The Beara Peninsula, August 2003

In August 2003, we all went to the Beara Peninsula. Our destination was the ... Bear Island, or by some spelled Beara Island or Bere Island. On the way we passed through beautiful mountain ranges.
Roger was wearing his new Gondolier suit that he had got after Venice. He was really proud of it - and he frequently asked us if we'd admired it - yawn-yawn!

Click each photo to enlarge

Near Castletownbere we went to see the Derrintaggart Stonecircle as Barnaby wants to become an archaeologist and Tom wants to become an Irish tourist guide. The stones in the circle dates way back into pagan times.

Bear Island, August 2003

We went by ferry to Bear Island - or Beara Island as many people spell it. Roger and McBear got up to the upper deck from where we could see Bear Island in the horizon. Wow, we nearly went hyper, yeepee!

On top of Bear Island we had a marvelous view of the island and the surroundings and we could see an old English Martello tower in the horizon.

Bear Island, August 2003

Barnaby was excited to find yet another standing stone on Bear Island.

When the day ended we had to get back to the harbour and the ferry. McBear and Roger went for a walk on the beach.

To get back to our B & B we had to drive over the Healy Pass. The view from the top reached the skies in the horizon. Roger found this sentence very poetic, but then he heard McBear giggling.
"What's so funny?" Roger immediately asked.

"Not'n, Roger, not'n at all!" McBear replied.

Healy Pass, August 2003

On the north side of the pass the view was even more stunning with views down valleys and up to mountain tops.

We also went to see Dursey Island on the very end of the Beara Peninsula. In order to reach the island we had to use an old cable car. When Roger heard it was from 1969, he got a fright.
"Things that old should be dismantled and binned!" he claimed.
"I was born in the early sixties!" Bamse immediately gave out.
Roger being very polite - though sometimes a bit insultingly honest - apologized.

Dursey Island, August 2003

McBear and Roger went to study the island, but only found more or less deserted villages. Today, only 6 people still live on the island.

On the way back to Dublin we crossed the Iveragh Peninsula. Olivia, Barnaby, Irving, Erasmus and Big stopped to see the MacGillycuddy's Reeks with the highest mountains in Ireland.

Killorglin, Co. Kerry, August 2003

McBear and Roger went to Killorglin where people still celebrate an ancient pagan tradition: The Puck Fair. A goat is crowned for 3 days and then released back to the nature. A kind of a scapegoat. Roger didn't know what a scapegoat is. When McBear had explained, Roger couldn't imagine himself becoming a scapegoat. "I never commit sins, and nobody gets angry with me," he claimed. "But I wouldn't mind being crowned!"