O' Malley Irish tour 2016

 My tour with Mike and Julie O'Malley began in Cork this morning. We had met for the first time at breakfast at the hotel, and i knew from the start that this was going to be a lovely tour. They were so friendly, and excited about their Irish adventure.
Our journey today was to take us into West Cork, a beautiful rural area which was always a stronghold for Irish republicanism, and the birthplace of the famous Michael Collins, who was assassinated in this locality in a place called Beal na Blath.  In the picture above, we have Mike and Julie, standing at the memorial to this great patriot, who played a huge role in forcing the British to finally reach an agreement which was to return 26 of our 32 counties to the new Republic of Ireland in 1922. This led to Michael Collins death, as he was assissinated by his own Irish republican brothers, as they felt he had betrayed them by not holding out for the full 32 counties. Collins, and many more strong republicans, firmly believed that at that time there was no chance of the British giving any more, as they had been warned by the Unionists in the North of Ireland that they would go to war if Britain decided to force them into the new Republic, as they felt that they were British themselves.

 A cost free way to do your shopping. We pictured this lady in one of the many towns we passed through on our journey today.

 The town of Bantry is a very lovely town, and located right on the western side of Ireland, where Bantry Bay leads directly into the Atlantic with nothing left between us and the USA but that ocean to the west.

 Mike and Julie, pictured looking really happy together, with Bantry Bay in the background.

 Unfortunately, we had the odd shower of rain here and there today, and the dark cloud did nothing for the light in this picture of Mike and Julie on the hillside overlooking Bantry Bay.

Another lovely picture of the coast of Kerry as we made our way up the south coast on our way to Killarney, where we will be tonight. Note the lovely Fuchsia.
Tomorrow we are off on the famous Ring of Kerry, a journey around the Iveragh peninsula, starting and ending in Killarney town. Then on Friday we are touring Dingle, where we will be staying before moving on to Galway. Mike and Julie will be staying in Benners hotel in the centre of Dingle town, and i myself will be returning to a favourite place of mine, Pax House in Dingle also. I have very special memories of this place, my first time back there in some time.My last visit was very special and holds very special memories.

This was a really nice start to this tour, and our weather was very good for November, cool but not too cold, and only the odd shower or two as we travelled.
Make sure to follow along with us as we make our merry way around the south west of this beautiful country.