Ring of Kerry

Monday came and it was time to head back to Cork. We were reluctant to leave behind what might have been the best breakfasts in all of Ireland, and so had a very lazy start, not ready to check out until almost noon.

After the last few days, we felt that Ken had been tried by fire and was now well-adapted to driving the wild Irish ~~rose~~ roads. Were had not intended to drive the Ring of Kerry because of its reputation for being crowded with tour buses and such.

But it was the Monday of a holiday weekend, and we figured most people would be heading back to wherever they needed to be. It was cloudy and threatening to drizzle. We also heard that if you start the ring long after the tour buses (which hit the Ring at 10am), going the same direction (which we were positioned for,) you would have the ring to yourself.

Riley said she wanted to see it and Ken was game. We figured we'd just stop a lot and take the whole day to do it. It's supposed to be a 4 hour drive and our goal was to make it take more like 8.

We revisited Inch Beach for a time and then took a deep breath and turned onto the Ring. And it was great. Not crowded in the least, narrow roads, but not as bad as the last few days. Stunning scenery of course, though this day the tops of the hills were hidden by misty low clouds.

That probably shortened the trip time by a few hours, because even with having dinner in Sneem, we still made it back to Cork between 8 and 9pm. It was a long day, but worth it. There is a new town I will need to come back to called Derrynane, with incredible beaches and hiking trails. I look forward to seeing it again.

I don't even remember the name of this beach on the Ring, but it had the remains of an ancient something on it. No guardrails or handrails, just crumbling old stones begging for exploration. That's Aidan, cavorting, Ring of Kerry in the background.