Clogheen and the Ring of Kerry

Much of the Ireland part of our trip is focused on finding the homelands of Larry’s ancestors. As noted above, we done a fair amount of work and hired some help along the way. The little town of Clogheen is one place we went to look for Flynns, relatives of Larry maternal great great grandparents. It’s in County Tipperary, and it wasn’t a long way to get there! Before we went to the old graveyard we found a road to a place called The Vee. It took us up to a high place with an amazing view between two hills, hence “The Vee.” Word has it that Johnny Cash went up there and then wrote his song Forty Shades of Green. There were also two hikers huts and a big statue (recent) of the Virgin.

The View from the Vee

We went back down and found the old Shanrahan graveyard and even some Flynns! We don’t know if they are related, but it is a link. It’s an interesting exercise to walk among all these gravestones and see all the stories that are held in those names. The graveyards are tended and people clearly keep up their families tombs. Ireland is very religious, and I’ve been a bit surprised at just how much. Perhaps I’m a bit Seattle-jaded at that point, but the practice of Christianity is very active and wide-spread. Daily masses appear to be well-attended, and one Saturday evening we drove by two churches that were just crammed with cars and peoples going to Saturday evening mass.

Parknasilla

From Clogheen we headed to southwest Ireland. We had hoped to get to Dingle and it’s reputedly lovely peninsula, but we could not find accommodation. Things have been really booked up everywhere. So we tried the Ring of Kerry, just south of there. We ended up doing a bit of a splurge at a place called Parknasilla, a resort that used to be an old railway hotel. It was great. A fantastic and beautiful and worth the splurge.




On our way there, coming through some road work, we had a flat tire - puncture around here. We were just coming into the little town of Sneem and found the local garage. That was worth the price of admission! Turns out we picked up a drill bit, of all things. Larry has kept it as a souvenir. The tire was repaired and we were on our way. Look closely at the photo to see an important tool in an Irish garage.