9/10 – Today was a travel day, but I had several stops along the way.  Our destination was Kenmare and most people would go via Cork and the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone.  Since I don’t think that’s very appealing and we just aren’t most people, we took a different route.

First up was the Hags Bed Tomb.  I don’t think that’s the real name of it.  No, it’s the Labbacallee Wedge Tomb.  Most anyone would drive by and think it was a pile of rocks.  But like everything in Ireland, there were several stories about it (including how two giants hurled rocks at each other and of how former tomb-raiders were scared off by a cat with fire shooting out of it). When excavated in 1934, they found the body of a woman in one chamber and her head in another. There was a geo-cache there and it’s right on the road, so we checked it out.

Labbacallee Wedge Toom dates to 2400 BC and is the largest wedge tomb in Ireland.  It has 3 capstones, the largest is estimated to weigh 10 tons.  How they got that stone on top is anyone’s guess.  Tomb raiders have left it alone as it is said to be cursed.

Then we moved on to Glanworth Castle and Mill. There really wasn’t anything special about the castle, and the mill was being refurbished.  The bridge was rather pretty and made for some good pictures.

Glanworth Bridge is a 12-arch bridge built in 1446 and touted as “the oldest and narrowest working road bridge in Europe”.

Next was Bridgetown Priory, also with a geocache. I didn’t think this would be much, but it was very pretty and nicely kept.  Plus, there were police dogs in training!

We saw police dog training while at Bridgetown Priory.  The writers of a blog I followed also saw them.  Yet I can’t find anything about it on the internet.  Pure coincidence, I suppose.

Ballybeg Priory was next.  This was totally skip-able.  BUT, had it not been for a blog I had been following (as for the previous stops as well), we would not have known to jump over the wall and check out the cylindrical building in the field.  In short, they kept 400 doves in this “Dovecote” and harvested their guano back in the days.

Inside the dovecote at Ballybeg Priory.  Each cubby housed a dove and there is an opening at the top of the tower.  Although doves were thought of as “vermin”, their guano was prized for use as fertilizer.

So thank you, Plan – Pack – Go, for your blog! http://plan-pack-go.com/tag/ireland/

They also directed us to our next stop, the Donkey Sanctuary.  I think we would have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t started raining!  We walked around a short trail which probably had great views on a clear day.

A pair of donkeys at the Donkey Sanctuary.  The red collar means they are geldings.  There are currently 700 donkeys in the sanctuary’s care.  They take in abandoned, abused and neglected donkeys from all over Ireland.

It became very gusty and rained harder as we approached our accommodation for the next few nights at Kenmare.  We stayed at the Shelbourne Lodge.  This was a beautiful and grand building full of antiques. The couple who own (?) it were very welcoming, but the woman who managed it was a bit stand-offish.  She might have been overworked, I don’t know.  But we were within walking distance of town and it is a very upscale, but small town.  I thought it a better base than nearby Killarney.  Dinner that night at Mulcahy’s – awesome!

 Looking upwards from inside the Dovecote at Ballybeg Priory

The Adventure Continues>>>