

N25 is a fine quick moving road, and it is a small relief after a couple of hours of tight bends and shrieking from your passenger. We stumbled across Barryscourt Castle, which was supposed to start a tour in a short while, but there was no evidence that anyone was around and indeed, no one showed up. Back on the road to Cobh.

We made it into town without getting lost and managed to find parking, though the Millie and Bill zoomed right by and subsequently got lost in town. They finally made it back and we visited the cafe at "The Queenstown Story" exhibit. Time was passing quickly, so we decided not to go in. Perhaps another visit. We wanted to find the cathedral. Bill decided to take the helm and we all jumped in his car and to wander around aimlessly with no hope of finding another place to park. Cobh is an impossible town to drive in on a Friday afternoon and a worse place to park. After a bit of frustration, we decided to move on to Kinsale.

The ferry is on the approach to town and quite convenient. It runs from 7:30 AM to midnight continuously. The trip is only a couple of minutes and they do big business. Though it probably wouldn't have helped, I didn't take a moment to look at the map and left all the navigation to Felicity. We were instantly lost. I wish I could impart the right information on leaving the ferry, but I haven’t a clue. We wandered through the countryside and eventually found a sign to Kinsale.

Arriving in Kinsale we called the Cephas House and got directions You would have a hard time finding it otherwise, but if you know the town, it's on the Compass Hill loop. We were advised that the left turn onto the Compass Hill loop was perilously tight, so it would be best to make the loop and go all the way around. This would have been a fine plan if we had not come face to face with a truck that was in the process of delivering natural gas to a customer. The road was scarcely wide enough for him, much less us, and wisdom would have had us turn around and go back around the loop the other way, but we would have nothing of that, and parked our cars in a ditch, waited for him finish and then watched him scrape by, missing us by centimeters. Hey, we lived and managed no scratches.

We had a comfortable meal at the restaurant whose name has escaped me and then went to the recommended pub for traditional Irish music. DO NOT ask a local where the best trad is. They will invariably send you to a place that has someone doing covers from your favorite light rock station or worse. After a few warm up chords, it was clear that the one man band that had set up with his speaker pointing directly at my left ear, was not going to fit the bill. When we asked him if he would be playing traditional Irish music, he responded by saying, "ummmm, yes and some American music too". I didn't travel that far the hear Billy Joel covers so I stepped outside, heard the strains of "Dirty Old Town" drifting from the adjacent "Mad Monk" and grabbed the family.

We managed some seats in the back of the room, listened to the Irish ballads and while the room sang along with most of the choruses. The Irish, young and old, know and sing along with the songs of their country without the prodding it takes to get a near comatose American drunk to get to join in.

The second set was for the guest to sit in with the band and involved some more popular tunes including a quick Van Morrison fix. There was a slightly inebriated woman doing a credible job on the Streets of London and Crazy and then some guy from Dusseldorf doing Willie Nelson tunes. This was followed buy the local dirty old man, a charming fellow, brought to the stage to do a tune called the Phizer Riser, an homage to Viagra, and another entitled "The Big Babu" which featured lyrics about a woman who apparently had an interest in all things large. He was an energetic fellow with a face that took on a rich cherry tone as each song progressed. His performances were met with thunderous applause from the men and polite applause from the women.

The evening drew to a close with the boys singing the Monkey’s "Day Dream Believer". The announcement that the entertainment was ending had the whole house singing at a boisterous level. We were unaware that this was just the cue to sing a long set of hits from the 60s and 70s and thought the night was over so we gave up our chairs and made our way to the door as they broke into "Sweet Caroline". Now, not a huge fan of either composers of the last two tunes, this was, none-the-less, a spectacular moment. The crowd was in full voice and the belting out of the chorus of Neal Diamond's toe tapper was something not to be missed. The patrons reached their zenith as the chorus of the tune hit the 3 note brass interlude and they all screamed along, "bah, bah, bah". Come on, you all know the part.

We wandered back up the hill to the Cepas House and collapsed.

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