The Ring of Kerry

Saturday's mystery trip was to...

The Ring of Kerry!

From Killarney (about an hour and a half from Kinsale), we traveled counter-clockwise around the Iveragh Peninsula on Ireland's most famous scenic drive...all 120+ miles of it.  It was a long day of driving, that's for sure.

In all honesty, having visited the Dingle Peninsula, neither Greg nor I felt that the Ring of Kerry lived up to all the hype.  It was beautiful, but not as scenic (in our opinion) as the "Ring of Dingle," and there were long stretches of driving without anything spectacular to see.  When driving around the Dingle Peninsula, you really get more beautiful scenery in less time.  I'm sure we would have found the Ring of Kerry far more impressive if we hadn't already been to Dingle, but since we had, it was a little underwhelming.

That said, there were two areas of the Ring of Kerry that we especially enjoyed.  The first one really gives Dingle a run for its money - it was worth driving the whole ring just for this one portion!

On Valentia Island (see map), in an area closed to tour buses, we stopped at a scenic viewpoint looking out towards the Skellig Islands, the largest of which is home to a long-abandoned 6th century Christian monastery.  Beside this viewpoint was a narrow gravel road climbing up the side of the mountain.  Ross and Greg were discussing trying to drive up it, until we noticed a closed gate a little ways up.  However, before we left, a car came down the mountain, stopping to open the gate and close the gate behind it.  Greg flagged down the driver, who was a visitor to the area and noted that someone else was at the top and if we wanted to go up we should go ahead.  And so, despite my feeble cries (because I was nervous about the fact that this was a narrow gravel road climbing up the side of a mountain), we started up.

I don't think the cows wanted us there, though!  After we went through the gate, two giant cows stood right in the middle of the road staring at us.  Seriously, they looked exactly like two sentries guarding an entrance.  Greg edged the car closer and closer to them and they just kept staring at us curiously.  They did finally move and up the mountain we went, dodging some more livestock on the way.

What did we find at the top?

A little gravel parking area beside an old lookout structure (with a cow in front of it, naturally).

And this:

We walked way out on this cliffy peninsula jutting out into the ocean.  (I'll admit that I required quite a bit of encouragement, coaching, and even hand-holding to venture out there.)  Greg and Ross just about gave me a heart attack with all their climbing around.  (I have a very strong sense of self-preservation; apparently, they do not.)

But, it was gorgeous up there and an awesome experience, worth the extra effort (and the Nervous Nellie moments)!  It was on the way back down (thankfully, no one fell off the side of a cliff) that the picture in the previous post was taken...of a herd of cows blocking the gate.  They did not want to let us in and they did not want to let us out!

One of these cows (the one on the right in this pic, I believe) was particulary stubborn and just would not move even when the others (reluctantly) started to saunter out of our way.  It just kept sniffing the hood of the car.  We wondered if we would ever be able to get out, or if any cows would accidentally escape through the gate in the process.  But we made it!

The other part of the journey that we particularly enjoyed was the drive between Kenmare and Killarney.  Both towns are neat in and of themselves, and the drive between them takes you through a part of Killarney National Park, home to the famed Lakes of Killarney.  Moll's Gap and Ladies View are the two most well-known scenic viewpoints along this stretch of road.  We also hiked to the Torc Waterfall (although we unfortunately took the worst possible hiking route to get there...if only we'd driven a little farther down the road, we would have seen the large carpark with the short, easy trail to the waterfall).  Greg and Ross proceeded to make me nervous again by climbing around in the waterfall; they would not listen to reason.  :)  Although Greg did scrape his shin up on a rock, so I felt that my concern was justified.  I told him no more climbing around on stuff that could be dangerous.  :)  I think his thought is "once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout."

We ended up back in Killarney and made a stop by pretty Ross Castle before heading back home.  Greg and I plan to come back out to Killarney at some point to explore the national park more and see more of the sights in this, Ireland's most popular tourist town.  If you're feeling in the mood for a LOT of pictures, here is our slideshow from the Ring of Kerry.  (I whittled down the number of photos significantly, actually, but there are still a ton in the slideshow, so please click through if you want to skip over some of them.)

From Loving the Life We Live