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00:00I'm Fred Syriex and I'm French.
00:04Bon courage, this is your long day.
00:06I used to work front of house in the hospitality industry.
00:10Cheers.
00:11But now I'm front of camera bringing people together.
00:15I really love cycling.
00:18It's a great way to travel and meet people.
00:21I haven't run this much for so long.
00:25Get the taste of new cultures and fresh flavours.
00:29I know it's naughty but they're so good.
00:33Last year I toured Northern Ireland on my bike.
00:37This time I'm heading back across the Irish Sea
00:40to explore the south of this extraordinary island.
00:44It really is epic.
00:46The cycle challenges start in Wexford
00:49and finish further south in County Cork.
00:52Some tough...
00:54Are you going to cheer me on or what? Come on!
00:57Some more gentle.
00:59Time for tea.
01:00But all spectacular.
01:03It's not just about cycling.
01:05And kiss.
01:06Perfect.
01:07There will be different challenges and adventures along the way.
01:11You've all heard of the Tour de France.
01:14This is truly an incredible place.
01:16This is Tour de Fred.
01:19This time my bike and I are in the city of Cork.
01:33And I'm here to taste both the sweets.
01:36It's quite satisfying to see them coming out like that.
01:39And the stout.
01:40I do get a bit of sweetness.
01:42I taste my stamina and strength on Cork's steepest hill.
01:45And I'm the king of the hill!
01:48And I come up against a ladies Gaelic football team
01:52and discover it's nothing like soccer.
01:54What?
01:55This is a super exciting game.
01:59The rebel city.
02:00Here I come.
02:07I'm rolling into Cork city on two wheels.
02:10And this urban setting is a big change from my Irish adventure this far.
02:16The city is built on an island formed by the River Lee
02:19and is Ireland's second largest city.
02:21Often described by proud Cork people as the country's real capital.
02:28What a busy city.
02:31The layout of the city evolved from a walled medieval town
02:37to main streets developed in the 18th century
02:40when some of the river's channels were arched over and filled in.
02:46On a fairly narrow street in the north of the city,
02:49I've arrived at my first stop.
02:51This is a Cork institution.
02:54I can feel the sugar rush already.
02:58What's the harm when I have so much cycling ahead?
03:08Shandon Sweets was established in 1929
03:11and today it's run by Tony Linehan.
03:15Passed down by his father and his grandfather before him.
03:18This family has been in the business of making sweets for almost 100 years.
03:24Hi Tony.
03:26Hello Fred.
03:27Nice to meet you.
03:28Welcome to Cork.
03:29Are you like the local Willy Wonka then?
03:30Yes I am indeed.
03:31I've been called a lot of things but yes that.
03:34It's like you're stepping into a different world.
03:38It's like stepping back in time but it still has that old world charm about it.
03:44People just love boiled sweets.
03:47With this place they buy into the history as well.
03:49So your sweets are they specifically from Cork?
03:51Is it a special recipe?
03:52Yes.
03:53So what is it that you're making at the moment?
03:55Clove.
03:56I love the flavour of clove but I've never had clove rock.
04:02It's a sweet many people in Cork grew up with and is still popular today.
04:07So what that is is a mixture of sugar, water and glucose.
04:13It's boiled to 300 degrees so what you're left with here now is a molten sugar.
04:21Okay.
04:22What it does is goes hard underneath, solidifies underneath so you can work it in for 5-10 minutes.
04:29Then it becomes pliable enough to work with.
04:33Customers come into Tony's shop from far and wide.
04:37Some more well known than others.
04:41So that's how quickly it goes off.
04:44It's not so hot actually, it's okay, it's warm.
04:47It's a nice little heat blanket, you know, to put on the top of your bed in the winter, you know.
04:53Look at this blob, it's almost like lava from the volcano, right?
04:57That's what it is, molten.
04:59Every sweet starts like this.
05:00So what I'm going to do now friends, I'm going to start cutting it, right?
05:06So how many kilos of sugar is there in this?
05:0834.
05:09What this is going to be is the inside of the batch, which is red, and this is going to be the outside.
05:17So what I'm going to do is put the colour in, which is red, and then add clove flavour.
05:26So when I mix this with the heat, then you'll get the smell of clove.
05:30And the red is really going everywhere in a space of a...
05:35It goes through it very, very quickly.
05:38This is the physical part of the job.
05:40Your feet, you don't need to go to the gym.
05:42And does anybody else make the sweets apart from you?
05:45No, I'm the only one.
05:47Are you thinking of passing it on?
05:48I can't even think about retirement.
05:50That's because you're too young.
05:52I'm not that young, Fred.
05:54So now what I've got to use, Fred, is I've got to use my pulling hook here behind you.
05:58Yeah, I thought I was going to put my coat on there when I came in.
06:01Good job I didn't do that.
06:02Again, this is the physical part of the job.
06:05Wow.
06:07Oh, it's already white.
06:08Yeah.
06:12Wow, look at that.
06:13Just like Rapunzel's hair.
06:15Yeah.
06:16Just by air.
06:17Pushing air through it.
06:21Because there's chemistry involved in this.
06:23Yeah.
06:24You know when you put a sweet in your mouth like that.
06:25You don't think about it.
06:26Well, I'm going to think about it now.
06:29Pah!
06:37That's basically what you have is a 25kg clove rock.
06:40Right.
06:42Well, that's a sweet for elephant now.
06:45So I'm going to pop this into my batch roller.
06:47Right.
06:49Right.
06:51And I'm going to pull it out this way, up towards you.
06:54This is mad.
06:57What a process.
06:58So then you're going to just cut them like that and you have your sweets.
07:00No.
07:01What Helen is going to do for me here now is roll them.
07:04They go so solid, so quickly.
07:08I'm fascinated to watch them work.
07:13They must roll miles and miles of clove rock every year to satisfy the bold sweet cravings of cork and further afield.
07:20What I've got to do now is cut them in half and then I have my little clove cutter.
07:34It's quite satisfying to see them coming out like that.
07:37Yes, you can have a taste of one, Fred, if you want.
07:39They are warm, so you get the taste of the clove.
07:45Very tasty.
07:46You can smell the clove.
07:47Yeah.
07:48Do you like them?
07:49Yeah, I like them.
07:50I like clove.
07:51What would your grandfather say if he saw you now making sweets like this?
07:54I'm hoping he'd be proud, like, if he sees the place.
07:56Yeah, I'm sure.
07:58I would be very proud, too, if I'd kept a sweet shop open for almost 100 years.
08:05Well, Tony, thanks very much.
08:06I really enjoyed it.
08:07You're welcome, Fred.
08:08Absolutely.
08:09It was a pleasure.
08:11I had a great time.
08:12Absolute pleasure.
08:13This is the finished product.
08:15Oh, you're very kind.
08:16Of what you're seeing there.
08:17So, these are your own clove rock.
08:19Perfect.
08:20It's going to give me energy for my cycling.
08:21I've got a tough challenge ahead of myself.
08:23Fantastic.
08:24See you later.
08:25Lovely.
08:26Thank you, Fred.
08:27See you.
08:29And after that journey back in time, I'm back in the present day.
08:34Back to my cycling.
08:36Allez, on y va.
08:38The name Cork comes from the Irish Corky, meaning a marshy place.
08:48A lot of my cycling here in Cork is along the River Lee, a river that flows through the city centre and empties into the Celtic Sea at Cork Arbor on the south coast.
08:58But right now, I'm in the suburbs.
09:02I'm on my way to play football, where the women's teams apparently is very, very fierce.
09:13North of the city centre is Napiercy, Ehrling and Football Club, which was founded in 1943.
09:19I've come here to learn more about the traditional Irish sport of Gaelic football.
09:33I'm meeting Paula, who is a former player and now secretary of the club.
09:40What is Gaelic football? I have never seen this game, even on television.
09:44You are probably more familiar with what we would refer to as soccer.
09:47That's right.
09:48But Gaelic football is completely different.
09:50It's a bit of a mixture between basketball, because they can bounce the ball.
09:54Right.
09:55They can hand pass the ball.
09:56Is it a full contact sport like rugby? Because I see they are wearing gum shields.
09:59Yes, it is a contact sport.
10:00Oh!
10:01Yes.
10:02There's a point.
10:03But it's like rugby.
10:04You can score like rugby, but also there is goals like soccer.
10:06Yes.
10:07Yeah.
10:08So you can kick the ball, you can punch the ball into the back of the net and that's a goal.
10:12There's three points scored for a goal.
10:14Right.
10:15You can kick the ball and directly put it over the bar.
10:17You score a point.
10:18Okay.
10:19Are there any other countries that play this game?
10:22So there's GA clubs in Sydney, Singapore, Thailand, San Francisco.
10:26There are teams in London who play competitively in the championship competition in Ireland.
10:31Do you kick the ass?
10:32Well, yeah, usually, yeah.
10:34Yeah?
10:35I bet you do.
10:36How many clubs are there here in and around Cork?
10:38There would be well over 100 in Cork City and County.
10:41Really?
10:42So all Gaelic games are based on a league basis.
10:44Right.
10:45But then you have championship.
10:46Right.
10:47So championship is the one, the big one that everybody wants to win.
10:49So where are you in the championship?
10:51At the moment we were just knocked out last weekend.
10:53Oh, come here.
10:54Don't knock at that.
10:55Come here.
10:56It's going to be okay.
10:58It's going to be okay.
11:00You're going to get over it.
11:01Would you like to have a go?
11:03Yeah, why not?
11:04I mean, they look very good.
11:06I've told the ladies to take it easy on you, you know.
11:09All right.
11:10I'm going to just get warmed up, okay?
11:11Yeah.
11:12Off you go.
11:13Enjoy.
11:14How are you?
11:15Nice to meet you.
11:16Welcome aboard.
11:18Can you put the jersey on?
11:19Head coach Trevor has given me the honour of wearing the club colours.
11:22You all right?
11:23I'm feeling nervous.
11:24You should be.
11:25No need to be nervous.
11:26Right.
11:27Let's go.
11:28Let's go.
11:29Let's go.
11:30That's it.
11:31Oh!
11:32Very good, Fred.
11:33Very good.
11:34Unlike soccer, where you just pass with your feet, Gaelic football has many more elements
11:39to it.
11:40One ball each.
11:41We're going to solo.
11:42That's it.
11:43That's very good now.
11:45Keep it going.
11:46There is really a lot of hand-eye coordination needed.
11:49Next ball.
11:50That's it.
11:51Next ball.
11:52That's it.
11:53Next ball.
11:54The girls are not breaking a sweat.
11:58And I'm huffing and puffing.
12:00Like there's no tomorrow.
12:01Keep concentrating on it.
12:02This is very hard.
12:04Just drop the ball onto the foot.
12:07After the solo is the hand pass and then the high catch.
12:11Time to run now.
12:12There's time to run.
12:13There's time to run.
12:14There's time to run.
12:15Well done.
12:16Great catch.
12:17Great catch.
12:18Great catch.
12:19Well done Fred.
12:20Well done.
12:21Right.
12:22Enough of these drills.
12:23Let's battle.
12:24Right.
12:25All right.
12:26Come on girls.
12:27We're going to win this.
12:28I know it's only training but come on.
12:30Right.
12:31There you go.
12:32There you go.
12:33Now.
12:34There you go.
12:35Very good.
12:36Very good.
12:37I can see why they need their gum shields.
12:40There's the score for you.
12:42Oh well done.
12:43Good defending.
12:44Let's go.
12:45Let's go.
12:46Oh yes.
12:47We are one goal up.
12:48Come on.
12:49Come on.
12:50I kick it.
12:51Oh.
12:52My first attempt goes wide.
12:54Oops.
12:55I'm forgetting the rules already.
12:56I just can't hit the target.
12:57This is a super exciting game.
12:58It's a lot of fun.
12:59But I tell you what.
13:00To run like this, it's so tiring.
13:04And then the game is so technical.
13:05There's so many things to think about which I'm not used to.
13:08But my heart is going 100 miles an hour.
13:09I'm feeling so alive.
13:10Anyway, I can't keep talking.
13:11I'm going to go and carry on playing because my team are one less.
13:14We've got to win.
13:15Let's move on.
13:16Come on.
13:17Come on.
13:18Come on.
13:19Come on.
13:20Come on.
13:21Come on.
13:22Come on.
13:23Come on.
13:24Come on.
13:25Come on.
13:26Come on.
13:27Come on.
13:28Come on.
13:29Come on.
13:30Come on.
13:31Come on.
13:32Come on.
13:33Come on.
13:34Come on.
13:35Come on.
13:36Come on.
13:37Come on.
13:38Come on.
13:39Come on.
13:40Come on.
13:41Come on.
13:42Come on.
13:43Come on.
13:44Yes.
13:45Third time lucky.
13:46And I've scored a winning goal.
13:48Just had the whistle.
13:49That was fun.
13:50Well done.
13:51Great.
13:52Great call.
13:53Well done.
13:54Well done.
13:56And for Sunday, we've got a new full forward, Amy.
14:00Fred is on the team now.
14:06It's really nice of them to want to include me, but I think it might have been beginner's
14:10luck.
14:11So we'll learn all wrong, girls.
14:12We'll learn.
14:13Excellent stuff.
14:15Can we have a groupie show with everybody?
14:16Yeah.
14:19The sun goes down on my first K-League football match.
14:22I'm going to need plenty of rest for tomorrow's cycle in Cork.
14:30I'm Fred Syriex, and my latest adventure on my bike has taken me to the city of Cork.
14:45I'm heading for my inner city cycle challenge, and everyone has warned me that this one is
14:51going to be physically very demanding.
14:58St. Patrick's Hill is infamous in Cork.
15:01Now, I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but the gradient is insane.
15:05Have a look.
15:06Look at this.
15:07Look at this gradient.
15:08It has a gradient of 14%, and the top of the ascent is 55 meters above sea level.
15:15This cycle challenge isn't for the faint-hearted.
15:18Off I go.
15:20Oops.
15:21I'm getting too excited.
15:23Here we go.
15:24This hill has ruined many cars over the years, and the smell of burning clutches hangs in the air.
15:38Yet, I'm expected to climb to the top on my bike?
15:41This is no mean feat.
15:43I'm aiming to make it all the way to the top of the hill, and boy, can I feel it in my legs.
16:07I've been told the view from Bellsfield at the top, when I get there, is really worth it.
16:12Come on, are you going to cheer me on?
16:14Are you going to cheer me on?
16:15Come on!
16:27I'm nearly there.
16:28The road is levelling out, and I'm heading to the best place to enjoy the view over the city.
16:37I love challenges like that.
16:51You know, my heart is pumping at 100 miles an hour.
16:53It's brutal, super physical.
16:55But look at the view.
16:57Bellsfield is a popular spot with locals to enjoy the view of their city.
17:02And today, I can too.
17:04And I'm the king of the hill!
17:08I'm the king of the hill!
17:10I am the king of the hill!
17:13Rejoice, people!
17:15I'm back!
17:16Don't have many fans here.
17:20Better leave.
17:22I think I deserve a drink after the cycle challenge.
17:29And it's thankfully downhill all the way for some refreshment.
17:34Cork stout.
17:38I'm heading to the place where the local dark stuff is made.
17:41And here, they take brewing stout very seriously indeed.
17:45Hi, Fred.
17:46Hi, PJ.
17:47How are you?
17:48Not very good now, and yourself?
17:49Yeah, very good, thank you.
17:50Excellent.
17:51Welcome to Murphy's Bore.
17:53Nice to meet you.
17:54Likewise, likewise.
17:55Great to have you here.
17:56To most people, Irish stout is synonymous with Guinness.
18:03But here in Cork, they have their own stouts, Murphy's and Beamish.
18:08By the end of the 1800s, Cork had become an important center of the Irish brewing industry.
18:15This brewery produces over 2 million cakes of different beers annually, of which over 12 million pints are stout.
18:25Welcome to our brew host.
18:27This is like our kitchen.
18:28And what we do is we just blend the different ingredients.
18:31I love a dark stout, and I'm looking forward to finding out how it's made.
18:37Why is stout so big, so famous in Ireland?
18:40We started brewing back here in 1856.
18:43Back then, porter would have been the number one drink, so it was very popular in London.
18:48And it came here into Ireland, and the Murphy brothers started actually brewing porter here.
18:54And then they developed that into stout, and effectively what stout is, stout is kind of like a stronger porter.
19:00So is there any truth that the beer is better in Cork than it is in London?
19:05The beer is always better in Cork.
19:07I'll have to take his word for it until I get to taste a pint later on.
19:11And you can actually see a brew filtering there at the moment.
19:14And actually I've got samples of all the raw materials.
19:16You can taste it.
19:17Servant of tons of raw materials come through the factory every year.
19:22And all the main ingredients are locally sourced.
19:25One of the main ingredients is pale malt.
19:30So if you want to try some of that.
19:34So it's a lovely biscuity flavour off it.
19:37The next ingredient we use then is our roast blend.
19:40The darker one is roasted barley, and the lighter one is chocolate malt.
19:44So if you taste the lighter coloured one first, you'll get a kind of a, you'll get a roasty kind of note off it.
19:51Yes.
19:52But then if you taste the dark one, it's much more bitter.
19:55And it's that blend then that gives Murphy's its coffee, caramel, chocolate notes that we get.
20:01It has a definite distinctive taste of coffee.
20:04Oh yeah.
20:05It's fascinating, you know, it's the chemistry with the elements that you have here.
20:08Exactly.
20:09And then we have our magic ingredient, which is our yeast.
20:12And you can swirl it around, you can smell it and swirl it.
20:15So that's a living organism that actually takes the sugar, converts it into carbon dioxide and converts it into alcohol.
20:23It smells like beer.
20:24Oh yeah.
20:25The ingredients are only part of the process.
20:27There is great skill in trying to keep the taste consistent.
20:31People's palates are different, so we train each other through association.
20:35You'll associate the taste to a memory.
20:38One of the things I do, there's an off flavour.
20:40It's called anisole.
20:41The aroma of it is like a confession box in a church.
20:45Okay.
20:46I've never been to a confession box, so I don't know what it smells like.
20:49Yeah.
20:50So anytime I get that nose, it triggers that memory.
20:53And once that memory is triggered, I know the...
20:55Have you been naughty lately?
20:57I'm not telling you.
20:59Then you have been.
21:01I'm not telling you.
21:03Okay, so do you want to go take a look at the fermenters?
21:05Yes.
21:06I do.
21:07Come on this way.
21:12The scale and industry of this place is impressive.
21:18There must be hundreds of miles of pipe, and it fascinates me how they know what goes where.
21:23It is very big.
21:25PJ has said we can taste the stout that is currently being fermented here.
21:31Do you do that often?
21:33Testing beer straight from the tank?
21:35Oh, you would, yes.
21:36You would test it just to make sure it is all good as well.
21:39Have you got that written in your contract that you're going to do it every day?
21:42Yeah, that would be great.
21:44Apparently having a contract, just watch your heads.
21:46Go and go and go and through.
21:47No problem.
21:48Excellent.
21:49So when we were downstairs, we saw the tank fermenting.
21:54Yeah.
21:55But here we can actually take a sample of it and taste it.
21:58Help yourself.
22:00It's not quite ready.
22:01It's towards the end of its fermentation.
22:03There's still a day or two left in it.
22:04Okay.
22:05So what we do is we just swirl it and we give it a nose.
22:08And you get the nice roasted coffee note off it.
22:11And then you taste it.
22:12Just roll around the palate, swallow it back and then give it about 10 or 15 seconds so
22:19you can get the bitterness coming up the back of the throat.
22:22I do get a bit of sweetness.
22:23Yeah, that's because the fermentation, so there's still sugar inside here.
22:27So there's still another probably 24 hours left in this.
22:30We are lucky we do have a bar on site.
22:32So would you actually like to come down and taste the finished product and see what that's
22:35like?
22:36I was hoping you would say that.
22:37Excellent, excellent.
22:38Excellent, excellent.
22:39Come on.
22:43So here we just have a freshly poured pint.
22:45It's just actually settling and you can see the lovely cascading creamy effect.
22:49That's all you drink yourself?
22:50Oh, I love Murphy's.
22:51What's your favourite?
22:52Beamish or Murphy's?
22:53No, that's unfair because that's like asking me which is my favourite child.
22:56Right.
22:57How is it?
22:58Yeah, because we do both Beamish and Murphy's here.
22:59Well, absolutely fantastic.
23:00I drink to that.
23:01Oh no, you can't drink it here.
23:02Oh, I can't.
23:03Oh no, no, no, it has to be finished.
23:04So I have to go for confession now.
23:06OK, so I've just finished off the pint now.
23:09And you can see the nice little dome coming up over the top of the head.
23:13So that's a sign of a good pint as well.
23:14And if you actually look through it.
23:16Oh wow, yes.
23:17People actually think it's black.
23:18It's not.
23:19It's actually a beautiful kind of ruby red.
23:21I think it's ready.
23:23The coffee smell that comes out of this is incredible.
23:27Oh, this is really good.
23:37Yeah.
23:38High five.
23:39Yeah.
23:40This is a good job, PJ.
23:41Very good.
23:42Cheers.
23:43Glad you enjoyed this.
23:44It's a good job.
23:46I'm back on the saddle and off to the countryside where I've been promised a kiss.
23:55Ooh la la.
23:56I'm continuing my cycle through Cork to the outskirts of the city and the village of Blarney.
24:15I'm discovering the scenic countryside here, so many shades of green.
24:22I definitely can't leave Cork without this cycle to Blarney Castle to kiss the legendary stone
24:28and uncover the myth and stories behind its gift of the gap.
24:33Paul is going to show me around.
24:36What an incredible castle, Paul.
24:37How old is it?
24:38So this was built in 1446.
24:40It's just going to be up on 600 years old.
24:42The king of Munster was Cormac McCarthy and he was the person who built the castle.
24:47Their first castle here was in the 10th century and they stayed here in Blarney all the way up until about 1690
24:53and when they fled the castle and never returned.
24:55And it's built with that foundation.
24:56I mean, it's built on the rocks.
24:57Yeah, on this beautiful rocky outcrop here with the dungeons below and the badger's cave.
25:01So it has that beautiful kind of elevated feature to it.
25:04What about the Blarney stone then?
25:06What is it?
25:07So the Blarney stone is an altar stone and that was given as a gift to the lord of the castle.
25:11And I suppose he built it then into the outer battlements at the very top for safekeeping.
25:17So how long did it take to build?
25:19So this building took 40 years to build.
25:21So you can see the clear line up the middle.
25:24So they built the right hand side first and then the left hand side.
25:27So it's two tower houses built together.
25:33What about this tower here?
25:34So this is called the Lookout Tower.
25:36Right.
25:37And they say this was built by the second family to own the castle so people could go up and admire the beautiful house they had built onto the side of the castle.
25:44So it was in a defensive tower.
25:46It was just purely to marvel at the beauty.
25:48Yeah.
25:49I mean, yeah, of course.
25:51You understand why they built it.
25:53I can't wait to kiss the stone.
25:56Can we go?
25:57Me too.
26:07Millions of people have climbed these stairs over the centuries to kiss the stone.
26:12But with 128 steps to get there, they make you work for it.
26:25This is quite incredible the way you've kept it.
26:27What was the castle like when, you know, back in the day in the 1400s when people were actually living here?
26:32Not too dissimilar to now.
26:33I mean, the only real major piece we're missing is the A-frame roof in the middle.
26:37And then you would have had wooden floors resting on the stones there that are jutting out.
26:41They're called corbels.
26:42How many floors were there?
26:43So we have five floors.
26:44So we have two chambers, basically.
26:46This is the upper chamber, which consisted of the chapel, the banqueting hall and the family room.
26:51They put the chapel on top because it's closer to God.
26:53And what were these for?
26:54So these are like our murder hall, which is down on the first floor.
26:57And that's basically to drop heavy objects, rocks, hot oil down on top of them.
27:01So that could be your warm welcome to Blarney.
27:03Not for me.
27:04Thank you very much.
27:05So, as you can see behind us here, we have everybody queuing up at the top of the castle
27:09to kiss the world-famous stone here, the lord of the castle.
27:12Built it into the outer battlements here for safekeeping.
27:15And originally, he had a slight speech impediment.
27:18And one night, he saved the witch from drowning because she tried to cross a body of water.
27:22And as we know, witches can't cross bodies of water.
27:24And as a thank you, the witch said, if you kiss the famous stone, it'll get rid of the speech impediment.
27:29But where was the stone in the first place then?
27:31So they say there's a number of different versions to this.
27:34So one, it was an altar stone that was given as a gift because he sent 4,000 troops to help with the battle of Bannockburn.
27:40Some say it's a fairy stone that was originally on the estate.
27:42So many stories.
27:43It's the beauty of myths and legends, you know, they get different variations.
27:48We've embraced all of them because, look, people can go away believing which one they'd like to believe.
27:52So originally, Fred, to kiss it, you would have been held by your ankles out over the outside of the wall.
27:57That was the only access.
27:58So this would have been around the time the castle was built.
28:00So you're talking in around the mid-1400s.
28:02So they started kissing the stone since then?
28:05Since then.
28:06And why are they doing that?
28:07So they're coming here to gain the gift of eloquence, or the gift of gab, as our American visitors say.
28:11Oh, really?
28:12So as we say, you can talk yourself out of any situation if you kiss it.
28:15And you had very famous visitors here.
28:17I saw a picture of Winston Churchill.
28:18Yeah, we've been very lucky.
28:20I mean, going back to those times, Sir Winston Churchill, Laurel and Hardy, more recent times, Eddie Redimane, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville.
28:28Did they all kiss the stone?
28:29They all kissed it.
28:30Yeah, we played a bit of a prank on the lads.
28:32We had a Liverpool flag flying from the top of the castle.
28:35But Gary decided to take it off and throw it off the side of the castle.
28:39Did he?
28:40Which I was happy about.
28:41I'm a Man United fan, so I was quite pleased.
28:43What about you?
28:44How many times did you kiss it?
28:45Too many, Fred.
28:46I think I do it about 50 times a year, so I'm here 18 years.
28:50What's that, 900 times?
28:51So, yeah.
28:52I doubt anybody else has done it that much.
28:54I'd love to kiss it.
28:55Absolutely, Fred, we'd be proud to be honoured.
28:56Will you hold my feet?
28:57I will, I will.
28:58You're in safe hands.
28:59Okay, let's go.
29:00Follow me.
29:01Some might say and believe I already have the gift of the gab.
29:05I'm just glad I'm not being dangled by my ankles to get a bit more.
29:09Now, Fred, here we go.
29:13Okay.
29:14So, are there?
29:16So, if you lie down on your back.
29:17Okay.
29:18That's it.
29:19That's step one.
29:20Yep.
29:21Grab the two bars behind you.
29:22That's it.
29:23Now, you're going to tilt your head back and kiss the bottom part of the wall.
29:25Just down here.
29:26That's it.
29:27Keep going.
29:28And kiss.
29:29Perfect.
29:30Wow.
29:31There we go.
29:32This is it?
29:33All done.
29:34Oh, brilliant.
29:35That's that.
29:36Short and sweet.
29:37Well, I don't know what to say.
29:40How ironic.
29:41Blarney Castle is set in over 60 acres, filled with rare and unusual plants and trees.
29:51The ancient trees and stones here are believed to have been a center of worship in pre-Christian
29:57days.
29:58But this is also the home of the witch who cast a spell on the Blarney stone.
30:03Paul, this is like we are in an enchanted forest.
30:06Yeah.
30:07So, this is actually the oldest part of the gardens.
30:09This is called the Rock Close.
30:10And the gardens here date back to about 1750.
30:13And they were developed by the Jefferies family, the second family to own the property.
30:17Right.
30:18So, all these stones were here back in the day when the castle was being built.
30:23Yeah.
30:24And then the gardens then were developed around these stone features.
30:26So, we have things like sacrificial altar and druid circle, a fairy glade, a dolmen.
30:31Wow.
30:32Look at that tree.
30:33Yeah.
30:34So, this is our beautiful taxus peccata, our yew tree.
30:36This is the oldest tree we have on the estate.
30:39We kind of call it the witch's yew tree because the witch used to live underneath the tree in
30:43the witch's kitchen.
30:44Oh, really?
30:45And you have the stack of stones just up here on the left.
30:47That's actually the chimney for the witch's kitchen.
30:49Is it?
30:50It's an amazing part of our gardens.
30:52One of my favorites down here.
30:53This 600-year-old yew tree won Irish Tree of the Year in 2019.
30:59I can understand why.
31:01It's one of the most magical trees I have ever seen.
31:04And look, you can see all the roots that are protruding from the ground.
31:09Yeah.
31:10I mean, you can definitely imagine druids and fairies here.
31:14Oh, yeah.
31:15It has that kind of very mystical, magical feel down here.
31:18So, there was actually a witch living here?
31:20Yeah.
31:21She would come down here at night, light the fire to keep herself warm, and then grant wishes
31:25to people who would walk up and down the wishing steps.
31:27Right.
31:28She wouldn't live in here because she would live in the witch's stone.
31:30She was trapped in that stone by day and released at night.
31:33And at night, then, she would grant the wishes.
31:35And right now, she's still in the stone because it's daytime.
31:38She's up there now at the moment, Fred, waiting to come out tonight.
31:40Really?
31:41You tell good stories.
31:42I've kissed the stone a lot.
31:43Yeah, I can see.
31:44Can we go and have a look inside?
31:45Yeah, absolutely.
31:46Let's go.
31:47Okay.
31:48That's a very small studio flat.
31:50Yeah, but high rent.
31:52Wow.
31:53Well, you can imagine that somebody could have been living here.
31:56Oh, yeah, absolutely.
31:57I imagine, you know, the fire lighting.
31:58When it is lighting, when we do, it is quite warm in here.
31:59You know, it's protected from all the elements.
32:00And, yeah, you could just imagine this at night and the witch waiting.
32:01Right.
32:02Waiting for the next person to come through and ask for the wish.
32:03Shall we go and make a wish at the steps?
32:04Let's do it.
32:05We'll keep the witch happy.
32:06I've got a wish in mind.
32:07So this is the famous steps.
32:08Yeah, so these are the wishing steps.
32:15To get your wish granted by the witch, you have to walk up and down these steps backwards
32:19with your eyes closed.
32:20There we go, I'm going.
32:21And I'm closing my eyes.
32:24Keep your hands on the rim.
32:26Thanks.
32:27Ah, and the bricks.
32:28There's nothing
32:28stopping the trees.
32:29Right.
32:29He's screwed up but he misses them.
32:31Number three, we've gone go.
32:32He's just not going up his eyes.
32:33Here's I'm thinking what?
32:34Dembeit this hiding 가운데 over the moon.
32:36the railing yeah of course of course it doesn't matter whether you look up or down when you got
32:41your eyes closed keep going fred you're nearly there now there we are i'm going to become the
32:51king of ireland we will know within a year whether this wish is going to come through
32:55now i'm going to go back up with my eyes closed all right okay i keep going up
33:06yes paul i'm going to be the king of ireland i look forward to it it's going to come true i'm going
33:15to be the king of ireland you don't have to try very hard in these parts to encounter myth legends
33:24and tall tales it may all be a load of blarney but it's great fun isn't it paul thank you very much
33:31thanks so much fred next time you see me i'll have a crown on my head yeah we can't wait to have you
33:35back as the new king all right prepare my throne we'll prepare a feast safe cycling see you bye
33:40and you can keep your job thank you it's time to head back into cork city for a lesson in all things
33:48i've enjoyed seeing cork city and its surroundings by bike and my penultimate stop is a visit to a very
34:13different kind of museum to find out about an industry that was very important to cork's history
34:19butter can you imagine an entire museum dedicated to butter
34:28but there is a reason behind it cork was once the world's biggest exporter of butter
34:33in the 19th century the market here traded tens of millions of pounds worth every year
34:42daniel is a director of the butter museum so fred we've been making butter in ireland for thousands
34:49of years how would you like to try your hand at it i can't wait i'm really excited i've never made
34:53butter ah well now get your apron on and let's get started okay so it's definitely not a france
34:59versus ireland butter race everyone would get the gold medal exactly everyone's a winner because
35:04we get to eat the butter so will we start churning okay of course the most important ingredient of
35:09irish butter is irish cream can you see the color of it it's already gorgeously yellow and you're just
35:14gonna paddle away because it was really an industry back in the 18th and 19th century people were churning
35:21really large quantities of butter they wanted to fill you see this little barrel over here they are
35:27firkins it's a danish word it means quarter barrel and how long would it keep in one of these uh
35:33containers well it went all around the world from here there was a family in america having a firkin
35:38of butter a month really so it would travel across the pond and it would keep no problem exactly the
35:44butter was money for lots of irish people you know so people are tenant farmers
35:49and they were just making butter because they needed to pay the rent and how did you get into your
35:54butter yourself well my granny was a cook right and i love butter you know i'm the kind of person
36:00where if you can't see your teeth in it it's not really spread properly you know the more is more
36:05so i guess we have it in our bones we have it in our blood you know irish people eat a lot of butter
36:09my kids always laugh at all about the amount of butter that i buy and go through and they can't
36:14believe it my cream's getting thick now bread how are you going uh mine is not really getting
36:20thick at all well europe give it a bit more uh speed now there you go i'll wait for you i'm a
36:27fair competitor oh i'm not competing there's a real folklore around butter in ireland you have to be
36:34really careful because the fairies will seal the butter this could all be to do with the fairies the
36:38fact that we're not getting this thick enough where is your fairy here um i haven't seen any recently
36:44come on little fairies please make these molecules bind together there you go that'll do it now
36:50maybe it's gonna work so there's all this kind of amazing superstition because it was so important
36:55to get this butter to work this was your income you know right so mine's gone very thick you keep
37:01showing off daniel oh mine is uh yeah he's hardening yeah look at that fred it's getting really thick on
37:09you now what we're looking for is the consistency of really bad scrambled eggs are you happy with this
37:16not quite we need to keep going i know it's so much work it's worth it it's i promise you no no i'm
37:25sure it's a bit like cycling only i'm using one hand supposed to two legs exactly french expression
37:31for you we call it you know when you're pedaling on a semoule basically you're going nowhere what
37:36we're looking for is just a liquid oh it's getting uh much harder now yeah i think you've made butter
37:41fred let me just see i think mine isn't butter and yours is that's perfect you've made butter look
37:47my first ever butter oh the smell butter it's beautiful it's lovely stuff yeah it's very sweet
37:55really round so balanced so what we're going to do now is we're going to take the buttermilk off so
37:59i'll just do that for us the buttermilk is delicious and you can have a try of it in a minute it would
38:05have been really important in irish households because people really would have lived on potatoes and
38:09buttermilk now we have work to do with our butter this is really cold water and what we're going to
38:15do now is wash the butter because actually buttermilk is going to make our butter go rancid so if you
38:20want to get one of your scotch hands here what we'll do is we'll just wash it around i'm just going to
38:27pour it out so yours looks really good so actually you know what we might do we might use the sieve like
38:31this okay oh my god fred your butter is amazing it's called beginner's luck that is really beautiful
38:40butter now what we're going to do is we're going to work the butter so you want to pop it into your
38:44butter working bowl all right
38:49and this is the process of just trying to squeeze the buttermilk out so again we want to remove as much
38:56buttermilk as possible so you can see what we're doing we're really just bringing it together
39:00okay with our scotchers oh my god my butter is so perfect i know look at that and this is the
39:07point as well that we would have added salt so the salt would it be also to preserve it for longer
39:14exactly right the more salt you put in the longer it will last would you like to try it oh yes i'd love
39:19to so this is lovely irish soda bread of course i love how generous you are oh yeah you don't want
39:24a skimp on butter do you oh no no no no shall we go let's go for it cheers cheers this is just
39:36beautiful wait until you try the buttermilk because that's really the piece de resistance
39:46oh wow this is like a dessert yeah isn't it it's amazing what's not to love brilliant well thank you
39:53that was really really good i'm really pleased i'm very proud i have to admit it i'm a frenchman and
40:01i love butter but i have never made butter before today and it was really an experience to make
40:07irish butter that comes from here and if i may say so myself it was delicious really lovely really sweet
40:14and so tasty anyway i've got to go on to my next adventure
40:24navigating my bike through a busy city like cork is challenging but my bike is my favorite way to
40:30travel in amongst the hustle and bustle
40:36the network of streets to cycle in cork city always brings new discoveries
40:44this alleyway crane lane is the home of one of the city's top cultural venues
40:49and this is where i'm going to take part in a k-lead dancing class
40:59well possibly in two three out two three out two three magnificent so i have good news and bad news
41:06the good news is you're going to get great value out of the class because you have a lot to learn the bad
41:10news is you have a lot now come back back two three four five six seven kelly dancing is the
41:16traditional group dancing of ireland these are dances designed to be easy enough for everyone
41:22in the community to be able to join in and dance but will that include me absolutely i'm here to observe
41:29and i'm not sure i'm going to have a go this is so complicated listen to this look at the demonstration
41:35what's going to happen is we're going to swap places by doing the seven just hop two three four
41:40five six seven one two three two two three and now i'm where laura was and she's where i was okay
41:45wonderful round of applause now fantastic now so but she already knows how to do it i know she's amazing
41:53they've planted people make us look bad so holding hands in the circle
41:56up two three four five six seven magnificent what's attracting all the people to come and learn
42:06irish dancing i think river dance did a lot for us they really put iris dancing on the global stage
42:11for you as an irish man is it really part of your your identity your culture it is something i'm very
42:16proud of i love uh to be able to share it with a lot of people it's something people really enjoy when
42:20they come to corn what do you think about my footwork beautiful absolutely flawless as long as you don't
42:25kick anybody that's the only rule in the class don't kick anybody else he's a very bad liar but
42:29i'm going to take it well i guess i better brush up on my dancing skills it's time to put my two
42:36left feet to the test when we're doing the sevens we're going to our left first we're going hop two
42:40three four five six seven we're doing the threes and then we're going back we're going back two three
42:45four five six seven right i did not get anything he said i'm just going to win i'm a french man out of
42:51my depth look at that three now come back ready for the spin go hop two two two three two three two
43:01four hop two two two three two four hop two two two three two four five six
43:13six you couldn't have been as bad as me i was le più peggio de tuta la squadra okay yes i noticed
43:24thank you it's true it's true how did you find a movement i find it very difficult to follow
43:29okay i can dance salsa and uh it's very similar because it's based on three times stop three times
43:38stop but what about you i don't want dance but now i want dance because i'm a sicilian so this is
43:45an island so this is like my place my place of heart okay well let's see for part two what's
43:51going to happen it's like greece yeah yeah he's outside he's on his way so what's going to happen
43:59now is we're going to do it to music okay it'll cover the screams of this
44:02i can feel it i usually dance like nobody is watching the problem is today loads of people are
44:14watching me oh thank you three two four
44:41i prefer cycling
44:44i was trying to learn irish dancing but one thing that i learned though is that the world is
44:49in love with ireland i'm going to go and see what else cork has to offer the night is young
45:00before i came to ireland people were telling me to come to cork city and i understand why now
45:16because it's such a close-knit community people are so proud of where they come from high five
45:20and they're also proud of their staff and the visit in the brewery proved that very point for me
45:29my cycle challenge up saint patrick's hill was one of a kind
45:33and i am the king of the hill
45:38full sweets such a treat shandon's sweets is like a step back in time
45:42playing gaelic football for me was the highlight of my trip in cork and it was fantastic because
45:49it was set there on the hills and you could see the whole of the countryside what a sight
45:53is perfect wow all done i can speak i kissed a blarney stone did you did you make a wish
46:14so
46:32you
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