Day 29: The Ring of Kerry

We were with a different driver today to do the Ring of Kerry which is a 180-km tourist cycle through scenic parts of County Kerry. The driver today was quite a bit more knowledgeable than our normal driver, so we picked up quite a bit of information. I can't really think what would be interesting to include here, but I will put some pictures up with a few comments.

Statue of King Puck - Our main driver once told us that there are over 7000 annual festivals in Ireland due to the fact that Irish will look for any excuse to drink. The Puck Fair is a strange one, but is one of the oldest in Ireland and apparently one of the oldest non-religious festivals in the world. It happens August 10,11 and 12 every year in a village called Killorglin, no matter when those days fall. Locals will capture a wild goat from the mountain side, put a crown on its head and then stick it in a pen on top of a 30-foot tower in the town center. They then sing, dance and generally party for 3 days before before releasing the probably terrified goat back onto the mountain. They clip the goat's horn at the end to ensure they don't capture the same goat in a future year, so at least it only needs to get through the fair once.

Baby Sika Deer - at one of the mountain vistas there was a farmer hunched down with some lambs and this 2-week old deer. He basically would ask for a few coins and let tourists take pictures holding the animals. I just wanted a clear shot of the deer, but it was far more interested in chewing on the scarf and boots of one of my fellow traveller.

Famine House - There were a few of these stone buildings along the way. They are houses of farmers abandoned during the great famine as they tried to get to Cork to ship out to North America or Australia. Farmers in Ireland are quite superstitious, so they leave the house ruins as they are out of fear of bringing bad luck to their farm. This one made a particularly good photo target with the cow standing at the door.

Torc Waterfall