18th July - Castlefreke

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Kms to day 0 but David drove around.
Kms to date 2,308

We had pullet eggs for breakfast and set off for Lis Ard at 10:30. Lis Ard was a grand country house which is now a function centre and hotel.
Lis Ard House.
During WW2 it was bought by the Swiss government as a bolt hole in  case Germany invaded. David wanted to show us the Sky Garden, a very special space inside a high earth dyke and accessed through a concrete tunnel.
The "Three Stooges" at the entrance to the Sky Garden.

Sacrificial nerds enjoying the Sky Garden.

In the middle were two stone "beds" that you could lie flat on feet to feet and have an uninterrupted view of the sky. Very ethereal.
David said "let there be light"!!
We left Lis Ard to have lunch in Mary Ann's and had an interesting conversation afterwards on the wharf with a guy from Portugal who built the special Castletownsend sailing boats unique to the area.
Then it was off to Baltimore where I used to catch the ferry to Cape Clear in the 1960's. It was a frantically busy place with a great hoard of  Laser dinghies coming in from a sailing lesson.
A view of Baltimore harbour from O'Driscoll's castle.
O'Driscolls castle, which used to be a ruin back in my day, had been restored and we did a tour. It had a display about the Algerian pirates which came in 1631 to raid the town and carry off more than 100 people to sell as slaves in Algiers. I always thought they were Phoenicians.
O'Driscoll's castle.
We ended up the day having a pint outside Bushes pub and watching the parade of NISITS walking by.
This tourist bit is thirsty work.
We agreed to come back the next day and take the ferry to Cape Clear for the day.

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