title Liverpool to Baile an Sceilg, County Kerry, Ireland - 30th July 2017 intro After discovering that car hire for our two-week trip to Ireland was nearly as much again as the holiday itself, it was decided that Nosher would drive our own car over to Kerry instead and pick up Isobel and the boys from Kerry Airport. This first required a 4.5 hour drive to Liverpool, which would have been fine apart from trapped nerve in the lower back which went off about four hours before leaving, and which involved almost getting trapped in the bogs at Sandbach Services on the M6, thanks to some extreme pain. Nosher's last visit to Liverpool had been on a school trip to the two cathedrals back in around 1977, and so it was good to have a couple of extra hours to go and visit "Paddy's Wigwam", otherwise known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, for the second time. And in an almost-unique reversal of childhood memories - completely unlike, say, Wagon Wheels - it actually seemed a lot bigger now than it did at the time. Sadly, the cathedral itself was closed for a service, so it wasn't possible to check whether the inside still smelled like a densist's surgery - another memory from the first visit. The biggest revelation though was reserved for the journey from the cathedral to the Port of Liverpool near Bootle, where unexpectedly epic scenes of dereliction were beheld - mile after mile of abandoned warehouses and now-cleared wasteland hinted at both how staggeringly vast the docks of Liverpool once were and just how much they have disappeared since. The knackered back didn't allow much walking-based exploration, but it was absolutely amazing and was probably worth a whole day of poking around in its own right. Eventually, after checking on board the overnight freight ferry and crashing out in the cabin for eight hours, arrival in Dublin occurred at about 5.30am, so there was a bit of time to swing by Da Gorls' house, as they're always up at stupid o'clock anyway, and crash out for a couple of extra hours before the 3.5 hour drive down to Kerry Airport in Ireland's south west, and beyond to our first port of call - Baile an Sceilg, deep in the Gaeltacht. imgc7036 The derelict Littlewood's building is spotted imgc7039 The epic derelict Littlewood's Building imgc7040 The J&C Moores Ltd building imgc7042 The Celtic Corner pub in Liverpool imgc7043 Chinese takeaway on Green Lane imgc7045 Liverpool's Catholic cathedral imgc7048 View of the Anglican cathedral from the steps imgc7051 The cathedral's central "wigwam" imgc7052 Modernist sculpture imgc7055 The streets of Liverpool through stained glass imgc7056 Great Orford Street and some basic graffiti imgc7058 The revamped Albert Dock, near the Liver Building imgc7060 An epic derelict warehouse imgc7062 Cleared docks imgc7063 Derelict wet dock and clock tower imgc7064 Some of the acres and acres of cleared wasteland imgc7065 More of the epic derelict warehouse imgc7066 Clarence Graving (Dry) Dock imgc7067 Some business cling on near Clarence Graving Dock imgc7069 An old swing-bridge control room imgc7070 A warehouse that looks like an aircraft hangar imgc7071 More derelict warehouses imgc7073 Down at Liverpool Port imgc7075 Nosher's room for the night imgc7077 The Winkies in Dublin Bay at around 5am imgc7079 The new Poolbeg Generating Station imgc7081 Poolbeg, near the Winkies imgc7083 A view from the ferry imgc7087 Looking up the Liffey imgc7088 Nosher's car and random other vehicles imgc7089 The Odlums silos on the docks imgc7093 Nosher drives through Killarney to kill time imgc7095 Street and barbershop in Killarney imgc7096 Farranfore station in the rain, after a car kip imgc7103 Bridge over the railway at Farranfore imgc7105 Farranfore station manages to look derelict imgc7107 Isobel and the boys pile out of Kerry airport imgc7108 Crowds outside Kerry Airport imgc7109 Cashing in on the Force Awakens connection imgc7111 Our €20 just gets us fish and chips for tea imgc7112 Cable O'Leary's bar imgc7113 The Roving Swan - the world's oldest Seine boat imgc7116 Fred runs around imgc7117 There's some rock/trad in Cable O'Leary's imgc7118 Trad music in the pub imgc7119 Outside, Fred kicks around imgc7121 Our first view of the beach imgc7122 A boat out at sea imgc7123 There are palm trees on the beach and everything imgc7129 Dancing breaks out in Cable O'Leary's imgc7133 Harry's not impressed by the noise imgc7139 Guitar and fiddle imgc7144 A drunk dude does some drunk-old-man dancing imgc7148 There are just a few empty barrels outside