title Baile an Sceilg to An tSnaidhme, Co. Kerry, Ireland - 31st July 2017 intro We're only in Ballinskelligs for a single night, but that still leaves half the next day to explore the castle and the old monastery ruins down on the beach. After that, we head up the coast to Sneem. On the first evening in Sneem, we meet up with Philly and Davida and glimpse one of the town's features - a real "ghost estate", or Eastát na Sí (Fairy Estate in Irish). Hundreds of such estates were built during the Celtic Tiger boom, where runaway spending with few controls saw no bounds to developer optimism. They were all swiftly abandoned when the financial crash of 2008 hit, which left around 23,000 houses on 620 ghost estates empty, without tennants or buyers. Many of them have now been demolished but Sneem's Pairc na Sonas remains for now, its one-decade-old buildings now being reclaimed by nature or cracking open where they are subsiding back into the bog that was hastily filled to build them on. The whole scene is powerfully apocalyptic in a "28 Months Later" kind of way. imgc7151 The boys in our Ballinskellig hostel room imgc7152 Fred and Harry do Lego imgp9931 The boys look at a sign about fishing imgp9932 Ballinskelligs Castle on the beach imgp9933 Someone's drawn a maze on the sand imgp9934 The lifeguard hut imgp9936 The low clouds cling to the mountain top imgp9937 The boys run around on the beach imgp9939 Harry and Fred near the castle imgp9942 Isobel and Fred roam around imgp9945 Isobel on the wall imgp9948 Fred waves imgp9949 Fred climbs round the outside of the castle imgp9950 The landscape is split between sunshine and shadow imgp9952 Ballinskelligs Bay imgp9954 The remains of the castle keep imgp9955 We walk around on the spit imgp9956 Fred roams imgp9958 Fred finds a seaweed snake skin imgp9961 Loads of stripey caterpillars in a bush imgp9963 Two people walk on the spit imgp9966 Fred look for sea creatures imgp9970 Fred and Harry find a sand-sculpture octopus imgp9975 Down at the tourist information kiosk and café imgp9981 Some girl does cartwheels in the sea imgp9983 Ramblers on the beach imgp9986 The old Ballinskelligs Abbey imgp9988 Ruined abbey remains imgp9989 We look at graves for a bit imgp9990 Ballinskelligs Abbey imgp9995 Fred adds to a cairn imgp9998 Harry poses on some breakwater imgp9999 On the rocky beach imgp0001 We see some nice views on the way to Sneem imgp0006 A derelict cottage in the hills imgp0007 We stop for a look at stuff imgp0010 The coast road imgp0012 Isobel walks around imgp0018 Harry as Spider-Man inspects some Hydrangeas imgp0022 Dramatic mountain landscape imgp0026 More scenery viewing imgp0027 We head off into The Sneem imgp0028 The first glimpse of Pairc na Sonas Ghost Estate imgp0029 More finished but empty housing imgp0030 An old-school garage and petrol station imgp0032 Cat and a wood-burner imgp0034 Isobel and Harry imgp0036 Davida joins us for tea and biscuits imgp0038 Table Cat imgp0039 The houses in Pairc na Sonas are 70% off imgp0040 The view from the apartment window imgp0041 The apartment car park imgc7154 Harry, Isobel and Fern imgc7156 There's a family gathering round Philly's imgc7158 Fred gets a present at puts it on imgc7159 The old shop next door imgc7161 The old shop's door imgc7164 We have dinner at James and Harryana's apartment imgc7165 Philly stands around imgc7166 Empty ghost houses imgc7167 Nature reclaims the estate's main street imgc7168 There's a big pile of rubble on the street imgc7169 Philly pokes about imgc7173 The madness of new build derelict houses imgc7176 The Sneem from up the road towards the Sneem Hotel