The Kerry Way is an Irish Blessing

After two long, hard days of travel (Athens-->London-->Cardiff, Wales-->Rosslare, Ireland-->Caherdaniel, Ireland) we were up not quite bright and not quite early for a full Irish breakfast at the Scarriff Inn. We were served white and black pudding with it, naturally, and Theo wouldn’t tell us exactly what it was until we tried it. I liked them both, but the black pudding was a little too salty for me. It was an overall delicious meal. (The white pudding tastes a lot like goetta, which our Cincinnati friends turned us on to several years ago.)

After breakfast we drove into Caherdaniel, parked the van, and set out to meet the Kerry Way trail. We were going to hike from there to Waterville to stay at The Smuggler’s Inn. The weather was cold and rainy, and everyone we would talk to would apologize for it.

Still, I loved the hike. We saw so many different wildflowers, and I turned our attentions to noticing them all. The girls were given a task - make mental notes and observations that we would then include in our homeschooling work.

When the trail took us toward the beach in Derrynane National Park, we began to see snails. They were all different colors and sizes. Some were paired up - procreating, maybe?

With about thirty minutes to go before the halfway mark, four pairs of legs were quite done. We made it to The Scarriff Inn for lunch. Theo and Zoe wanted to carry on the hike to Waterville; the rest of us did not. They left and we caught a taxi to our van.

I drove the van to our next stop - on the left, on bendy roads, in the mist! The van stalled three times in the first two minutes; I am not used to driving a stick-shift on hilly roads.

The Smuggler’s Inn was very nice. Theo and I had our own room, and Michelle and the girls had the other room. Dinner was one of the top three meals I’ve had on this trip. The presentation was gorgeous, the food absolutely delicious. Theo and I shared a bottle of white wine, and I even developed a liking for Guinness and Murphy’s. It was one of my favorite days of the trip so far, and as I sit here feeling grateful for it all I am reminded of an old Irish blessing, one I sang with my high school choir at our graduation:

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be ever at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

May the rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of his hand