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Published: August 27th 2016
Beautiful places attract people and that is simply something a tourist or traveller deals with. You can develop strategies to avoid arriving in places when there are just too many others there and or work out ways to move around that keep you out of the way of the hordes, but not going to see places isn't a particularly useful option. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and mix in. The Ring of Kerry and Dingle are places where that strategy probably has to kick in, particularly when you are here in summer.
We found a self-catering apartment in Cahersiveen on the Ring of Kerry for a few days and used that as a base for day trips. This provided the possibility of seeing things, perhaps, before the buses arrive or after they stop moving. It was a good plan and worked … a little bit. We hadn't factored in our adoption over time of Irish waking and sleeping habits. Go out late to listen to music or have a beer or two, sleep just a little late, move around a bit and do it all again. There are good pubs in Cahersiveen. One particularly nice one –
with good sessions when we were there – is Craineen's Bar and it was right across the road from our accommodation.
Also in Cahersiveen is a large, not particularly ancient, church. Clearly Catholic but not named after a saint, so not so normal. They seem to have rather a lot of saints in Ireland so it wasn't for lack of an option. It was built in honour of Daniel O'Connell, the Irish statesman who formed the Catholic Association, a mass movement that campaigned in the 1820s, without violence, for the removal of the final penal laws against the Catholics and for the establishment of the basis of civil and political rights across the then British Empire. This is a man who was spoken of by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King as providing an inspiration for the effectiveness of non-violent struggle. He was well worth a church in his birth place and the Pope of the day agreed.
The Dingle Peninsula is a place you don't want to miss. We have been here a while now and driven through some wonderful country but this drive out from Tralee is a very good one. Dingle itself was a little
too full on the day we visited. People and buses everywhere. It looked like it might be a good place to stay, though. Most of the buses leave in the afternoon and the place empties to a more acceptable level.
The westernmost point of the mainland of Ireland is out here at Dunmore Head. A wet day so that slows down some and makes it a little easier to find a place to eat that isn't inundated. It is a Gaeltacht area and it was one of the relatively few places where we heard the language being used as the default by the locals – or perhaps they just didn't want us to know what they were talking about. The Blasket Islands are just off the coast. The people were evacuated from the Blasket Islands in 1953. Life on the islands had apparently become 'unsustainable'. The population had maintained a unique culture for hundreds of years and Irish was the only language spoken. Some of the descendants live on the Dingle Peninsula, many at Dunquin. Many others went to the USA. We ran into musicians later on who had come from here.
Most visitors move around the Iveragh
Peninsula by the famous Ring of Kerry, a route that takes you around the coast from Killorglin to Cahersiveen, out to Valentia Island, down to Balinskelligs, Waterville and then on up to Sneem and Killarney. We made it around the coastal drive as far as Sneem. The place was very busy but we found a little cafe a little out of the way advertising 'The Best Fish and Chips In Ireland'. A big claim. One cook and one server. The advertising didn't appear to be working too well as we arrived a little after the lunch period. We ordered and sat down. Three minutes later a bus arrived, then another. These people are on a schedule. They needed feeding right now! Most seemed to have the idea that constantly insisting that they needed their order filled now was the way to go. The staff were overwhelmed but stuck to their task.
We can't report on whether it was the best fish and chips in Ireland because, after a while, it became clear that we weren't going to be fed and we left them all to it.
We needed a break from the buses so we took a road
That's worth a photo
People surfing near Inchout of town that buses couldn't take. Up and over the mountains. A great idea. The coastal drive is indeed pretty, even beautiful. The drive over the mountains is spectacular. We worked along tiny roads – all sealed though – through the hills, sheep and mountains, through the Ballaghbeama Gap and Glencar and past the Macgillycuddy Reeks with the highest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil, at 1,038 metres. The trip expunged all thoughts of busloads of objectionable, impolite people and convinced us we should see more of this.
The Beara Peninsula is not as popular as the Iveragh. The best way to it seemed to be through Killorglin and on towards Kenmare, diverting past Killarney – because we were going to go back there to the Ireland Folk Festival. The satnav found us a way that met our needs in missing the population centres and took us through a national park. Sounded fine. You may have heard of the Gap of Dunloe. We hadn't. To be quite honest we had seen it on the map and didn't see a need to avoid it. Looked scenic. We didn't research it any further.
The Gap of Dunloe is indeed scenic and
absolutely worth visiting. A road that winds up through a mountain pass alongside a lovely river in the Macgillicuddy Reeks (the other side from our previous drive). The road is a fine shortcut from Killorglin (where we had a very enjoyable lunch with another couple of ex-Territorians who now spend half their time living an enviable life on a canal boat in Belgium) to Kenmare. The Gap of Dunloe is also a place where, for the last 100 years, men have been carting tourists in pony traps, or jaunting cars, up through the Gap. You either come back down in the pony trap or move to a boat to come back down. A great little earner and not one they want to lose. The difficulty is that it is a quite good public road that they are using. The pony trap drivers have a strategy of making it as difficult as they can for all drivers. It was tedious until we worked out what was going on. Then we just rolled along and enjoyed the view, waving happily to the sullen pony trap men as they went to some effort to block our progress. Took a while to get through
but there you go.
The Beara Peninsula is, again, beautiful. Not as spectacular as the Iveragh but possibly a better option for a place to stay for a while. They have let the hedges grow here so that those driving tend not to get too much of a look at the countryside or the views. You really need to pull up and stay for a while if you are to get full benefit.
Given that we had, at this stage been to the most easterly, northerly and westerly points of Ireland we couldn't really go past the most southerly – or more properly the most south-westerly – point of Ireland (apparently Brow Head is 9 metres further south). It was a bit more of a trek and a little further out of our way than we intended but we made the trip down on our way from Cahersiveen to Killarney, skillfully turning a trip of less than an hour into a 5 or 6 hour drive.
Will I say Mizen Head was worth it? Let me just say that on a fine day when you can see something – anything – more than 20 metres away it
An omen possibly
Beara Peninsula (and it might have been for sale) would – I am sure – be well worth it. We have seen photos and it is great. On the day we were there we knew there was water at the bottom of the cliffs because we could hear it. I have to say that there is an eerie beauty to the place in the . If the place was always bathed in sunshine then there would hardly be a reason for a lighthouse here. The list of ships that have sunk in these waters over the years is extensive.
There is a good Visitor Centre at Mizen Head and plenty of parking. Worth a visit.
We proceeded on to Killarney on other than main roads, up over the hills again. Another great drive that only became a little tiresome as we were coming into Killarney. Don't know what we will do when we get back to Australia and have to deal with 1,000 kms as a gentle day driving.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Scenic and amazing
Amazing and scenic....the beauty is never ending, the people kind, the music lively. Strategic plan to avoid the tourist. Great travels.