So, we left the campsite at an unspellable and unpronounceable place near the oldest and best preserved oratory in Ireland. So well built, with corbelled stones, that it is wind and watertight to this day, and drove back in warm sunshine through Dingle, and on round both sides of Dingle Bay, to wind up on the Iveragh peninsula at a campsite at Cahersiveen, close to the weather station at Valentia, well known from the early morning shipping forecast as a coastal station. We had learned at the Foynes museum that this weather station, despite Ireland's neutrality in the second world war, provided vital forecasts prior to the Normandy landings.

Our campsite was one of the most expensive so far, despite free wifi. We had a pitch facing the sea, but a very long walk from the facilities. The weather held, and we had a quiet evening punctuated with walks on the shingly beach.

Next morning we took the ferry from the point over to the island of Valentia, and enjoyed an interesting drive to a so called tetrapod trackway. This was a sequence of animal footprints in stone, reckoned to be one of the first pieces of evidence of four footed creatures walking on land. It was right beside the sea and we had to hike down from a high car park to see them. The next bit of excitement was almost as tough on the van as the Conor Pass, a long climb straight up a mountain, followed by a zig zag down the other side. We had opted to follow the wibbly wobbly way route round the coast, instead of the more direct route to Waterville! The road surfaces in this part of Ireland are not as good as they were further north.

It was not a completely wasted effort, however, as Ju spotted a kestrel at the top. It was the first raptor either of us have seen in Ireland, and we were beginning to wonder if there were none! Everywhere we go, though, we hear skylarks all the time, there is no shartage of these lovely birds in this country.

We have been experimenting a bit with Jim, our onboard GPS, entering coordinates for campsites and so on. During this journey to Kenmare, we experimented with finding w particular shop. In this case Lidl, as we needed to stock up for the next few days. We had followed signposts in town which sent us out of town, and thought we would try to get Jim to take us there.

Jim told us to take the next left, into a single track road which took us deep into rural areas, with hardly any passing places. Suddenly, round a corner, we met a car! Thankfully it was a local and he knew where the passing place was, and reversed to let us by. Jim told us we still had 1.8 miles to go to find Lidl, but after what seemed an endless labyrinth of tight lane and surrounding trees, there was Lidl, and Supervalu! Saved!

We shopped, then made for the campsite, which Ju had found on the internet, not in our campsite booklets. It was there all right, but we had to camp in a field, with one tent in it. It was really OK, the only disappointment later in the evening was the midges, which are rampant here when the wind drops. The French camper in the tent complained to Ju about the small mosquitos! Oh yes!

It rained a bit overnight, and didn't clear up much during the day, although the outside temperature was about 18° C. We left Kenmare and decided to go towards Mizen Head, the most south westerly point on the Irish mainland. To get there we had to climb the Caha Pass on the N71. That was fun, as right at the top there was suddenly a long unlit tunnel. Mercifully nothing was coming the other way as it was not broad enough for vehicles to pass. Even with Reg's full beams on we could barely see anything except the hole at the other end getting steadily bigger! We made a pit stop in Bantry, checking out the tourist information for campsite info. It was quite the messiest town we have seen so far, so we were nonplussed to see a plaque on a wall announcing that it had been voted Ireland's tidiest town in 2008! It was very busy, however, Friday being market day.

Mizen Head, when we got there, was impressive. A radio station on an island connected to the mainland by a footbridge. And we could see the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse in the distance.

There was only one campsite on this peninsula, and it didn't allow dogs! So we travelled on, through two weddings and a funeral, to Skibbereen in County Cork, where a sensible quiet site awaited us. Jack was frightened by a donkey braying. There are loads of them here. We saw a whole field full of them on the way.

Tomorrow, on to Kinsale, Crosshaven and Cork, which we remember from our stay in 2008 on our way south with Little Else.

Here is Jack, asleep, head dangling, after a hard day!