Bernie and Cath in Europe 2012: Surviving the winds on the Rock of Cashel

Day 5, Kenmare to Kilkenny

Beannachtaí, greetings from Kenmare

Arguably the loveliest town in Kerry, Kenmare (or Neidín, meaning ‘small nest’) is located at the tip of the Kenmare River (which is actually a bay) and the Sheen River.

Wednesday is market day in Kenmare. Now if you wanted a fake rolex, or a made in China Gucci handbag forget it. This is a ‘real’ country market with horses, cows, ducks, chooks - all for sale. And to make the whole event more colourful there were real Irish farmers, talking like there was no tomorrow. Most of what they were saying we could not understand at all. Wellies, tweed caps or is it a tam-o-shant, macintoshes and of course the blackthorn walking stick. This was not just a visual sensation, this market assaulted the senses with farm smells, animal noises and over riding it all a wonderful Irish melody of men arguing, negotiating the terms for a sale of a shaggy Irish pony, or just ‘Ag caint faoin aimsir’ talking about the weather. We felt a bit voyeuristic mingling amongst all this cultural wonder; we snapped a few of the locals pretending to be snapping their beasties.

One wonderful man who I saw chasing his wayward sons trotting down a side street with an original sulky. When he caught up with them he gave them a tongue lashing, I wasn’t sure what for but it must have been bad as he used lots of ‘fekking’ to describe what had transpired. I bravely went up to man, beast and ‘fekking’ boys and said in a very chummy way: ‘He seems to have a mind of his own.’ To which my Irish farmer replied: ‘Oh the cars all right, it’s the fekking drivers that are the problem.’

Serious cattle trading in Kenmare.

Hitching up the pony to the sulky.

Market day on the streets of Kenmare.

Kenmare to Cashel

After a few challenges with the GPS and nameless streets of Cork, we eventually got onto the right road - the M6 not the N6, and had a smooth if very wet and windy drive to Cashel. Found a very acceptable Irish pub not far from Cashel Rock for lunch. It’s always a good sign I reckon when you walk in a door to nice food smells and the hum of people deep in conversation. There is an added lilt to the noise when Irish men and women are a factor.

A short drive got us the car park below the Castle. Little did we know that as soon as we got to the front face of the building we were to be blasted by cyclonic winds (but more of the cyclone later).

We were lucky that we were able to pick up with an English tour soon after we arrived. Our guide did a great job bringing the ruins of the castle back to life. The Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle (Cahir Castle is certainly one of Ireland's most interesting castles.)

The Rock of Cashel’s first life was of a fortress for the Kingdom of Munster (what a great name). Curiously a feature of the Cashel kingships were also ecclesiastics who had wives and children.

In 1101, a King of Cashel gave the Rock of Cashel to the church. This was not an act of generosity, in fact it advanced his credentials and deprived his old enemies of a valuable royal seat. The Rock of Cashel is comprised of a series of buildings – the Cathedral where religious observances were held, Cormac's Chapel, the Hall of the Vicars Coral and the Round Tower. They are a very interesting collection of buildings. The Hall of the Vicars Coral has been restored but all of the other buildings are as they have been for hundreds of years after suffering in a range of wars and disputes.

A storm front had been moving in from the South during the morning and it was now raining and the winds were howling. Outside on the Rock it was had to stay standing as the wind blew around the buildings. We spent about two hours exploring the buildings and then headed off to Kilkenny.

Our accommodation was outside the main town so we went straight there and settled in before heading to dinner. Another very interesting day done.