Today we went for a fantastic pony trek into Killarney National Park with Killarney Riding Stables. Rowan was very excited to go on her first hack without being led (mom was a bit nervous about this), Erik had never ridden English style before but has ridden western quite a lot, and sweet little Walker has hardly done any riding at all so he was led by a guide who rode beside him on horseback and held a lead rope. After arriving we were introduced to our ponies/horses; Walker rode Archie, Erik rode a very large James, I rode Solomon, and Rowan rode Robin. They were all very sweet and sound, but with fun personalities. Robin was a small gelding pony who thought he was a very large Stallion and he and James did not get along at all so had to keep their distance.
Our ride lasted an hour and we got great views of the Killarney Lakes. We had fun trotting around and one of the guides pulled me aside for a few canters which was great fun!
After lunch we drove up to the bottom of the "Gap of Dunloe", a very dramatic mountain pass. It is listed as a "must-see" in travel books and was definitely not a disappointment. There are several ways of seeing the gap (car is not one of them):
- By Foot - you can walk up the "road" which takes approx. 2.5 hours one way. Uphill mostly. Though the children have done several hikes of this length, and much harder, we thought simply walking along a road was a bit boring for this amount of time.
- By Bicycle - Yeah right. I am the weakest link in this option.
- By Jaunting Car - Now your talking!
As we drove up to the first parking lot we were approached immediately by a gentleman offering us a jaunting car ride up the gap. I noticed right away that this was not anywhere near as smooth a ride as our jaunting trip the other day and questioned our decision to eat lunch before coming. Also different was that our driver was standing at the back of the cart rather than sitting in front of it. Our driver explained to me that they are not referred to as "jarveys" up here. They are "pony men" and drive these carts which have two wheels instead of four because the 4-wheelers would not do well on the bumpy steep roads. The ride up was fantastic, the views were amazing and once again our "pony man" had lots of fun stories, geological explanations, and mythological stories about the area.
Coming down we had a bit of a fright. As we were rounding a corner right beside a lake, the horse (whose name I cannot pronounce nor spell but was authentically Irish) stopped suddenly in his tracks (from a quick downhill trot). Our driver went flying forwards and landed on the front of the cart. He got very nervous and was shouted gaelic instructions at the horse who was getting increasingly agitated. The driver handed me the reins ("Here, hold these") and jumped out of the cart to try and sort things out. The horse then is trying to turn around (we are on one-way cart sized path beside a lake) and run. I quickly do the math:
1 spooked horse pulling cart + family of four in thee cart - driver of cart = one horsewoman holding the reins and is going to have to drive this thing down the mountain.
The driver shouts at us to get out quickly. We get out and start walking down the road. As we round the corner causing the problem we notice there is a goat hidden in the bush. I alert the driver as this was obviously what has set the horse off. He carefully gets a very reluctant Irish Draught horse past the "horse eating goat" (this is how the horse saw it!). Afterwards, we climb back in the cart and enjoy the rest of the trip. The driver was very flustered and was worried we were all going to end up in the lake.
We head back to our cottage and I am looking forward to relaxing for a few hours before dinner. Now, anyone who has been married for any length of time knows that there are some fundamental differences between spouses that become quite obvious after a few vacations together. Ours is that Erik hates to sit. Neither one of us likes to sit too much, but Erik's idea of relaxing that afternoon was finishing his Guiness. Once the "sweet nectar from the Irish Gods" had recharged Erik's body and soul, he was keen to get out again. Erik and I have been married nearly 10 years and I feel comfortable and secure enough in our marriage now to tell him to have a nice time, take the children, and that I'll be here waiting for them when they return. Which is exactly what happened. Erik took the kids for a fun river walk above the Torc Waterfall. They had great fun rock hopping and exploring and only 2 or the 3 of them got soakers.
Another great day.
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| Walker in Gorse |
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| Dandelion kids |
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| Rock hopping above the Torc Waterfall |
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| Soaker #1... Rowan was next |
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