Derrynane

Monday's trip was a bus ride (yes!) back to where we'd been the day before. Nice not to have to walk back there. We then walked for about 45 minutes up to Torc waterfall. Torc means 'wild boar'. The water running off the mountain takes on a very brown color due to the peat. When it rushes over the rocks, the foam is very creamy. It looks just like a rushing river of Guinness. Really!

After that little taster, we head for the main course. It was over an hour along what looked like a goat track to us. Never more than a foot wide at any part. And there were rocks to get up and down. On a big one, I just sat down and slid on my butt. Those sticks really came in handy.

This path was called the 'Mass path" and villagers would use this path whenever they went to the church for Mass. This was a shortcut. Imagine those poor women hurrying along in all their petticoats. We were told that if it had been raining we would not have gone. I think I would have been tempted to play sick. It was pretty brutal. Our self-esteem went sky-high when we finished.


And our dessert was this beautiful beach. It looked like it could have been in \hawaii. Turquoise water and crashing surf. Too bad we were all decked out in our hiking gear. We didn't look at all ridiculous trekking through the sand with our boots and sticks!

Another half-hour walk along the beach brought us to Derrynane which is the country home of Daniel O'Connell, a very important man in Irish history.


And now to put it all in perspective. We are standing high up on a hill above where we've just spent several hours. The dark 'bump' on the right of the bay is our starting point. The beach where we ended up is on the left.