Monday, September 5 we decided to maximize what we could see on our one full day is Glasgow. It’s the largest city in Scotland and there’s only so much you can see on foot so we decided that the HoHo bus would allow us to see as much as possible. We took the 1hr 25 min loop and then decided where we would return to.

We went to the Riverside Museum, where we also saw the Tall Ship. The ship was closed because of a private function, which was unfortunate. The museum is all about every mode of transportation.

Next we went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which is a combination of art museum and natural history museum.

There is so much to see in Glasgow, but we don’t have enough time for more. Tomorrow we move on to Oban, which I’m really looking forward to.

Sunday, September 4 we flew on Ryanair from Dublin to Glasgow. I had heard a lot of negative things about Ryanair, but it wasn’t a terrible experience. We were off to a good start. We arrived in Glasgow and took a taxi to our hotel. We dropped off our luggage and walked to the Central Station to buy our rail cards for a bit later in the trip. We then walked around the area until it was time to find a place for dinner. We decided on an Italian place and we’re pleasantly surprised to find they have a specially priced Sunday menu. We ended up later at the hotel bar for a nightcap.

Almost there

Saturday, September 3 we left Galway and headed for Dublin. It was a rainy drive and we stopped at the Hill of Tara on the way. It is a hill and ancient ceremonial and burial site. Tradition identifies the site as the inauguration place and seat of High Kings of Ireland and also appears in Irish mythology. It dates from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. It was pretty wet and we decided to skip the other planned stop. After checking in to our airport hotel we had a late lunch/early dinner, then Jim and I returned the rent car to the airport. It’s good to have a little down time before the next part of the trip.

Friday, Sept 2 was our only full day in Galway. After getting a late start we walked into the old town and decided to take the HoHo bus to see as much as possible. It was a little disappointing, but we did see things we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. After doing some wandering around after we got off the bus we walked back to the house. It’s about a 25 minute walk. Tomorrow we return to Dublin, where we will stay in an airport hotel.

Thursday, September 1 we had a big adventure. We started it by taking a 7 minute flight to the island of Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. I was told to sit up front with the pilot. I guess I was essentially the co-pilot. Lol! I took a video of the flight from the beginning to the end, but I’m not able to post it here. If anyone wants to see it you can check it out on my Rhoe On The Go Facebook page. You don’t even have to be on Facebook to see it. It was so much fun and the fastest way to get to the island. We got there two hours before the earliest ferry arrived.

When we arrived in Inishmore we took the airport shuttle bus to town, then walked to where we were renting E-bikes for the day. I haven’t ridden a bike in a long time and have never ridden an E-bike, but now I want one. I was so thankful we had these instead of regular bikes because the island is very hilly with narrow winding roads. We rode from the eastern end of the island to the western tip.

We stopped at a small village and Marie and I hung out there while the guys hiked to Dun Aonghasa, the oldest stone Fort in Western Europe.

We continued riding on to the end of the road,

Unfortunately when we got to the end of the road my bike slipped on some loose rocks and I did a tuck and roll, gracefully (!) landing on my right side and injuring my ankle. It’s sore but I’ll be fine.

We rode back to the other end of the island. It takes an hour without any stops. Of course we made stops. By this time the island was quite busy after a few ferries had arrived and there were a lot of people walking and bike riding and tour buses were taking people around who preferred to see the island that way. Did I mention how narrow the roads are?

We returned the bikes when we got back because there was too much traffic and we were a bit saddle sore, plus my ankle hurt. We had lunch and wandered around the tiny town until it was time to get the shuttle back to the airport.

Lots of horse and buggies to take the tourists around.

Our flight back was on an even smaller plane and I was in the second row instead of the first. The view wasn’t quite as good as sitting in the front row, but was still enjoyable.

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After an early morning start and a long day we picked up food at the store and ate at home. It was a truly memorable day that we will be talking about for a long time.

Wednesday, August 31 we drove to Cong and Ashford Castle, located in County Mayo and in the Connemara region. Cong is a nice village, but not quite what we were expecting. We went on a nice nature hike here were they have both native plants and trees, but also Coast Redwoods and Sequoias. We didn’t see the sequoias and the redwoods are very young, but unmistakably redwoods.

It was a beautiful day for a nature walk.

After having some lunch we drove to Ashford Castle. We could have walked, but our legs were sore from climbing the winding staircases at Bunratty and tomorrow we are bike riding. We had to pass a guard when we arrived and we told him we were there for a falconry appointment, as suggested by someone we met on the hike. it worked and he told us where to park. So far so good. After parking we approached the castle and there was another guard. We were only allowed to cross the bridge to take pictures. Ashford Castle is enormous. It’s a very expensive hotel now and I think it’s safe to say we won’t be staying there any time soon. Or ever most likely unless we win the lottery.

After dinner at the house we walked to a local beach.

Tuesday, August 30 we left Dingle to make our way to Galway. On the drive there we stopped at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and enjoyed looking through the buildings. The Folk Park features over 30 buildings in a “living” village and rural setting. Rural farmhouses, village shops and streets are recreated and furnished as they would have appeared in that time according to their social standing. The castle is the most complete and authentic castle in Ireland. The site where it now stands was originally a Viking trading camp in 970. The present structure from the 15th century is the last of four castles to be built on the site.

Our house in Galway is big with plenty of room to spread out. Home sweet home for 4 nights.

Monday, August 29 we drove around the Dingle Peninsula on Slea Head Dr. Spectacular scenery and ancient sites are plentiful. The roads are narrow, sometimes down to one lane for two way traffic and at times very nerve wracking, but we survived it. We even were stopped by the Garda (police) as we approached them as we were driving. After we greeted each other they waved us on. Apparently they weren’t looking for us. Phew! Our first stop was at Fairy Fort and a petting area. Fairy Forts are also known as Rath or Lois and are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000 A.D. Those who believed in fairies did not alter them and the legend was that those who entered between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. would not leave alive. There were sheep, goats, donkeys and horses there for us to feed. We were warned to stay away from the pigs because they’re too mean.

Our next stop was was the Beehive Huts. Ringforts are the most numerous and widespread field monuments in Ireland. These forts are built from stone and would have been inhabited from ancient times to 1200 A.D.

The Blasket Islands sit off the coast at the tip of the peninsula and are the westernmost point in Europe. We went to the Blasket Centre where we learned about the small group of rugged people who inhabited Great Blasket Island. Their way of life has been well documented with books, many of which were written by island residents. The island was abandoned in 1954 when living there became unsustainable.

Here are a few other photos taken during the drive.

We ended the day with a nice dinner. Tomorrow we move on to Galway for 4 nights.

Sunday, August 28 after have a good breakfast at our B&B we set off exploring more of the lovely town of Dingle. I heard back from Pat the local historian and even though he’s very busy he would like me to call him to see if we can arrange a meeting time. Stephen advised that I should wait until after 12:30 to call. We walked through town and found a church with gardens that were open for us to walk through,

We continued our walk through town and along the harbor.

I called Pat Neligan and he asked if we could come at 2:00 this afternoon. You bet we can! We arrived at the Duinin House B&B at the appointed time and spent about 45 minutes with the delightful Pat. He was full of information about the Rice’s, primarily but not all about Count James Rice. James came to prominence in the late 1700’s much after my direct ancestors arrived in Colonial Virginia in 1650. James made many important friends throughout Europe and in his later years divided his time between Spa, Belgium and Bath, England. Coincidentally we spent almost a week in Spa in March of this year with our “Rice” cousins who live in Germany and we will be spending several days in Bath next month. My direct ancestors were wine merchants. Pat wrote a book about James Louis Rice, which I purchased from him. It’s called The Knave of Trumps, The Life & Times of Count James Louis Rice of Dingle 1730-1801. Apparently he wanted a different title but this is the title his editor suggested. Unfortunately the book was published in 2016 and after Trump’s election sales decreased. He also shared the family tree he made while doing research for his book. He related what information he had and told me about the cemetery on Main St. behind the church that contained a couple of graves. We warned that the graveyard was quite grown over and I would probably have difficulty locating the stones. Today marks the one month anniversary of the death of my uncle, Jack Rice Cohn, and I know how much he would have loved learning this information because he spent a lot of time researching the Rice family.

We met up with Marie & Jim and headed to the cemetery. Overgrown is an understatement and our search revealed nothing but at least we tried.

We had dinner outside at a hotel across the street from the church, then went to The Dingle Pub next door to the church to sit outside and listen to the music.

On Saturday, August 27 we left Kinsale and drove on small and winding roads all the way to Dingle. The distance is just over 100 miles and it took quite awhile. We did stop in Killarney to break up the driving.

Killarney is a cute large sized town that is fairly touristy thanks to the proximity to Killarney National Park.

We continued on to Dingle. I’ve been wanting to return since we were here for a short visit in 2009. We got to the B&B before check in and the owner allowed us to put our bags in the room, even though it wasn’t quite ready yet.

The B&B is walkable to everywhere in town, so that’s what we did. We walked up the street and I was looking for my ancestral home. Bingo, there it was! It’s a different color and a different business, but it’s definitely the same house.

The house is now the Dingle Further Education and Training Centre. It’s also known as the Rice House, which is the family name. My 8th & 9th great grandfathers were born in Dingle and immigrated to Colonial Virginia in 1650. I was able to trace my line of the Rice family back 4 more generations in Dingle. There is a connection with a different branch of the family that had a connection to Marie Antoinette.

We continued to walk around town and popped into a couple of shops. we also scoped out places with outdoor seating for our dinners for the next 3 nights and a pub that would have live music tonight that wouldn’t start too late. I guess we are officially old geezers now.

It was late enough, so we walked back to the B&B, put our things away and walked back down to the waterfront to choose where we would eat. Dinner was okay, nothing special. We won’t go back there. Choices with outdoor dining are limited but I’m sure we can do better. We headed for The Dingle Pub, chosen mostly for their clever name. Ha! While I went inside for a bit the others were outside and apparently were accosted by some very drunk women. When I came out one of them became very chatty with me, not knowing I was with the others and insisting I should become friends with Jim, Marie and JD because we are all from America. She was trying to get me to hug her and I told her to get away from me. Wow!

We decided Saturday nights were best left to the drunks. We will attempt hearing music again Sunday, when the weekend party people have gone home.

Stephen, our B&B host, told me about his old history teacher who had a lot of information about the Rice family and even wrote a book about one of them. He runs a B&B and Stephen suggested I contact him for further information. I emailed him and hope to hear back.