The Ring of Kerry

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Wednesday 22^ndApril. The fabulous weather continued today. Not a cloud in the sky all day, and the warmest day of the year so far in Ireland, real short sleeves and sunbathing weather. The locals are loving it and are out in droves. Can this continue? The answer appears to be no – Thursday should be nice, but the clouds and showers arrive Friday for the rest of my stay, and top temperatures will change from around 18 to around 10.

Nevertheless, today’s excellent weather enhanced the variety of wonderful scenery of the day. Firstly I attended to a few chores in town, such as getting a haircut and doing a little shopping, then I headed off to drive around the Ring of Kerry. However, I didn’t just drive around the coast road the whole way, and in fact headed inland along the road down the middle, past a mountain lake or two, and through the Pass of Ballaghasheen. Much of the road is a single lane, even having grass growing up through the tarmac down the centre. Some rugged mountain scenery, bridges over little streams, some sheep farms. I also saw peat farms, where they cut up the layered turf and dry it in the sun for use as fuel.

Returning to the coast road I enjoyed the magnificent views of the south-west and south, near the corner of the Ring of Kerry. I could see the Skellig Islands offshore. I stopped in Sneem for an ice cream, along with about five tour buses – the roads are rife with tour buses and cyclists, an interesting combination. Along the south coast to Kenmare, then north up across Moll’s Gap and down again into the Killarney National Park with its wonderful scenery and historic buildings.

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