We woke to beautiful blue skies and sunshine. A little cloud drifted in but it had the makings of an amazing day to do the Ring of Kerry.
We drove from Dingle along the coast to Inch Strand Beach. Funny thing about that name, in Gaelic Inch means Strand, so it is Strand Strand Beach or is that Inch Inch Beach? It is the second most popular surfing beach in Ireland. There wasn’t much surf around but there was a surfing school in operation down on the beach.
From the beach we drove through Castlemaine, home to Jack Duggan, the wild colonial boy, and then onto Killorglin to join up with The Ring of Kerry, one of Irelands most popular scenic drives. We had the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks on our right most of the day, but Carrauntoohil, the highest mountain on the whole of Ireland at an awesome 1038m, never showed us its peak, always shrouded in cloud.
On The Ring of Kerry just outside Killarney (6km west), within the Killarney National Park we came to the old 1448 Abbey/Friary of Muckross. It is a wonderfully preserved building with a very large Yew Tree growing in the middle of the cloisters square. The tree looked like it was growing with a spiral twist to it, a beautiful tree. We walked around, climbed stairs and looked into the cellars of the building. It was astounding that the building had remained in such great condition from the times of the Cromwellian sacking. It left a mark on both of us.
From there we walked alongside Lough Leane to Muckross House. We had lunch there and a walk through the gardens. There was one pretty flower garden on the east of the house and expansive lawns in other areas. The walled garden was more of a tree lined lawn with a glass house in it.
After another 30 minutes of walking we made it to Torc Waterfall. (Torc means boar in Gaelic, all Irish wild boar we killed off by about the late Middle Ages). Walking up to the waterfall it looked very small, but as you get nearer it becomes apparent that it is a cascade falls, tumbling down a height of about 15-20m. An interesting falls to watch. The trees next to the creek leading away from it were covered in big patches of lumpy moss, something we hadn’t seen before. It was good that there weren’t many people up at the falls, the small viewing area could easily get very crowded.
Next we drove up to Ladies View, a viewing point down over Muckross Lake and Lough Leane, spectacular views down the valley and over the waterways. Ladies View was named such after it was used by Queen Victoria and her “ladies in waiting” as a vantage point to see the views of the area during a visit there in 1861.
We then drove through the Caha Valley and the Caha pass where a tunnel was cut (by hand) through the mountain at the crossing from County Kerry to County Cork. The tunnel was made to make the journey of Queen Victoria more comfortable!
From here we were on our way to Kinsale. We drove through the town of Bantry. There was a very busy looking market in town square selling all the usual small town market things. We stopped at Bantry House to have a look at its Gardens. We headed out in search of its Walled Garden, but after half an hour walking on muddy trails in the woodlands the best we found was a wasteland field with walls on maybe 2 ½ sides (nothing like the brochure described). We returned to the house and looked at the manicured formal Garden at the back of the house, its layout and hedges were done with geometric precision, an impressive piece of horticultural endeavour. We then walked around the lawns at the front of the house and admired the sweeping views of the district and the Atlantic Ocean.
It was about an hours drive from there to Kinsale our home for the next 2 nights. We checked in at our BnB then went for dinner at the Spaniard Inn overlooking the township. After dinner we had a bit of a walk around town and around the grounds of St Multose, Church of Ireland (an Anglican Church) and a peak at Desmond Castle just up the hill from us.
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