Ring of Kerry

The is the last of my Irish odyssey from July of this year. We had been staying in Tipperary and headed over to Kilarney as the scenery was reportedly worth the trip. It was around a couple of hours and we initially headed to Ross castle which was very picturesque on the edge of a lake. After a stroll in the sunshine we discussed the 'Ring of Kerry' road signs we had seen in Kilarney, looked at the map and decided to give it a whirl.

The Ring of Kerry is affectively a circular route around a peninsula on the south west coast of Ireland which we extended by taking the most westerly part the Skelligs ring as well. We had no set plan and headed off around midday and just stopped when we saw something that appealed. Around eight hours later, in fading light, we reached Torc falls, our final stop a little south of Kilarney. It had been a long day and we still had a two hour drive back to our cottage and needed to find somewhere to eat!

A little better planning might have been in order but never mind, it proved to be an enjoyable day, albeit a touch tiring. Here is some of what we saw.

First stop of the day was the Ross castle area

We then headed off to the Gap of Dunloe where we grabbed a sandwich before a fair walk up a restricted road that many others ignored the restrictions and drove along. Never mind, all good excercise! Moving on we detoured off to Rossbeigh a popular beach area backed by sand dunes Next up was Cahersiveen. We turned off on seeing a sign for a castle which turned out to be closed for repairs but we found a pleasing walk to a disused railway bridge and the former constabulary barracks, now a heritage centre and government building, that looks a bit like something from a fairy tale. We jumped back in to the car and moved on once more taking the aforementioned option of the Skeligs ring and a stop to look at the Kerry cliffs, one of the most rugged parts of the Irish coast in these parts. The weather closed in here and it started to rain but fortunately it was localised and we left it behind although the sunshine of earlier did not fully return. Time was getting on now and as we pulled in at a beauty spot known as Ladies View the low evening sun briefly popped out from behind the clouds. And so to our final stop, Torc falls. Fortunately always open as dusk was now falling but a slow shutter speed suited the location luckily. A lengthy post for what was a long day!