Ireland: Day 3

Day 3 was spent driving the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara. People I talked to and my guidebooks all told me how bad the Ring of Kerry would be. They said it would be a tiny little road, that you could only go one way around it because otherwise the buses would run you off the road, and that you'd be stuck behind buses creeping along the entire day. For me at least, none of that was true. The road was quite wide by Irish standards, plenty of room for two way traffic of all sizes, and I never saw a single bus all day. That said, I didn't think the Ring of Kerry was all it was hyped up to be. It was a nice drive, and scenic, but not as scenic as a lot of other parts of the country. But, check out the color of the water

and this sheep overlooking the ocean.

The sheep picture was taken from Staigue Fort, a bronze age stone fort. It was at the end of a very long gravel road. The road was so long and so isolated that at one point I decided I must have made a wrong turn (I hadn't) and turned back (and then turned back again). I made a turn in a driveway, and the resident border collie came running down barking and bit my car.

Much more interesting, I thought, was the Ring of Beara. This ring didn't come with the admonitions the Ring of Kerry came with, but should have. It was definitely on some very small roads and I nearly had a couple of head on collisions with locals taking blind corners too fast. The Ring of Beara is on the peninsula just to the south of the Ring of Kerry and is half in Co. Cork and half in Co. Kerry. One of the highlights was Healy Pass, a scenic pass with a narrow strand of asphalt snaking up in an endless series of switchbacks; probably one of the most fun drives anywhere.

Other parts of the road have cows and horses in addition to the usual sheep in the road.

There was hardly any traffic on this road, but when I got up to that horse and slowed to a crawl to go by it, someone woman almost drove straight into the front of me... On this ring, there weren't many big attractions, but the scenery every mile of the way was beautiful and highly recommended.

Pictures for Ring of Kerry.
Pictures for Ring of Beara.