The next day we spent around Killarney before we headed back to the Shannon Airport area. We hiked around the Torc Waterfall, Muckross Gardens and a nearby abbey.
During our gap walk the previous day, Elaine told us about the bellwether sheep. This is a sheep that has a stronger opinion than your average sheep. I don't know how many sheep you have ever met, but they are not an opinionated sort of animal. If you can get the bellwether sheep, or bell-flower as we started calling it, to do what you want, the other sheep usually follow. It is always good to have a librarian along so you can learn these things.
When I hike, I like to be in front. When we were hiking back from the abbey, which was on Elaine's must see list, we hit a place with path choices. Since this was Elaine's abbey, we decided to let Elaine be the bellwether sheep. As opinionated as Elaine is, and I mean that in a good way, she is not the best bellwether sheep. She is more of a Democratic Sheep. She, unlike the Robyne or Rose (who are more like Dictator Sheep), cares what the rest of the flock wants to do. At a path decision point she would ask which way we preferred. At one point the path split 3 ways and we each took a different route. The moral of this story is that if you want to be a sheep, you cannot be Democratic.
That night we went back to Bunratty Castle for a medieval feast (our farewell dinner). Mead, no spoons or forks, minstrels, the whole works.