![\"P1020306\"](\"http:\/\/bretandemily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/P1020306.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nyou can see all of Bret’s pictures from the ride here:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/blog.bretbosma.com\/blarney\/<\/a><\/p>\n The ride was really nice.\u00a0 We had a lovely morning to start and a large hill to climb getting out of Cork.\u00a0 Bret took this picture looking back at St. Finbar’s cathedral (our next door neighbor) from the start of the climb.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our rest stop was the Blarney Woolen Mills.\u00a0 Currently, the woolen mills remind me of an outlet mall.\u00a0 There is the Irish shop (largest in the world), a kitchen goods shop, a cafeteria-style restaurant, a pub, and a hotel.\u00a0 Historically, the site had been a woolen mill since the 1750s!\u00a0 The original mill burned down and the current structure was rebuilt in the late 1800s.\u00a0 The wool market took a big plunge in the 1960s because of the rise of synthetic materials and the mill shut down in 1973.\u00a0 It was reopened in its current incarnation in 1977 by a man who had worked in the mill as a child.\u00a0 We had a cup of coffee and bought Irish sweaters.\u00a0 Bret took this picture of us at the wool mills with our new sweaters!<\/p>\n We then popped by the Blarney Castle for a peek, but did not go inside, and headed back to Cork on a quiet country road with amazing views.<\/p>\n my pictures from the parking lot at Blarney Castle<\/p>\n Rainbows!<\/p>\n And Bret’s picture from one of the lovely vistas on the ride home:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n