The Ring of Kerry

Wednesday 11^th September

Today’s pedometer reading 5.46 k’s

This morning we set off on the Ring of Kerry scenic drive in the southwest of Ireland. It traces the coastline of the stunning Iveragh peninsula, and covers 170 kilometres peppered with pristine beaches, medieval ruins, mountains and loughs. 

From Killarney heading to Killorglin we crossed the shores of Lough Leane. The majestic Macgillycuddy’s Reeks rose up above us and we passed Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest peak at 1039m, it looked like a spire rising up to the sky…the road travels alongside the River Luane – famous for its wild salmon.

The stretch of road leaving Killorglin heading to Cahersiveen is bound by scattered blanket bog. We noticed that many houses had piles of bog/peat just like the wood piles you see in parts of Australia.

The village of Cahersiveen has a very, very long street and it was a short drive from there to the car ferry where we travelled to Valentia Island.

 On the island we visited;

The slate quarry & here’s the view…we now know the true meaning of Irish mist…

If you look carefully you’ll see the lighthouse in this photo, it's to the right of centre.

The Grotto at the slate quarry…that’s Andrew in the bottom left of the photo & the religious figures are in the top left!

We climbed the stairs of the Valentia Island Lighthouse as part of a tour there.

The lighthouse is built on the site of a fort built by Cromwell’s forces in the 17^th century. It became an operational lighthouse in 1841 and from that time until 1947 housed the lighthouse keepers and their families. It was then automated and is still an essential navigation aid for shipping in the area.

This pre-Christian Ogham standing stone is in the grounds of the lighthouse.

We then drove over a bridge back to the mainland to Portmagee.

Along the next part of the ring…the road to Ballinsskelligs,  we stopped and enjoyed the views across to  Skellig Michael…it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site…a conical mass of rock that rests 12km offshore. Hardy monks once lived and worshipped on the island but today seals and some 27,000 pairs of gannets have made it their home.

From there we travelled along the Ring of Kerry route to Waterville where there is a statue of Charlie Chaplin who along with family enjoyed many summer holidays spent in Waterville. His daughter loved the place so much, she settled there permanently.

A little further on from Waterville we took some photos of the amazing landscapes.

We don’t know the significance of this stone ring …we’ve tried to do some research but so far can’t find any information!

We then headed back to Killarney, overall we felt the Ring of Kerry was a little disappointing…the views were stunning but many of the towns seemed run down and we had difficulty finding somewhere to have some lunch. We ended up having sandwich at about 3.30pm! We were expecting lots of waterfront cafes and restaurants and that certainly wasn’t the case. We didn’t have a sunny day, there were clouds rolling down the mountain tops & we did experience Irish mist at times…the temperature ranged from 17 to 19 so it wasn’t cold.

When we arrived back in Killarney we stopped at the neo-gothic Pugin creation of St Mary’s Cathedral which dominates the town’s skyline to visit the cedar tree opposite its entrance – it marks a massed grave for famine victims, and is a sober reminder of Ireland’s tragic past.

Last night on the way home from dinner we saw a restaurant that we thought we’d like to try tonight and so we walked down to it for dinner. We each had a bowl of seafood chowder and I then had a second entrée of prawns. Andrew couldn’t resist the sausages and mash…tonight I’ll leave you with a photo of his meal...from the bottom up it's , mash with seeded mustard, pork & leek sausages, caramelised onion and tempura vegetables on top!