The road from Kenmare to Moll’s Gap is closed, so we have to take a guess at which narrow road to take to reach the Gap, so that we can continue toward Killarney. Today we happened upon a really good route that made for a speedier trip.
En route to Killarney National Park there are some pretty good views of the lakes in the park. We parked in a lot that is near to the Torc Waterfall which draws a lot of people. The path up to the waterfall is constructed like a freeway.
After stopping briefly at the falls, we continued on to walk up Torc Mountain. Torc Mountain is so popular that they have laid railway ties covered with hardware cloth up the mountain to prevent erosion. The remainder of the trail is rock, which is a lot better than walking along railway ties.
When we reached the summit, a couple of young Germans were up there so we talked to them for quite some time about travel. The Germans travel a lot, so we asked them where they have been and where they are planning to travel in the future. Last summer, they visited BC and Alberta and did some hiking. They thought that Canada was very expensive, with the exception of fuel.
As we were about to descend, a big squall came in with wicked wind and rain, so we tore off like bandits to get down the mountain as fast as we could. Although, this is not our type of mountain to walk, it was perfect for today as we got back to Kenmare at a reasonable time for a change.
We are off to Cork city tomorrow, where we will return the rental car; therefore, we will have to slow down or make our way around on foot or by public transit. However, one of the major bus companies is going broke and their workers are currently on strike. We will be in Cork for three nights before heading back to Dublin to fly home, and it has all gone by too fast, ack!
Our destination: Torc Mountain in the distance
View of Upper Lake, Killarney National Park
Torc Waterfall
View from summit of Torc Mountain
View of Muckross House from Torc Mountain
The History of Ireland continues...
More Troubles, 1973 - 1980
The IRA began to target the British army with car-bombs which caused many casualties; they also bombed shops in Northern Ireland cities and towns, killing civilians. In retaliation, Unionist death squads patrolled the streets of Northern Belfast and the roads of mid-Ulster, killing Catholics, one such group called themselves the Shankhill Butchers.
Membership in the IRA was illegal, but membership in the unionist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association was perfectly legal until 1992; even though the group was responsible for killing Catholic civilians. The IRA began bombing in England and killing politicians.
The legal proceedings regarding the arrest of paramilitary suspects was changed. Previously, suspects were political prisoners, now they would be tried in open court as criminals, but did not receive jury trials and the evidence required to convict was not as rigorous. Several IRA prisoners went on a hunger strike and demanded they be allowed to wear their own clothes and not prison issue. One of the hunger strikers, a prisoner named Bobby Sands ran for election for a Northern Ireland seat in the British Parliament while in prison on a hunger strike. He won his seat but Prime Minister Thatcher would not meet any of the demands, Bobby Sands and nine other prisoners died of starvation. Shortly after this incident, prisoner of war status was restored to political prisoners. Sympathy for the hunger strikers in Ireland and around the world was substantial.
Troubles Continue
Sinn Fein became politically active and took 13% of the vote in the 1983 general elections in Northern Ireland. The war between the IRA and British security forces continued in the 1980s, although the death toll was a fraction what had occurred in the 1970s, with the total less than 100 deaths throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
No comments:
Post a Comment