On our tour we spent time with a couple of Kiwis (no not the fruit, the people from New Zealand!). They kept remarking on how similar some aspects of Ireland were to New Zealand. Yes…. and no. Both places are very green due to plenty of precipitation, and Yes, there are a lot of sheep. In New Zealand the running joke is 3 million people and 30 million sheep. In Ireland the ratio is a little less daunting, but nonetheless, there’s plenty of sheep to see in the fields of Ireland as the above picture will attest. This big boy was just sitting right next to the road, unperturbed by a big bus passing. New Zealand however has real mountains thanks to the volcanoes. Not so much in Ireland. What Ireland does have is a temperate climate due to the Gulf stream brushing along its west coast. Thank you Gulf stream (or else Ireland would be Iceland considering its latitude).
Some of the most beautiful topigraphical features are some of the glens or vails or valleys of Ireland. Glengesh is one such place, and to me this looked like it belonged in the Lord of the Rings. See what you think. 
There is a story behind this ‘glen’, and here it is…..
I do not really recommend hiring a car and driving yourself around this island, because there are so many winding very small roads (to us it would appear to be one lane, to them, its a two lane highway). You need a car the size of a leprechaun to navigate these roads, and you need to be wee folk to get into such a car…. or, you need Shaun, our incredible bus driver from near Galway. You should have seen him drive down through this glen on half a road in a big bus…..
As our Aussie friends on the bus said ‘Good on you Shaun’.
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