Every Day is a Winding Road - KK
And ours literally was all day today. The drive around the Ring of Kerry is stunning and not for those who get car sick. From mountains to sea, a landscape of forest, farms and rugged beauty, it is all that and then some, plus a national park that will soothe the soul.
The morning, however, did not start out so beautifully. It was still dark when we were preparing for the day. Last night, we both needed to wash some clothes and so we took turns doing so in our tub, a lovely six foot long tub, that will hold a lot of clothes. So after sloshing, sudsing, rinsing and wringing we had to actually get them dry. Bring in the large bath towels, roll the clothes inside the towels, squeeze, hang--but where. We have a pretty hilarious makeshift laundry room with a clothes line, hangers and use of the towel bars and anything else we could utilize. Almost 12 hours later, we arrived back at the room and they are getting there. Not dry, not dripping. I have learned that a hairdryer, while not ideal, can help the process. This is a part of the trip planning I had thought about early on but didn't fully appreciate the logistics involved.
Some of you have asked about my wardrobe. I hate to give away style secrets but here goes. The jeans and goose down jacket are Eddie Bauer. The jacket is thin and light but very warm. I recommend it and have needed it many times on this trip. The "camp" pants and a couple of shirts are Duluth Trading Co and they dry fairly quickly and have some give so the climbing and hiking are more comfortable. Athleta and REI were good sources for underclothes.The green jacket which some of my family members are begging me to lose is a Marmot rain jacket. One mistake I made is that it has no inside pockets but other than that it is a gem. And it keeps me dry. Though I am really tired of the color and can hardly look at any picture with me in it because the jacket steals the show and not in a good way. Lastly, the electric blue shoes are HOKA. I could hardly bring myself to buy them because they are so loud but what a great investment. My feet haven't hurt once and I am on them non-stop. They may be ugly but comfort and dependability reign supreme.
The path we are on, both literally and figuratively, is winding, at times scary and fraught with room for both error and amazement. Today was a great example. After a 90 minute boat ride out to Michael Skellig to see the monastic ruins which date back to the 6th century, my mental and physical stamina were put to the test. I get motion sickness and am quite afraid of heights. The narrow steps with NO safety net were daunting.
There is a helipad on the island nearer to the "bottom" that we were told is for "lighthouse maintenance." Right. Um, no sir, that is for carrying off dead and unconscious bodies and we all know it. I know this because they made an earlier point to say the lighthouses are automatic now.... I just put two and two together. That's how I roll and today I did not want to roll off that cliff.
It is worth noting that I made a potentially fatal mistake by taking my VERY HEAVY backpack with me off the boat and to the trail upward. It was reallly throwing off my balance and was truly part of why I became even more anxious about the climb. Enter Captain Pat. He was our boat captain and could see I was struggling with the decision to continue the climb. I cannnot stress enough how tiny the steps are with no protection. Those monks must have been the size of leprechauns. Pat, a seasoned Skellig man, had already reached the monastery/summit and was on his way down when we met. He offered to take my backpack to the boat and let me "freestyle" the trip up. No excuses at that point. My technique was to focus on each step and on my breathing. The reward is in the journey. My FitBit has confirmed that today and I am alive to share the recap so there's that.
After Skellig, we headed back onto the "Ring of Kerry" which is a beautiful loop that hugs the Atlantic for part way and winds into the mountains, all in County Kerry, arguably one of the prettiest parts of Ireland.
Now I am back at the hotel reflecting on the day, this amazing opportunity to see the world and missing and loving all my friends and family back home. By the way, your notes and just seeing what's going on with you on social is such a treat. We've nearly caught up on the website in our photo gallery. We have had a lot of technical issues along the way with the site and uploading large picture files. We are caught up through England and hope to get Ireland posted ASAP.
In addition, we have received some great playlist recommendations and have added all of them. Thanks to all. It grows every day. If you have Apple Music, follow the link in the Playlist segment to access.
A few fun moments along the way:
* Met a very nice man who ordered a hooded brown "monk/Obi-Wan" robe from Amazon. He wanted his picture in it at the top of Skellig (where the monks lived and some of Star Wars was filmed--a twofer) and then he proceeded to let anyone who wanted to borrow it get their own picture. Linda and I each took a turn and a very nice young man took my picture and even took some funny ones of me getting it on as my hand first tried to go through the hood--which revealed why I was having a hard time getting into it! I was a little distracted trying to stay alive. Everyone was so happy to still be alive that we became a "band of brothers" for the 15 minutes we were all catching our breath. Our band then disbanded and it was every man for himself climbing and then descending that freak of nature rock in the Atlantic. Thank you nice man. I have a fun memory and a picture to remind me.
* We have seen many sheep on this trip. In every country and in every shape and size. We have seriously been looking for a Black Face sheep. That is a proper name we learned. On our winding road ride, one basically flagged us down. It was so funny and I got a great picture of his face. I did have to pull out some sheep whispering techniques to get the shot so I don't want to give you the impression I didn't work for this picture. We have collected sheep pictures along the trip and the Irish sheep are large. They like their lamb stew here.
* Last night a street musician was donning a wig and doing parody songs to American music about American politics. Regardless of your leanings, it was pretty funny and Yes, we get asked about our political landscape all the time! We are practicing ambiguous foreign accents but haven't quite nailed that yet.
Tomorrow we hit the open road again and I'm told we will be on another winding path. Aren't they all.