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And then some.... here I was in my rain gear at the top of the Gap of Dunloe, Killarney NP just yesterday, leaning forward to stay upright. This is July in Ireland. First time on a bicycle I can recall being blown uphill by the wind. Glad I weren't going about it in the other direction.



Took a day to look for white-tailed eagles, like our baldies but bigger, didn't find 'em. That would be my binocs under my jacket.

'nother layover day today here in Killarney, a laid back sort of outdoorsy/touristy mecca, with rain. I was all set to jet to Cobh by tomorrow but it turns out the ferry to France ain't 'till Saturday. Taking a day to tweak the bike and catch upon things in general.

Anyhoo, Day 7, still in Scotland, the pass from Loch Lomond to the sea Loch Fyne and Inveraray on the Kintyre Peninsula, home of the Campells and the Dukes of Argyl.





Near as I could tell this pass was my one and only episode of "Scottish Highland" as in open moorland.

The Kintyre Peninsula, more'n 100 miles long and maybe ten miles wide encompases some serious real estate, home of the Campbells, McKintyres et al. and definitely is NOT "highland" by appearance, topgraphy or vegetation. Furthermore turns out the Argyll at the time brung in a bunch of Border Lowland Scots to repopulate the place after a devastating smallpox epidemic in the 1600's. IIRC Argyll and his Campbells came down on the British side in the Uprising of '45, that might explain why.

Anyways, Loch Fyne in the evening (about 10pm local time), this long inlet from the sea has gotta be like 40 miles long...



...and the residence of his Lordship hisself, the Argyll, built in the 18th Century after the Duke at the time decided to make Inveraray (rhymes with "Tipperary") his official residence....