Day 20. Bessie's new tyre.

Joyce woke sharp today and soon had running shoes on and was out the door, I had led her to believe that the road was fairly level as she hadn't ran so much this trip......it was until just about the end of the carpark......however, she managed her 5k again this morning.
The boys were sleepy and had to be woken up for breakfast. The clouds were down on the hills, so that ruled out a possible trip up Torc Mountain, a 500m summit in the Killarney national park with supposedly very good views over the Lough and Reeks. We took a walk up the road that Joyce had ran for a mile or so towards the Gap of Dunloe, its very busy with Jaunting carts, which carry up to 8 people pulled by a single horse, there is a lot of this around here, and its very popular with the tourists, just not this tight Scottish one, lol.
We mulled over what to do today, I still hoped to get to Mizen Head, and we still had time so we packed up and headed to the tyre place. We pulled in at 12, and a lad came over looking a bit confused. There was a lot of hunting around all the piles of tyres but none were for us. Maybe we had cut it a bit fine?
I was spooked by our blowout, and was afraid to go too far from the safety with the other tyre the same age, we were so fortunate that the tyre gave up where it did given the really remote roads we have been on. The man was still assuring us that the tyre would be here soon, but we weren't so sure,  We chose to go for a walk at the Torc waterfall area. If the man called we would shoot back and get the tyre fitted, he didn't, so we went for a walk. We were too late to climb Torc Mountain, and the walk around Muckross Lake was looking too long, so we decided on the red National park loop that begins at the Torc Waterfall carpark, there were several sign about saying this was a strenuous mountain route, which should be done in an anti-clockwise direction and for suitably equipped mountain walkers......a perfect choice choice for our young sons, lol. How many to times have we seen these signs, and it turns out to be a walk in the park.......well, this is not a walk in the park, the signs are fairly accurate.
The path starts along nice and level as I knew it would westwards beside the road but in the trees, of course Logan and Callum are bouncing along here daft as a couple of brushes, we tried many time to get them to walk normally but its like talking to walls sometimes. Then we turned south and started to climb up the steps, these rise directly for about 220m steeper than anything I can think of in for example Glencoe, there's a rope handrail at the side. Its a superb feat of path building but is totally brutal, and for 2 and a half year old legs quite a test, and once your half way up the options are limited, carry on.......or turn back.....it would be a tough decent. In true adventurer style Logan chose to carry on, refusing most of the time for any assistance. There's potential there, lol. And Callum and Joyce did superbly as well, its a rough path by any standards. The horizontal bit was narrow, and fairly rocky too, so we had too keep a constant check on the boys. For the first time ever we were called cruel parents today, by a couple of ladies power walking around the route...... lol.
Finally we reached Torc Waterfalls and had an easier time of it back down to the van. There was still no call from the garage so I called them, and there was no sign of the tyre, and the courier wasn't answering his phone......had they even ordered the tyre? We popped back in after our walk at about 5.30 and there was still nothing. The tyre "specialist" man looked at our tyre and said we should not be worried about driving on it,  he recons our blowout was probably caused by a previously repaired punctured or damaged  tyre, so conflicting reports from 2 tyre "experts"-they can't both be right!!
We decided to stay tonight again in Killarney, the tyre "may" be here early in the morning, if not we will just head north.
Our loose plan to reach Mizen Head and probably Cork also was messed up by the tyre issue, I am only very slightly disappointed, its a stunning country, I still have a few "furths" to climb, and I still haven't been to the most southern point in Ireland.  Those are 2 perfectly valid reasons to return. We have passed through lots of lovely villages and towns that need investigation, and also the coastal area we have passes through are deserving of much more attention.
We have spent a few days in Killarney now, and it is an fantastic area, the drawbacks are its such a tourist trap, as we have said, its mobbed, and its the tail end of September, I would never come here in the summer months.
We found a decent campsite that had its end if season rates, so 20 euros for the night, some beers and a home made curry rounded off out last day in southwest Ireland. The Scrabble went badly for me so its 9-8 to me now with 2 games remaining.