No peeping...

.... who do you think this is?
After three days of vile weather the sun shone and we had a glorious day exploring parts of Kerry and quite a few bits of Limerick too. Ballyseede looked even more impressive in the sunshine but no time to linger, we were on our way to Adare Manor via two Kerry holy wells. 
First stop this one. Have you guessed who this is? I've been to quite a few wells in my time but never seen anything quite like this. A long walkway down by a whitewashed wall topped with blue then a large space full of benches and odd areas dominated by this truly enormous statue of St....., donated in 1923 after a miracle had occurred. See extra - the numbers are where you need to stop to pay the rounds, each stop is good for a certain part of you. 7 is the holiest site, reserved for those in wheelchairs. The whole thing was just an extraordinary mixture of kitch and utter devotion - you shall have to wait for my blog to see the painting of the Last Supper and the embroidered Jesus. The well is down the steps and though the water was abundant and clean, there were what looked like wriggly little worms on the top - maybe blessed elvers? A good sign in that case.
We then went on to Adare Manor. Robert and Finola had actually stayed here and on exploring the grounds had come across the grove of Ogham stones - moved to this site years ago from their original place in Kerry (we're now in Limerick by the way - catch up). Whilst examining them Robert noticed a recumbent stone with some odd markings on it. He put two and two together and somehow managed to identify that it was a long lost and rather special early Christian stone, also moved from its original site in Kerry. Anyway, they were back to do a proper recording - see extras of Himself and Finola hard at work and of the stone cleaned up and ready for recording.
Adare Manor, once home to the rather magnificently named Dunraven family (very Game of thrones, there's a theme here) didn't really do it for us - it was top-hatted lodgekeeper that set the tone and really, magnificent as the house is, it's all about golf and money and opulence. We liked the slightly shabby chic of Ballyseede better.
We had a wander round Adare village (actually longer than we anticipated for we couldn't remember where we'd parked the car), considered to be the prettiest village in Ireland but the lorries thundered through, it was crammed with Americans (sorry American blipfriends) and all a bit Oirish.
Our journey home took forever for we trusted Routie of the sat nav who, for some reason took us home via the tiniest roads imaginable and by the time we arrived in Bantry we needed chips! 
Right -  who do we think he/she is?

Backblip: To the Manor Born