Saturday April 29 showers forecasted. But….we have a bit of almost everything.

Hail when we left Friars, then rain, then a bit of sun, then sustained winds of 22 mph with significantly higher gusts.  Dangerous gusts it turned out.

View of Friars Guest house of last evening. Both places we have stayed so far have been lovely and very friendly as well as helpful with advice and planning.

First a summary of the terrain. A climb up Stone steps to a waterfall, a bit more climbing until a long and somewhat boring section on a mid-plateau. Very windy. Local walkers gave up climbing.

Then into a slightly bogggy section climbing up again, except this time over sharp, very difficult rocks. Steep climb, about 45 minutes of these difficult rocks. The high gusts made the ascent quite dangerous. We should not have been doing this today. Similar days on the Southwest path of Cornwall we bagged as too dangerous.

After a section walking on good wooden boards with howling winds we finally descended. Usual Forest type descent. 

After hitting Galway bridge the winds stopped and the road was easier after a short rocky section.

Day starts at Torc waterfall, the largest in Ireland. Better picture will be on Flickr when we have improved bandwidth.

We will remember the National Park for its trees and very loud birds, oftentimes so loud we had to repeat our conversation. 

Took a carriage to the waterfall. Avoided walking back several kms over the same paths. The carriage is called a jaunting car.

Above is a view of both Muckross house and the horse.

Lunch along the way.

Some scenery follows.

Our accommodation at Hillcrest. Run by the same persons for the past 42 years. Simple, friendly, with WiFi, clean, home cooked dinner.

Kerry blackface sheep. With horns.