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Published: September 26th 2013
There are a total of 63 photos in this blog so go all the way down to the bottom of this page to review additional photos and photo pages. Hope you enjoy.
In our last post we had made it as far as Kenmare. For such a small town of about 7,500 people it had a rich assortment of places to eat. Probably for all the tourists that stay in B&Bs in the area and needing nice restaurants or perhaps even bar food to keep them happy and entertained.
The day started out with a good drizzle and continued that way through very early afternoon. The Ring of Kerry as the circular route that the tourist go on to see the peninsula was a big disappointment compared to the Beara Peninsula and all its beauty. It takes about 1.5 hours to reach the bottom of the peninsula and we did it in a clockwise direction. We found out that the all the tour buses go around the peninsula in a counter-clockwise direction - required as they can’t pass each other on the ring narrow road due to the narrowness of the road so they all go the same direction.
We also did not want to be in a traffic jam behind the tour buses but rather meet them head on and squeeze by on the road as we go past them. This plan worked to perfection and we made much better time than the cars stuck behind the very slow moving buses. There were a few places along the way that we enjoyed stopping for photos but nothing like the Beara Peninsula. We stopped off to tour the Staigue Fort which is a ring fort built somewhere in 300 – 500 AD prior to Christianity coming to Ireland. Also visited the Ballycarberry Castle ruins on the west side of the peninsula. This was a castle that was built in the 1500’s. We pretty much moved up the west side of the peninsula without too many stops and wanting to get to Killarney to the Dunloe Hostel in the early afternoon to get some rest.
The Dunloe Hostel was perfect choice and they had private room with shower for us. John and his wife are the owners of the hostel. It was previously owned by his parents and had been a B&B. They had a small farm out to
the side where they had a goat, lots of chickens and rabbits bouncing round wild. Plus they grow their on herb and vegetable garden. John also put together a great itinerary for us for the next day in and around Killarney. Everything from seeing the castle, hiking to a waterfall, hiking in the Killarney National Park, boating on the large lakes in the park and a visit to Dunloe Gap high in the mountains.
The next morning (Wednesday) we put in play John’s itinerary and took off to tour the castle in Killarney. We learned a great deal about castles, fortification, attacks, living there in the 1500’s and so much more. Well worth the tour. We then hiked along a nice trail to see a 150’ waterfall, and also did a 1.5 hour hike around part of the lake in the National Park. We had left our car at the beginning of the hike and when we finished the hike, we took a 1 hour motor boat ride/tour of the upper, middle and lower lakes of this beautiful national park. They then gave us a ride back to our car. Following that we drove the car across the Dunloe
Gap which was an adventure in itself on a narrow road for one car with pullouts every 200 feet in case you encounter another car. We gave a young German couple whom were backpacking a ride to the hostel they were staying at several miles down the gap road. They were extremely happy to give their feet a break and we were happy to have been there to help them. We finished up the day with a nice dinner in Killarney eating mussels and a variety of other foods along with wine and a Guiness beer.
As a side note, we are doing well on our clothes that we brought on the trip. All are quick dry pants, shirts, underclothes, socks and workouts shirts. We can wash them out in the sink or shower with soap, and the next morning they are completely dry so no problems keeping clean clothes on this trip.
We left Killarney for the Dingell Peninsula which seems like everyone that comes to Ireland plans a day on this peninsula. You drive through some small towns perhaps villages as you work your way to the bottom of the peninsula. The town of Dingell is
the most notable and the place we stayed for the night. The B&Bs were mostly full – at least the ones we were interested in – so we pulled in to the Rainbow Hostel which was a pleasant stay with our on private room. Since we got to this area mid-afternoon, we decided to complete the loop trip that takes you to near the bottom of the peninsula around to the north side and back over the small mountainous central region to the south side of the peninsula where Dingle was located. That shorter loop took us a bit over 1 hours to finish. Great view of the rugged coastline plus the narrow windy roads with brush and shrubs and thickets right up to the side of the road.
We continued the next day along the north side of the beautiful Dingell Peninsula heading for Tolbert to catch the car ferry to save some time and avoid Limerick and Shannon which has nothing really to offer us except a bigger city and more car traffic. The car ferry was pretty easy to deal with and views were of pastures along the bay. We then headed towards the Loop Head
Peninsula which is often overlooked by the tourist heading straight to the Cliffs of Moher. We found the Loop Head Peninsula outstanding with more Atlantic views, rugged coastline, a cool lighthouse, and a great bed and breakfast called The Old School B&B which was an old school many years ago and now transformed into a wonderful B&B. We found the view here of the cliffs equally as good as those just north along the coastline called the Cliffs of Moher.
The next day we headed north for the Cliffs of Moher but quickly found that the views were going to be obscured by the heavy fog/mist in the air. Instead of pulling into the big visitor tourist car park on the right where they get you for 8 to 10 Euro just to park, we headed up the road ½ mile to a hiking trail and small car park. We then hiked right up to the edge of the cliffs but could only hear the crashing of the Atlantic against the Irish Coastline 500 feet below. But …. we had time on our hands so we decided to drive on to Galway 1.25 hours ahead and stay the night
with our Couchsurfing friend Liam and return on Sunday which was suppose to be clear blue skies. We pulled in to Gallway – now three of us in the car - as we picked up a German hitchhiker who was in desperate need of a ride into Galway. We dropped him off, called Liam, got directions to his house and met him 10 minutes later. Liam was a joy to be around. He suffers from Meningitis that he contracted in his late 20s. He had joined the French Foreign Legion in his early 20s, climbed the Himalayas, skydiving rescue team, etc. The contracted Meningitis and handling it brilliantly. Better balance now and working towards completing a 500 mile hike in May 2014 in Pyrenees Mountains in Spain. We took him out to eat that night for Thai food and continued our conversations. We hope to donate to his FundIt Program and will urge our friends to do the same and we’ll provide that information when we get home. Also, we knew our friend Susan Williams was in Ireland and we had passed e-mails back in forth and Galway was our point of crossing paths. Sure enough they were at the
B&B and we made plans on meeting them at The Quay’s Pub in the Spanish area of downtown Galway. What a great get together as we gave Susan a big hug, met her traveling companions Les, Lynn and Chuck. We started off with a toast to my wonderful mom Hope who had past away only three days before our trip. We had a great conversations of where we all have been and going and shared a few photos as well. Time quickly came to say goodbye so we could meet Liam for dinner. Best of luck to Susan and her group on the rest of their trip!
Well Sunday morning we said our goodbyes to Liam and headed back to the Cliffs of Moher. Perfect weather and great photos (took the photos at the Hags Head Point rather that the tourist area because of no crowds and actually better views and of course you could walk/crawl to the edge of the cliffs). Then took a boat ride out to the cliffs for 1 hour and got some relatively good photos of the Cliffs of Moher. Best to go on a late afternoon trip to the cliffs as the sun
doesn’s wash them out as much since it is lower in the sky – this according to the boat captain. After our morning at the cliffs, we headed northeast into County Roscommon to locate a grave site of a family friend and Catholic priest who was a missionary priest from Ireland to Yazoo City. Our drive took us into Castlerea where we spent the night and plans for the following morning (Monday) to locate Father Egan’s grave. Father Egan past away in March of 1991 and he had requested to be buried in his homeland of Ireland. He touched the lives of so many people and we wanted to honor him with a visit to his grave. My niece Lizzie Ferguson's child Egan is named for Father Egan and I recently learned that my high school friends Jim Regan and Cathy Regan were married by Father Egan and he also Baptized their two children.
The blog will continue in a few days when we arrive in Belfast and will cover our journeys from Roscommon, Achill Island, County Donegal, and arrival into Northern Ireland and Belfast. Until then we'll have a few beers along the way and enjoy the food,
and sights here in Ireland. Cheers!!
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Janie Selby Fields
non-member comment
Great pics!
Thanks for all the food pictures! The Irish breakfast looks just like the Scottish one, but delicious if it was like the ones we had. Y'all are doing a great job making me feel like I was (almost) there. Great journal reading and marvelous pictures. Hope you are having as much fun as you look like you are having! I did not see a picture of Susan; what a fantastic adventure to see her after all this time.