Ireland Day Two

Day two started very different from day one.  Robyn was up and at a meeting at 6:00am.  I was up at 7 and walked over a few blocks to O'Brian Coach Tours to participate in Ireland’s most famous visitor attraction, The Ring of Kerry. 

 

This is a panoramic road journey that envelops the Iveragh Peninsula. The loop road leads mostly along the coast through spectacular landscape of rolling hills, rugged peatlands and stunning mountain terrain and of course the patchwork of green fields which are so characteristic of Irish countryside.

 

 Our tour traveled west to County Kerry, crossing over the County Bounds, a wonderful vista of mountains and moorland which separates the two counties.

  As we rode the weather became more and more dreary.  The roads also became more and more narrow.  I was sitting right behind the driver and I had a great view.  Sometimes that was very beautiful and sometimes that was very scary!

 

 

We continued through Killarney, heading for the market town of Killorglin,  home to Puck Fair, said to be Irelands oldest and longest running street festival and many believe its origins are associated with the Greek god Pan. We stopped this morning in The Bog Village (charge) in Glenbeigh. This  replica village offers a fascinating insight into how people lived and worked in Ireland in the 18-19 century. Located in a vast Bog Land, visitors learn about the bogs, its wildlife and equipment used to cut these bogs (turf). There is also an opportunity to enjoy a mug of coffee or maybe an Irish Coffee at this popular visitor attraction.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our drive resumed to embrace the magnificent scenery of Dingle Bay, the sand deposits of Inch Strand and the Slieve Mish Mountains as they cast a shadow over the peninsula.  We drove through Caherciveen, home of The Liberator and hear of the first Transatlantic Cables laid across the Atlantic floor in the 1860s, directly from this part of the West of Ireland. Just off the coast are the Skellig Islands, Skellig Michael is a World Heritage site and home to a an incredible monastic settlement dating to the 7century, nestling 130 meters above the Atlantic swell. Due to the thick fog, we were unable to see anything.

 

 

A quick stop at Waterville and again at Coomakista for a photograph of the magnificent panoramic entrance to Kenmare Bay. A beautiful medley of colour and contrast capture the essence of this part of the West of Ireland.

 

 After a busy morning we stopped for lunch at Sneem, a very popular stop along the Ring.  I had shepherds pie.  It was very delicious.  I met a lady from Puerto Rico and we talked about how much I loved my trip there earlier this year!

 

Afterward  we drove to Killarney via Molls Gap and enjoy the glorious landscape of the Black Valley. This is an old glacial valley which decends through the National Park and embraces the Lakes of Killarney. A stopped here at Ladies View to photograph this famous scene.

 

 

 

We were supposed to go to a further stop at a waterfall and then at Killarney Town.  Due to an accident we had to turn around this huge tour bus and head back the entire way we had come.  Our 10 hour trip turned into a 14 hour trip!  I was exhausted and ready to be back with my sister!  I was so disappointed and tired after this day because I knew I had missed so much that I wanted to see because of the fog.