The summation of today is the sun may be shining but the kids still get wet.
After a rocky night in the van with the winds blowing all night long, we woke to blue skies. There were still occasional showers creating beautiful rainbows over the sea but the weather was certainly better than yesterday. With this in mind we set off for our first stop with the hope of getting some beach time later in the day at our final destination.
Anyway back to the first stop of the day. This was a little bit further round the Ring of Kerry and today's drive certainly had the better views of the trip so far (although maybe the weather helped with this). There was again a few narrow roads to navigate in the last few km but the Kells House and Gardens at least had a dedicated "large vehicles" carpark just past the entrance gates that we took advantage of.
Kells Gardens are the main attraction where a tropical garden filled with tree ferns has been supplemented with a rope bridge and several dinosaur models carved into wood, often making use of old trees/stumps in situ.
The kids had a great time hunting out the various dinosuars some of which have become quite overgrown and hidden. And whilst Forrest may have been confused by some of the inaccuracies between the carvings and their nominated dinosaur species this didn't seem to spoil the fun at all.
With the kids, well Paloma, starting to get a bit hangry we headed off to our final destination of the day near Rossbeigh where we planned to have lunch on the van. When we were planning this trip we wanted to include a few wild camping nights and for us this was the only one that fitted in the schedule. As such we wanted to get to the location early to make sure we could secure a spot. In the end we were the first two motorhomes to arrive and whilst other vans turned up later on we enjoyed a peaceful private area for lunch and a quiet afternoon of playing games. This location is just south of Rossbeigh and we assume was originally a viewpoint that was regularly used by motorhomes and more recently has been semi-adopted by locals who ask for a small donation to maintain the area. It doesn't offer the electric hookup, fresh water or toilet/shower facilities of all the other camps, but the van is fine to do at least one night off grid.
When we were sure the rain showers had passed (and the final whistle had blown at Carrow Road) we walked down the old road, that is no longer fit for vehicles due to erosion, to Rossbeigh Strand. The kids have been desperate to get some time to bodyboard together and the weather was kind to us and gave us about an hour when this was finally possible.
As the tide started to come in and the temperature started to drop the kids decided they had had enough and it was time to warm them up in the local pub with a hot chocolate and a quick bite to eat. Of course we had to have a drink too!
We then headed back to the vans with pudding supplied by the wild blackberry bushes along the way.
Blogged by Amber.
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