A Castle, a kayak, and a cook

Friday 6 July, Middleton to Schull

First stop was Blarney Castle, were we could kiss the Blarney Stone to get the gift of the gab. I happen to have that gift already, and Kate was not yet feeling 100%, so we had breakfast, did a little shopping, and sat on the grass under a tree waiting for everyone else to return. (When they did, they said that the castle was pretty groovy - maybe we should have gone anyway.) But we didn't miss out on the next stop - a small stone circle in the middle of a field.

We stopped in Glandore for a lunch of killer ham and cheese toasties and photos of everyone, then headed over to a large river, where Kate and Christina and I went kayaking with a former Olympic kayaker while Natasha listened to Flanders and Swan. The kayak trip took us downriver to the river mouth and Union Hall, and upriver to a shipwreck. It was fun - if you're ever there, do it.

We stopped for the night at Schull where a few of us went on a quest for speedy internet access (which we didn't find) and ice-cream (which we did). We sat for a while on a park bench by the beach, eating our ice-creams (mine was booby-trapped) and discussing life, the universe and live theatre, then headed back to the hostel where we almost missed Gareth's home-made curry. (If you've never tried curry with bananas in it, you should.)

I spent the rest of the evening inflicting my attempt at an Irish accent on a bunch of kids on a school camp - the kids were from Belfast, some Catholic and some Protestant, and they seemed to get on just fine. (In the case of one boy and one girl, who vanished for several hours then reappeared looking rather smug, I suspect they got on exceptionally well.) When I looked surprised, one of the girls pointed out that international news reports only show Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants on the rare occasions when they're trying to kill each other, not the 98% of the time when they're living happily together. Good news, as they say, is no news.