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Published: November 1st 2006
The Ring of Kerry 1
A few of the scenic points along the Ring of Kerry.After not going to bed until early this morning, our day didn’t turn out as great as I had hoped. I’ve been hearing all about the Ring of Kerry and the breathtaking views along the route. The house we are staying in is only 8 km away from the Ring. We headed south on the highways since we have already been into Killarney several times and we planned to just finish up there and hit the internet café. Nothing quite went as planned though. Robert was the designated driver today so we were all in our rental car. My only expectations were to see the “awesome land and sea views” along the Ring. Our driver was trying to go the speed limit (100km/hr) along these narrow little roads with very few turnouts so it was hard to get any good pictures.
We stopped in Cahersiveen to check out another castle but we ended up at some old Barracks that did have an interesting story behind it but nobody wanted to pay the €4 for the tour. Then they didn’t want to continue down the road to see the castle because they could already see a ruined castle down the road
The Ring of Kerry 2
Another scenic point along the Ring of Kerry. and as Matt said; once you’ve seen one castle, you’ve seen them all. A lot of the area we aren’t going to all cover during the first week while we are trying to see as much as possible while Billie and Matt are here for the first week. We didn’t end up getting up and out of the house after 1pm so there wasn’t much of the day left to travel far.
The Ring of Kerry is about 110-120 miles around the peninsula of Ivernaugh so it takes a few hours at a minimum. While we were examining the map outside of the Barracks and trying to figure out our next course of action, a local recommended that we go as far as Sneem and then turn around for the day because the fog cover would most likely have moved in by that time. Robert had wanted to go out and see the Skellig Islands so we drove over to Valencia Island to find out the boat schedule. We went into the Skellig Experience and they had cancelled their tours AROUND the islands due to rough sea and that only a couple private boat owners were taking people to
The Ring of Kerry 3
Another scenic point along the Ring of Kerry. the islands to walk around. He gave us a couple phone numbers to call and the rate was estimated at €40 per person. We’ll have to find out just how badly Robert really wants to go in the light of the cost.
The local had also mentioned a chocolate shop on the way to Waterville so we set out to find that next. Despite driving numerous miles, I mean kilometers, on narrow, winding roads, we did not find the chocolate store but I haven’t given up hope yet. We did cross some rather large hills where I was able to get a great view out across the bay. With the overcast weather though, it is difficult to get any photographs that capture the true color of the panorama. I even tried hiking around one small spit to see if I could capture the sunset coming down over the cliffs but I turned back instead of fighting the cows over whose turf it really was.
So our venture to see the Ring of Kerry was pretty pathetic. I am going to have to try again next week. We stopped in Cahersiveen and found the internet café. I posted my
Irish Stones
We walked along the bayshore and these stones were all over, they are like three colors total and all smooth. I thought you'd like this pic Autum. last two days of blogs and read everyone’s comments (thanks Genivieve, Nate, Rhonda, and Brandy). I tried to book our two night stay in Dublin but the prices were sky high and nobody wanted to pay them. So we’ll either end up sleeping in the car, finding a hostel with a couple beds open, or I’ll get me a room to myself and the hell with everyone else. We ended up heading back to Cromane (which I found out is pronounced cro-man), asking if our local pub served any food (only the kind you drink) and finally having dinner at a very expensive restaurant in Killorglin (pronounced kil-r-gen) called Dev’s On the Square but the food was fantastic. I had a crab appetizer with mushrooms in an au gratin sauce and the spinach and ricotta tortellini and they were both superb. I think we’ll go back next week for one of their traditional irish breakfasts.
We ended the night with another game of Phase 10 where Billie was finally the winner. A difference of opinions over the rules of spades and I ended that before it got any further. I don’t play a game where all of the rules
The Flags
The green and yellow flag on the left is the flag of Kerry, the center one is the flag of Ireland, and the right one is the flag of the European Union. are explicitly understood by all the players involved. That’s why I never play cards with my enlisted soldiers and I shouldn’t have started with these guys, lol.
Anyway, it’s just past 1am here and I am waiting to throw my load of dark clothes into the dryer. Maybe tomorrow I’ll post a blog simply about all the differences here that you just don’t anticipate, at least my travel books never mentioned them! Tomorrow we are supposed to be off to the Dingle Peninsula to explore that coastline and perhaps take in a few stops. I hear they have an indoor water park, aquarium, and such. The guys want to go golfing but I am more of a putt-girl and I don’t know if I want to spend that kind of money on something I’m not very good at. Miniature golf is more my style. We’ll see who’s the winner when the time comes.
Oh yeah, Happy Halloween! And yes, the Irish do celebrate Halloween. There are decorations up all over and the children have been seen in costumes the last several nights but only tonight did we see them trick-or-treating. Don’t let it get out to the children
Road Kill
As if driving on these roads didn't scare you enough, they had to go throw up this sign too. This is the lowest number we've seen yet. Don't drive in Cork, over 150 deaths there! in America but here the kids get handfuls of candy at every place they visit! No wonder I see dental offices in every town!
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Road kill
OK - so what's the deal with the number of people killed in Kerry? Is it 54 or 55. Or is like one sort of hanging on with a bag prognosis? That is a weird sign but I bet you drive more carefully. LOVE the photos of the rocks and the flags and the Ring of Kerry. Sorry the tour didn't go as planned. It sounds like a beautiful drive in the guiidebooks I read. Keep up the chocolate commentary - was enjoying hearing about the cool new-to-you candy bars. LOL. I never thought of Ireland as a chocolate lovers haven.