"Greatest flood in recent memory" - generally not a good sign
So, mid last week I emailed Daniel and Emily with a link to a European news article describing the immense flooding in Ireland, with a comment stating "ok guys, be prepared to get wet..."
(Click on the picture below to see our latest pictures!)
 |
| To and Around Killarney |
Little did we know, my statement could not really have been any truer. We were not very affected in Dublin, and saw a few large pond-shaped puddles in some of the fields yesterday, but today the flooding really affected us. We had two potential choices for today - a day trip to Cork and the surrounding area...or a trip to Ross Castle and checking out the first quarter of the Ring of Kerry.
Okay. So as we were leaving this morning (after another divine Irish breakfast), we asked the front desk for some basic directions. When they found out where we were hoping to go they made a face. Never a good sign. One woman said that she had tried to go to the castle the previous day and couldn't even get there because of flooding. Another woman said that Mulls gap - part of our way to reach the Ring of Kerry had been closed for days and she didn't think it was open yet.
Well..we decided to see for ourselves, but Emily and I made Daniel promise that we would only try to find places if he agreed that whenever we said turn back it's too dangerous, he would actually...turn back. He hesitated but more or less agreed. So we set out for the castle first...and ended up stopping when we reached the point that not only were the forests on either side flooded up to road level, but there were waves rippling across the road and two boats stranded on the pavement.
Turning around.
So we headed back to the main road to see if Mulls Gap was closed. We had a few close calls - areas where the water was so high on both sides of the road another hour or two of rain would flood the road over completely - and areas where waterfalls had formed down the sides of cliffs and mountains rather than natural trickles that may normally have existed. Some of these waterfalls dumped out across the road as you drove past.
We stopped in some gorgeous places along the way - in Killarney National Park we stopped to check out Torc Falls which were roaring with a vengence and were truly an out of control waterfall and rapids. We also stopped at many places along our way up to the "Ladies View of Killarney" which provided us with a gorgeous lookout over mountains and a valley that was very overly full of water. It seems like there is a lake there - that was now many feet over full.
Challenges? It was raining the entire time - so taking pictures safely and not getting the camera wet or getting raindrops on the lens was quite a feat, it was reallllly windy, so it was hard to convince yourself to get out of the car at times (Emily took a lot of coaxing), darkness falls early and quickly - so we really had to watch the time and make sure we made it back before night fall, and the speed limit was 100 kimmies - which is ridiculous because even at 60, every being in the car was white-knuckling it.
We came back before dark and Emily and I went shopping for a little over an hour before the shops close (they all close between 5:30 and 6). After that we came to retrieve Daniel for dinner and went seeking a yummy traditional Irish pub for our meal. We were out pretty late last night, and we need to get up pretty early tomorrow morning to tackle Dingle Peninsula and drive to Ennis, so we made tonight an early night.
So far we are having an excellent time, we are laughing incessantly, have eaten so much we have not felt hungry since we boarded the plane, and are hoping for slightly better weather tomorrow. We're embracing the flood that the locals claim is the worst they have ever seen - we could be disappointed (because it has definitely botched some of our plans), but we're trying to enjoy the fact that we are here during a historic time and enjoy the country regardless (which we definitely are!)
Congrats to Chris who closed on his home today - we're really excited to have a new neighbor! And extra hugs and thoughts to Kristi!
We'll keep you posted as we hopefully have clear roads to visit the Dingle Peninsula tomorrow (the title of which sends Daniel and Emily into fits and giggles)...Daniel has even developed a Dingle Dance to prepare for our visit tomorrow :)
Good Grief.
Cheers!
-Beth, Daniel, and Emily
No comments:
Post a Comment