Minard Beach and Ceol Agus Craic, Lios Póil, Kerry - 6th August 2017

In the morning, we drive just up the road to Minard Beach, home of the mid-16th-century Minard Castle, which defied Oliver Cromwell's attempt to destroy it with explosives in 1650. It's pretty rainey, but it's still a nice hour or two messing around, where the boys discover an actual Sea Monster - a smelly blob of mutant tentacles which turn out to be a load of Goose barnacles stuck to a rope. Then, after the Féile Lios Póil in the nearby community centre, the village de-camps to O'Sullivan's bar just up from the house, where not only is there some trad music, but it's also the semi-final of the all-Ireland Hurling championships on TV, featuring vaguely-local Galway versus Tipperary. The next day, we go back to Minard beach, where the weather's a bit better.

next album: Surfing Achill Island, Oileán Acla, Maigh Eo, Ireland - 8th August 2017
previous album: The Annascaul 10k Run, Abha na Scáil, Kerry, Ireland - 5th August 2017

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Isobel watches the boys on the beach

Isobel watches the boys on the beach

The boys run around in the rain

A wet Minard Castle, wrecked by Cromwell's army

The wide sands

Harry has got some seaweed

The boys discover a barnacle 'sea monster'

The beach displays some epic geology

Harry stands next to the rocks

Fred waves a giant bit of seaweed around

A soggy beach

Isobel and Harry on the beach

Bright red lifebuoy and Minard Castle

Fred runs off

The car waits on the road

The boys watch telly in the lounge

A holiday kitchen, and its amazing views

We return to Minard Castle on a brighter day

Stacked pebbles on the beach

The whole gang on the beach

A headland at Minard

Philly and Isobel walk around on the beach

A wide-angle Minard Castle

Fred's found more bivalve molluscs

Harry's got a hat from somewhere

Colourful flowers in the cliffs

A toilet in a field, sort of

A new building goes up down the road

Cake stall action in the Féile Lios Póil

Cístí Beaga

Some Irish dancing is set up

A boy picks his nose as a girl starts dancing

More cakes in the village hall

Irish dancing on stage

Outside, it's lashing rain

Soggy sheep in a pen

A solitary sheep stands around in the rain

Isobel chats to a giant dude

The giant chats to the boys

All about Tomás Ághas, of the 1916 Easter Rising

The Lios Póil community centre

Harry goes nuts at the top of the road

The 'Kerry plant' iun flower

Fred gets the beers in

There's some trad going on in O'Sullivan's bar

The back of the bar is all 70s and 80s icons

Guitar and fiddle action

Fern, Faith, Fred and Harry

Faith shouts about something

Philly and Davida

Harry looks shocked

More fiddling

Nosher's pint of Guinness

Fern whispers something to Fred

In O'Sullivan's bar

The kids hang around

A view of the stage

Faith and Fern

Nosher visits the chipper to get some food

We eat chips in the pub

Davida roams around in front of the chipper

We head back to the house

Philly meets the donkey and 'Headey' the Alpaca

Faith gets a stroke

Walking up the road from Kate's Cross