Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

Sunday August 04 2024

The first weekend in August is a bank holiday meaning most everyone get’s a three day weekend. So. everyone and their next door neighbour were out and about. I was up early with an evening destination of the Ouvane Falls Hotel near Bantry. So, I decided to stop at Blarney castle not far from Cork. Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone, also possesses 75 acres of gardens. The ruins of the castle where the stone is located had a line-up that was taking ages to move, it was raining lightly, and the stone is located in the upper part of the castle. I made a considered decision and went on a self-guided tour of the gardens. The collection of trees, ferns, plants, flowers and habitats is fascinating and well worth the walk. There is a private home, Blarney House, in the centre of the property that is not open to the public.

The blackbirds (above) gathered around the picnic table where I was eating a sandwich – chicken with onion stuffing, delicious! – and they were very adept at catching any crumbs tossed in their direction. Several of them thought they needed to share the table top with me but that wasn’t allowed. After lunch I checked out the line up again, decided I didn’t need to kiss the stone and headed off to the parking lot to find the car. Wasn’t five minutes down the road and the tire pressure gauge warning flashed and two minutes later there was a full fledged flat tire on the front passenger side of the vehicle. Remember, it’s a long weekend? I finally found someone at the rental company who sent a rescue vehicle. I had taken full insurance coverage, so it wasn’t a problem only time consuming. The solution was to put a spare on the vehicle, drive into Cork and replace the punctured tire. And then it was off on the next leg of my journey !