The Ring of Kerry

I didn't really know what we were going to be looking at when Matt said that we were going to spend Sunday doing the Ring of Kerry.  Stone circle?  Several stone circles?  So I looked it up and discovered that it is a 170+ km circular tourist drive around beautiful parts of Kerry. Kenmare, where we were staying, is part of the route.

But a whole day, spent in the car, driving in a 170+ km circle?  Seemed a very odd idea to me.  Why would you want to?  But Matt said that the Ring of Kerry was why we had come to Kenmare and that it was supposed to be very beautiful.  I wasn't going to argue, so after breakfast we hopped in our cars and off we went.

And Matt was right.  It's stunningly beautiful.  Bits of it are like the Cumbrian Lake District but without the lakes.

Then we found a lake (I thought there probably had to be at least one lake):

There are rolling hills, farm houses, towns and villages.  There is a wide variety of scenery.

There are inlets and bays and the sea

And places to eat, places to drink and places to buy ice cream.

It was an excellent day.  I am so glad that we did it.

We could probably have done without all the cyclists, though.  There were properly organised bike races going on.  There were experienced cyclists our riding.  And there were Sunday cyclists, also out, who were an absolute menace.  But I wasn't driving.  The Builder was driving, so I didn't have to worry :-)  Matt didn't like the cyclists one little bit!

There were also loads of coaches out and about, for it was a beautiful day. It is traditional for people doing the Ring of Kerry to go anticlockwise.  Many of the roads are narrow and if people are going in both directions (especially the coaches) it would be hard to pass by in some places.  But of course not everyone using the roads is actually doing the ring. Sometimes it was a bit of a challenge. Especially with the cyclists factored in.  But everyone succeeded.

We all met for breakfast on Monday morning, which we had in the bakery in Kenmare.  And then we parted company with MBSW and made our way back to Dublin airport where we dropped off our car and came by plane, train and taxi back home.

I had never been to Ireland before. It was absolutely lovely.  We will definitely go again - and possibly go back to Kenmare.  There was more to see and do than we had time for in one full day. There are more tourists ring drives as well

William, a tad disconcerted by the size of his burger at dinner!

Click on William and his burger if you want to see the Ireland photo album