Hail the Kingdom

To visit the Skelligs, we had to travel to County Kerry, known as The Kingdom. Ciarraige in Irish translates as Ciar's Kingdom, which has been its name since the 6th century. It's a 5-hour drive and we had to stay overnight as the boats leave from Portmagee early in the morning. 

We departed from Mayo mid-morning. We made our usual potty stop in Tuam. We bought sandwiches there to have en route for lunch. We decided to stop and stretch our legs in the pretty village of Adare. The last time we stopped there was about 10 years ago. We took our lunch along to the park and sat watching people and pigeons while munching our way through delicious sandwiches. We haven't people watched in public in several years.

We then decided to break up the trip a little more by walking around the town. There were quite a few people around and we even saw a wedding, which has been a rare occurrence through the pandemic years. It was interesting to note that Adare looked very different than we both remembered it. I remembered many more thatched buildings and Alex remembered most of the buildings painted ochre. This time it seemed unremarkable and the traffic through town was abysmal. Mrs. Google Maps actually said to us something like, "You are experiencing a significant delay but you are on the best and only route through the area." We both cracked up laughing at Mrs. Google. 

Next stop, Cahersiveen. But we stopped at multiple 'miradors' along the way. After all, the Kingdom is beautiful and we were on the Ring of Kerry, although with much less traffic than I remember when I drove it with my niece 20 years ago. The vistas were dramatic. Unfortunately, we missed Tralee as Mrs. Google routed us via the road to Killarney and we didn't notice until it was too late. 

We had sailed to Valentia several times and are quite familiar with the area around the island. We had also cycled to Portmagee but had never visited Cahersiveen. The marina there has restricted access over a bar and we thought it had limited depth. At a keel depth of 8.5 feet, there are many places we can't get to, but by car we could certainly check it out. Whenever we are touring by road, we always check out the waterfront and marinas. 

Caherciveen turned out to be a very nice town with lots going on. The Marina, just a block or two from the centre and very nicely done. We were impressed by the size of some of the vessels accommodated and the grounds were beautifully maintained. There was even a yacht flying a Puerto Rican flag. We walked around and drove through, then continued on to Portmagee. 

We checked into our B&B around 5 pm, exactly when Alex told them we'd be arriving. It was just on the edge of town, away from the hustle but close enough to walk everywhere. Perfect! Masks on inside. Breakfast at 8 am. We dropped our bags and hoofed it into town to order our lunches for the next day's trip and suss out the goings on. 

There were people having drinks and snacks at the large outdoor seating area by the Fisherman's Bar where we were booked in for dinner. We sat down and had our first pints in two years -- outdoors, fully vaccinated, unmasked, along with dozens of others. Really?  It was possible? Could it be?

When we were nearly done, they needed the table for diners so we returned to the room for a brief break before dinner. I read a few chapters of Sinead O'Connor's book (highly recommended) while Alex reviewed email. 

Back to the Fisherman's for dinner. It was an easy choice for me and when Alex suggested exactly what I was contemplating, we jumped at the seafood platter for two. It was phenomenal. But huge and we couldn't finish it all. So we brought the leftovers home for dinner the next night. 

Overall, it felt exceedingly 'normal' for the first time in two years. Our little break to visit Skellig Michael proved a good impetus for restarting our lives.