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Ballycotton

Ballycotton fishing port is like most small Irish fishing ports. The fish quota has been filled and the boats are floating idle in the harbour. The famous Ballycotton lifeboat, distinct in it’s red livery, bobbing up and down in the midst of the other boats. The masts now just providing perches for the sea birds. Our next stop was Barry’s Court Castle for a brief stop before the main attraction of the day, Fota Island. Fota Island is an island!!!!! It is also a sort of open zoo where many animals are allowed to mingle with each other and with visitors. It is in many ways an example of how a zoo should be. I would have liked to have stayed longer but there was a long drive ahead. We moved on to Cork city. It is many years since I was in Cork. To say that the place has changed would be an understatement. When I knew it first it was felt like a town, now it is a city. Even the pretty little village of Ballincollig is bypassed. We drove on towards Killarney, my two companions taking the opportunity to get some sleep on the way. We passed by the Paps and arrived in the effective tourist headquaters of Ireland, Killarney. The Torc waterfall and the Upper Lake were visited in the evening. For a while it looked like the boatman would not be there to take us around the lake, but he turned up eventually. He told us the legends about the lake and surrounding area. The journey out was tranquil but on the way back the wind picked up and conversation was impossible. We got off the boat at Five Mile Bridge. After dinner Cosmin and Gabriela retired for the night. I went for a walk back into Killarney. I saw the hotel my parents stayed in on their honeymoon almost 50 years ago. I will tell you a story about that. My parents were married in the month of January. When they arrived at the hotel there were not many guests nor were there many staff working there. Bathrooms adjoining bedrooms were a thing of the future, at least for this hotel. A basin, a jug of water and a chamber pot provided all the required conveniences. Unfortunately my parents room had not been fully cleaned after the last guest . The chamber pot required to be emptied. In the evening my parents came down stairs for tea. My Dad told a waitress that the previous guest in his room had left something behind. The waitress went to check the room expecting to find shoes, clothes or maybe a wallet.. For the duration of my parents stay anytime my parents met this waitress, she could hardly keep from laughing. That is about it for this evening. Good night dear reader.