The morning report on the efficacy of Broncho Stop: I slept through the night with no chest congestion and no coughing after only one dose. Two thumbs up! I took it again this morning.
Breakfast was served at 8am. We learned that two other couples had joined the B&B yesterday - one pair of walkers from Oregon and the other pair, from Edmonton, were cycling the Kerry Way. Alan seemed to be moving a little easier today, and mentioned that he was feeling some improvement. I am grateful to have been able to be able to repay his kindness in some small way.
The others all went on their way to start this difficult section early (they opted to shorten the hike by about 5km) and the luggage transfer was picked up. We were able to stay in our room for a little longer. Bill took advantage to the opportunity for another foot soak.
Alan does a lot of the manual labor around here - breakfast, laundry, make up rooms, replace windows, you name it! Before we left, we met his wife, Ann, and daughter Sarah. Ann does a lot from behind the scenes.
As we walked back downtown to catch the 12:45 bus to Waterville, we still cannot believe how clean and crisp most of Ireland is. This section of the street was quite colorful, mostly because these buildings are occupied with businesses. Unfortunately, there are many buildings, homes, and shops that remain empty along the main street in this quiet little town. Even Alan said that there isn't much for jobs here anymore and the youth are going elsewhere.
Speaking of the youth, while waiting at the stop, a group of teens all gathered to get on the bus taking them to Killarney for the day. I am sure that they all feel like they are breaking free of this little town, even if only for the day.
Once we arrived in Waterville, we stopped at The Lobster for a bowl of chowder. It strangely felt like they were running their restaurant as a cafeteria with soups, fish pie, and chicken burgers all made up, ready for a crowd. My goodness, there was all of five of us there and it was well past 1:30! However, we hadn't been seated for three minutes when a bus load of tourists came in for their lunch. We had a little chuckle and we're especially thankful we aren't yet ready to take bus tours.
A little further down, we had a run in with Charlie Chaplain. He is honored here, in Waterville, because he spent a fair number of summers here to enjoy the peace and solitude of the area.
The rocky beach was quite beautiful and we took the footpath along it for a ways. We came upon one of the Transatlantic Cable Landing Sites. It is quite fascinating to learn about.
No, I am not posing for the camera, just keeping hair under control in this wind.
From here, we started walking toward our B&B. Google maps said it was about a 30 minute walk up the quieter road along the shore. At our speed, it was closer to 40 minutes. Bill's foot was ready to stop by the time we got there. We could have waited for our host to pick us up, but also didn't want to be an inconvenience.
We met our host, Breda. This home appears to have had recent renovations. Carpets, bathrooms, paint...everything was fresh! We had a huge room with a king-sized bed and a sitting area overlooking the front drive through the bay window.
We relied on Breda to pick a place for us and she did not steer us wrong. She dropped us at O'Dwyer's, as in Mick O'Dwyer's Public House. From the outside, it didn't look like much, perhaps a little run down. It was a typical pub on the inside with a large specials board.
While waiting for our meal, Fred filled us in on the trail conditions. It had rained twice in the day, which made for extremely wet, muddy conditions. In some of the boggy spots, he was using his poles to help launch from one clump of heavy grass to another in the bog. It was a challenging day, to say the least. We toasted to his success and the day.
Dinner arrived. I ordered lamb cutlets (to help erase the mutton trauma) and Bill had the burger (with chowder as a starter).
With the President's Cup golf on the TV near us, we were pulling for the International team and once again enjoyed each other's company. Breda's husband, John, picked us up to chauffeur us back where we settled in for the evening. We missed the sunset, unfortunately. Bill got another foot soak in - Breda got a bin for him to use - and we readied for bed.
Tomorrow, we catch the bus to Caherdaniel!