Ireland - Day 7 (Wednesday 4/05/2006)

Click this link to view photos.

Another early start and I was on my way out of Killarney for a grand tour of the Ring of Kerry, the most popular drive in all of Ireland. So popular, in fact, that during the high season the road becomes one-way for busses, as busses have a hard time passing each other on the narrow country roads.

I started out heading Northwest along N72 and was immediately greeted with winding roads leading me forward. My first detour was to be around the town of Killorglin. I was to detour south to Lough Caragh to experience some of the areas boglands. Unfortunately, yet again, my tour book wasn’t very specific and I couldn’t find the turnoff. Oh well, boglands don’t sound that exciting anyway, not with my luck with cars lately at least.

It was on to Glenbeigh, where I took a brief rest on a pebble beach. It was a good view as I made my way out onto the beach, crushing the many mussel shells beneath my feet, and staring out at the old fishing equipment. It was a good place to stretch the old legs, but then it was time to move on.

From Glenbeigh I continued along the coast down into a town called Cahersiveen, the birthplace of “the Liberator” Daniel O’ Connel. Unfortunately I missed seeing both HIS house AND the other two “stone houses” that my guidebook pointed out due to heavy weekday traffic. No worries; after all, I wasn’t the one going to work.

A brief turn west, just south of Cahersiveen, and I made my way slowly to Portmagee, a small (very small, in fact) village on the western edge of the ring. It was a good detour. Just at the bottom of a VERY steep village road was a concrete “dock” that delivered a nice view of the port. A few photos and I was on my way.

Back on the main road I continued counter-clockwise around the Ring of Kerry. I took another break in Waterville, simply because the beach there was a joy to look at.

Past Waterville and through Caherdaniel you come to a town called Castletown. I love some of the names here in Ireland. Anyway, a turn inland from Castletown, and another drive up a narrow, compact road delivered me to Staigue Fort, a “fort” cleverly located between two hills with a nice view of the water. These stone circles, while simple, were apparently very effective those thousands of years ago, and I believe it.

But, once again, I chose to marvel only for a moment. It was time to get back on the road. And, speaking of the road, I will say that, once again, I was forced to stop every so often to snap a few shots of the stunning vistas that this area presented to me. It was a gorgeous day and I was lucky to have it. But, for every place I stopped to take a few photographs, yet again there were a dozen where I didn’t stop (or wasn’t able to). Had I stopped everywhere I wanted to I would never have made it around in time; that, or I’d have caused several accidents and been deported.

Anyway, I finished the drive by heading back into Killarney, through the stunning Killarney National Park, and continued my way to Tralee, located further up the west coast of Ireland, poised nicely for my tour tomorrow of the Dingle Peninsula.

Tralee was a nice, small town. Luckily, yet again, there wasn’t much to see, so I was able to relax a bit and take a nice walk around the town, reflecting on the day’s journeys. I stopped in a nice pub and grabbed a pint of Bulmers cider (that stuff is good) and tried another order of the crab claws, apparently a popular item over here. While they weren’t as good as the ones yesterday (and who could expect them to be), they were good, and it was nice to sit outside, all bundled up, and read a bit.

After that I decided to do my own “mini bar crawl” so I grabbed another pint at another pub. Then it was a brief stop at an Internet café to try and keep up with my emails. The one good thing that came of it: on Friday 4/21 we’ll be partying at Clare and Don’s Beach Grill in Arlington for my welcome home party. Can’t wait! After that it was on my way to another pint, but I found some lost lab roaming the streets. I tried calling the number on his collar but kept getting a answering machine, so I left a message and was forced to move on. Besides the mutt was getting impatient with me and seemed to know where he wanted to go. So I tried to put it out of my mind and put another pint in my stomach. It worked.

By this time I was feeling pretty good, and pretty good and hungry, so I tried the Indian restaurant next to the hotel. The food and the glass of wine were good, and were a good end to a good day.

Back in the room I tried making a phone call, but later learned when I went downstairs (because the “operator” wouldn’t pick up) that the owner (of the Comfort Inn, mind you) decided to not allow phone calls from the room. Apparently it was an attempt to prevent people not paying the bills, but don’t you already have their credit card information from check-in? Anyway, I was forced to call from the front desk, but had to leave a message anyway so I went back up to my room and prepared for bed.

Tomorrow…the Dingle Peninsula.