Ring of Kerry

 

On Monday, we toured by small bus The Ring of Kerry (“Morchuaird Chiarrai”). 

 

 

This is a 179 km circular route in southwestern Ireland that we followed counter-clockwise, starting from Killarney to Glenbeigh, Cathersiveen, Waterville, Sneem, from Killorglin around the Iveragh Peninsula, to Kenmare and then back to Killarney.  The Ring is quite popular and since Monday was a Bank Holiday for Ireland, there were a lot of tour buses and cars on the roads.  Because there are narrow roads, all tour buses must run counterclockwise and cars must travel clockwise.  This way, two behemoth buses going in opposite directions will not stop traffic on both sides as they try to resolve the apparent laws of physics working against them.

 

Our first stop to look at the scenery was in Glenbeigh. The weather has been so rainy, windy and cool in Ireland, so we were not surprised to find ourselves bracing against the winds coming off of the Atlantic.

These are sights from our bus window.  Note the old stone bridge:

This is the ruins of Daniel O'Connell's family home in Cahersieevn. O'Connell was a 19th Century emancipator who successfully campaigned for the rights of Catholics in Ireland during the English repression that tried to defeat this religion with extremely onerous penal laws. 

Prior to O'Connell's emancipation drive, the Irish were forced to build stone walls and lived in stone houses.  Now, these stone structures are falling into disrepair and they are mostly left alone by the current owners of the land as a sign of respect for the Irish forced to build them for the English.  The stone walls are called "penny walls" because the English paid the Irish a penny a day to work on them.  Any stone structures still remaining may be used by the landowner but they are not torn down or replaced.

Daniel O'Connell monument:

Another beautiful view from our bus:

In Waterville, we ate lunch at The Lobster, a pub that served delicious "cottage pie" - the beef version of an English Sheppard's pie --

Waterville views:

Caherdaniel is a high point that lets us look out further into the ocean and tiny islands - we're actually facing west towards the U.S:.

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Outside of the town of Sneem (which is pronounced "Shneem"), there is a spot called "Ladies' View" where Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting went to view but the Queen decided not to look when she came to Killarney in 1863.  Ladies' View includes a "Leprechaun Crossing" which Lincoln found far more interesting that something called Ladies' View:

Our last stop is at the Torc waterfall - which Mark, Jana and Lincoln ventured out to:

This waterfall brings water from the Carrauntoohil range to the three lakes in Killarney. This is one of the lakes:

After Torc, we headed back to Killarney. The weather continued to rain but we managed to walk to our favorite restaurant in Killarney:

On Tuesday, we head back to Dublin by train.