Killarney And The Ring of Kerry

We thought we'd take a short drive down to the town of Killarney today, and along the way we got the idea to drive the famous "Ring of Kerry" that basically begins and ends in Killarney. The drive is like the scenic drive we took yesterday around Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula.

We basically knew the route since we had taken the drive two years ago on a guided bus tour. But that time it was rain and fog most of the day, so we didn't get to see a whole lot.

Today was partly sunny/partly cloudy with good visibility except for a little haze in the distance. We headed out to the first landmark, the town of Kilorgan where Regina and her "Coffey" clan are believed to have come from.

This is the town that has the "Puck Fair" every year in August where they hoist a goat in a cage up a flagpole and make him king of the fair. Just across the bridge is the lovely Coffey Pub and Restaurant.

We didn't realize it at the time, but when we downloaded the photo below we discovered a fly fisherman in the river below the bridge as we crossed into Kilorgan.

The "Ring of Kerry" drive is like the Slea Head drive in many parts where you have the mountains on one side and the Atlantic on the other side. The tour book recommends that you go round the peninsula in a counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise over here) direction so that you aren't meeting tour buses head on that usually come down the middle of the narrow parts of the road. (This way you only get stuck behind them from time to time.)

The roads are very nice---in parts. It looks like they've made many improvements to this popular tourist drive in recent years.

Across Dingle Bay in the photo below, is the Dingle Peninsula where we were yesterday touring Dingle Town and Slea Head.

The mountains are quite impressive too. No snow-capped Rocky Mountains, but good-sized, "small" mountains.

It's mostly rocky fields for grazing sheep with a few larger fields here and there.

On parts of the drive, you get up quite high and get to stop at scenic views to see the tiny houses and fields below.

When the sun would break through, we'd get a very bright Atlantic on another calm day at sea.

In the little town of Waterville, we got to greet Charlie Chaplin who was a regular vacationer in this town during his later years.

The biggest obstacle of the day was all the tour buses, large and small, that fortunately pulled over at tourist/art/craft shops along the way so we that we could get by them.

The sheep were only small obstacles, compared to the buses, but they would stroll out into the road from time to time.

At least the cows knew enough to stay on their side of the fence, even if they were curious to see two "Yanks"---as we are sometimes called.

The last part of the drive takes you through the Killarney National Park.

There are deep woods with hiking trails and a series of lakes that lead back to Killarney.

Even a few fishermen on one of the lakes, or probably just tourists out for a tour.

The roads get curvy and narrow through the area with many large rock outcrops.

I tried to tell Sue this was Ireland's  "Tunnel of Love" in the photo below, but she just said I'd better keep my eyes on the road ;-).

When we got back to Killarney there was only one "jaunting cart" left to take a ride in, but we were too hungry anyway and just went to an early supper.

Killarney is a busy tourist town and we took the opportunity to do a little more shopping, but Sue can't find the "just right" sweater.

And we noticed that many stores are already gearing up for Halloween which is a big holiday in Ireland going back to prehistoric times where bonfires were lit and celebrations noted the end of the growing season, the shortening of the day's length, and the weakening of the sun's rays.

We'd like to proudly note that we are not getting lost nearly as often as we did in previous years, but it's probably due to the fact that we have a "GPS" along to help us through.

It makes you feel kind of dumb when the voice on the GPS tells you the right way to go instead of the way you had in mind---but it's worth it to get on your way faster and easier.

Which reminds us that we've been told that there are dumb blondes even over here in Ireland.

One of these blondes called up her boyfriend in tears and said, "You've got to come over to my apartment and help me put together this jigsaw puzzle that my friends at work gave me. All the pieces are the same and I can't figure out what its supposed to be."

"Well, just look on the cover of the box that the puzzle came in and you should be able to figure out what it's supposed to be and then you slowly lay out the pieces to fit," her boyfriend suggested.

"No, no, no," the blonde said, "it looks like "a rooster" on the box, but the pieces all look the same---you've got to get over here and help me!"

So the boyfriend headed over to the blonde's apartment to help and when he got there he said, "I think the people you work with were having a little fun with you. I'll explain the whole thing to you in a minute, but first let's put all these corn flakes on the table back in the box."

;-)