I deeply apologize for this next post being out of order for our trip, but unfortunately we are currently having trouble accessing our photos from Doolin and Dingle. I hope this will be resolved soon! In the meantime...
**For a summary of our entire Ireland trip, click here**
Sadly leaving the fabulous town of Dingle, we embarked on one of the big milestones of any Ireland trip - the Ring of Kerry. I will put out there before we even start - we liked Slea Head Drive around Dingle better. The Ring of Kerry is very beautiful, even breathtaking at times, but I would say that for overall scenery, Slea Head is more dramatic. There is the one caveat that our weather was better for Slea Head, but even given equal sunlight, I think we would feel the same way.
That said, the Ring of Kerry is an easy place to get to from many other must see places in Ireland and I think it's something you should absolutely experience if you are doing an Irish roadtrip. It's iconic and gorgeous and I promise you will enjoy it. What you are typically looking at is a day in the car, driving and scenery gazing. We stopped quite a lot to take pictures and take in the view.
One of our first stops was at Inch Beach (or Inch Strand) on the Dingle Peninsula. It's a very wide stretch of sand and a great beach for swimming or shell collecting, although our day wasn't really warm enough for either. Many locals will surf here as well year round. There is also apparently a nice beachside cafe here, but we can't personally vouch for it.
Dingle Bay
Soon after Dingle Bay, we veered westward onto the Skellig Ring (R565), an offshoot of the Ring of Kerry. It heads closer to the coast and allows you to see better scenery than staying on the main road, but the tour buses that travel the Ring are not allowed on this section. You can view the Skelligs (Great Skellig/Skellig Michael and Little Skellig) off the coast and more adventerous travelers can take a boat out to visit them. We didn't have time for the journey on this trip but would love to try it in the future. If you'd like more information about it, check out my friend Shannon's account on her blog The Wanderlust Effect.
Valentia Island. This is one of the most westerly points in Ireland, off the Iveragh Peninsula. You can get to the island by bridge from Portmagee and it is said to be a nice place for walking with little traffic. We settled for nice views from the roadside.
Headed up into the mountains. Not the best pictures, but this shows a little of how ominous it looked to us. Started to really feel the wind here...
Wind at the top! This will forever be one of my favorite pictures of my husband.
Continuing around the Skellig Ring
St. Finan's Bay. We met the most adorable local dog here and hung out with him for quite a while.
We never actually got stopped in the road by sheep, but cows were good enough for me!
Ballinskelligs Beach, which is a great place to get out and stretch your legs. You can get a great view of the McCarthy Mor Tower (aka Ballinskelligs Castle, seen here) off the beach. It is said to have been built in the 12th or 13th century and legend has it that it was built to protect the harbor from pirates.
The sweet seaside town of Waterville, famous for sportfishing and the Waterville Golf Links. Tiger Woods apparently practiced here before the British Open.
An Irish cautionary tale: I have said before how much we liked seeing the sheep on the roadside. In this particular instance, we were on a deserted stretch of road so we decided to slow and get a closer look. The window was down and my husband got the idea to "baaa" at the sheep to say hello. Mama Sheep did not take kindly to this idea and tried to charge the car! Not the smartest move on our part!
Beware the Mama Sheep!
Catherdaniel - the southernmost part of the Ring of Kerry
Ladies View looking over Upper Lake. When Queen Victoria came to visit Ireland in 1905, she apparently sailed up through the lakes and made her ladies wave to her from here.
We next stopped in Killarney National Park for a little hike to Torc Waterfall. The path was gorgeous...
...as was the first waterfall. The hike here was really quite easy from the parking lot and I think this waterfall was definitely worth seeing.
View from the waterfall
Where we made the mistake was heading up to the "second waterfall". The stairs were quite steep and it was a lot of work to see something significantly smaller and less dramatic than the first one. I'd skip it unless you really like climbing.
Another site at Killarney National Park is Muckross House. This beautiful old manor house was built in 1843. Was fully renovated for a visit by Queen Victoria, and she stayed here for two days. You can tour this house inside (and we have heard it's very beautiful) but time constraints had us deciding to view it from outside and enjoy the gardens, which you can do for free. We were also the only people there, which lent a lot to the magic of the place :) Downton Abbey fans might really enjoy this stop!
Looking over Muckross Lake
The gardens
Our home away from home in Killarney - Ross Castle Lodge. This B&B was utterly charming and we would definitely recommend a stay if you are in the area.
We walked into downtown Killarney - in the pouring rain...
Killarney was an interesting part of our trip for both of us. It was a good stopping point for where we were in our journey, but I don't know that I'd recommend it to another traveler. Killarney is very touristy and not the authentic Ireland we loved. The one bright spot was Treyvaud's, where we ate dinner, which was arguably our best meal in Ireland. Several people then recommended that we check out Danny Mann Pub - I'd warn against it. It was ALL tourists and we didn't stay longer than an hour.
If you were to avoid Killarney, you might consider the town of Kenmare instead, which was our other option. We chose Killarney in the end because of proximity to Killarney National Park and the Gap of Dunloe, which was our next day's adventure.
