Wild it wasn’t: Spectacular it was!

 Outside our apartment is a large mural on the side of the building depicting Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty a local who was responsible for saving the lives in Rome of over 6500 allied POWs and civilians in the 2nd World War

We left around 8am to drive the Ring of Kerry arriving first at the Torc waterfall which is located in the Killarney National Park - as buses are mandated to go in the counter clockwise direction so that two buses don’t meet each other on one of the very narrow roads, private vehicles tend to go clockwise (as we did) so that your view is not the rear of a bus slowly wending its way

If you intend to get around the Ring in a day you can’t spend too much time at each sight or for that matter stop at each recommended sight so we moved on promptly to the Ladies View which was slightly uninspiring given we had just driven on a winding road alongside a lake which was stunning but there was nowhere to stop to take a photo 

Further on after climbing up several hundred metres there was the Moll’s Gap -again slightly uninspiring and that opinion was held by one of the sheep high on the hill overlooking the Gap who had turned his/her back on it!

From there it was downhill to a delightful village, Kenmare, where we stopped both for morning tea in a quaint roadside cafe and a walk to stretch our legs

On we went to our next stop in Sneem, a village which sits on the estuary of the River Sneem. Standing on the bridge entering the town the rocky floor of the river below is interesting 

As we moved further southwest we travelled along the coast road with “grand” (a term heard frequently here) views of the mouth of the Kenmare River as it joined the North Atlantic Ocean and stopped at a viewpoint near Castlecove

and again at Farraniaragh

Then it was on to Waterville for a lunch stop and again good views of the coast and Charlie Chaplin 

The Ring of Kerry then cuts inland though you can continue on the coast road on what is called the Wild Atlantic Way which loops around the Skellig area - as we only had one chance at doing so we took the loop to more spectacular views particularly the Kerry Cliffs where the viewpoint is accessed through private land

Now driving northeast we rejoined the Ring of Kerry just before Cahersiveen - from here to Killorglin the Wild Atlantic Way and The Ring of Kerry are one and the same.

We stopped at Cahersiveen for afternoon tea and witnessed an interesting encounter between a woman and a religious gent whose attire indicated he was a Greek or Russian Orthodox priest. It was obvious she didn’t know him but she insisted she treated him to a drink in the cafe; he reluctantly chose a bottled of water. As by now they were inside the cafe she further insisted that he blessed both herself and the lady running the cafe; he did so without hesitation. She then got her phone out, rang her sister, handed him the phone and asked that he speaks to and blesses her sister; he had no hesitation in taking the phone and did so. Then her friend came into the cafe and sat at a table near where he and her were standing talking and she told her friend to stand and get blessed; no problem there either. The religious gent then took his leave.

What was obvious throughout the interaction was that each person’s faith was immaterial, it was the fact that a “man of God” was in her presence and she was going get as many brownies points for herself and others as she could, all done with great respect.

We had one more stop before heading back to Killarney, Rossbeigh Beach, a 2km detour off the route. The parking area was very full so it is obviously a beach well frequented but while we would swim there on a very hot day to cool off if necessary the rocks and pebble shore is not what we are used to.

We then returned to Killarney arriving back almost 9 hours and 212 kms after we left this morning.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day with some quite stunning Irish inland and coastal views - well worth making the effort!