Part 3 - Ring of Kerry
August 26 - 28, 2016
For a more photo-centric view of the trip, you can also check out my Flickr album for this part of the trip.
Friday, August 26th: Limerick to Killarney
Before leaving the Dromoland Castle Hotel, we spent a little more time exploring the grounds so we could sort of feel like we actually took advantage of the benefits of staying at such a nice place. We looked at a friendly cat that was sitting on some stairs in front of the hotel, walked around the hotel's lovely walled garden, and tried to walk out to an overlook for a nice view of the castle but couldn't find it and gave up. Then a bird pooped on the side of my head. I cleaned up, then we took one last look at our room and got on our way.
Our destination was Killarney, located a couple of hours south. We stopped in Newcastle West along the way to stretch our legs and visit a medieval site beside the River Arra (with a banquet hall and a couple of other buildings), but didn't do the guided tour. Later, we drove through Castleisland, which is apparently home to Julie's ancestors. Despite it being a fairly large town, we didn't see anything that really said "stop and take a picture of Castleisland," so we drove through without stopping. (Oddly enough, in 2020, Georgia Tech granted a football scholarship to a punter from Castleisland.)
We took a scenic route into Killarney that was initially signed, but we quickly lost track of the route and had to just follow the GPS on some tiny backroads. We drove into Killarney for lunch, and found that the city was really busy. After a bit of driving around, we found a parking spot a few minutes' walk from the city center, walked to the main street, and had fish and chips for lunch.
After lunch, we returned to the car and drove to the Torc Waterfall just outside of town. It took forever to get out of the city due to traffic, and when we arrived the parking lot was full, but we found a makeshift spot just up the road. The walk to the waterfall was short and the waterfall was substantial - our guidebook didn't do it justice. The trail continued past the waterfall (we can't resist climbing a bunch of stairs) to a view of the lakes of Killarney. As we backtracked by the falls, we saw a couple of Georgia Tech fans at the waterfall, an occurrence that would become more common as we got closer to Dublin and closer to gameday.
Our next stop was Killarney National Park, which we found to be somewhat confusing and poorly documented. But we made it, and bought a combo ticket for two attractions, the traditional farm and Muckross House. We toured the farm first - it was really well-done and seemed pretty authentic. We saw a lot of animals in more-or-less realistic settings (a pig and several large piglets, chickens, turkeys, ducks, donkeys, cows, horses, and a cat) and a few in a nursery sort of environment (a baby donkey, baby cow, some ridiculously fluffy rabbits, baby sheep, baby goat, and some puppies). We even talked some U.S. politics with a man who was milking a cow. (He asked.)
Later, we joined a small group for an hour long tour of Muckross House, a huge mansion built in the mid-1800s. As it turned out, Queen Victoria visited there 155 years ago (to the day), a visit that was planned 6 years in advance! The grounds around the house were nicely landscaped, and we toured the sunken garden (very nice), the rock garden (sort of cool), and the walled garden (just OK, and not really walled anymore).
Next, we took a short drive out to Ladies View, a famous overlook (one of the most photographed spots in Ireland, which got its name because Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting admired the view of the lakes of Killarney). The drive out to the view was insane, along a twisty, narrow road winding between mountains on one side and lakes on the other, with an inexplicable speed limit of 100 kph (62 mph). After appreciating the view, we returned the way we came, stopping at a few lake overlooks along the way. As we approached town, we saw a herd of at least 25 red deer standing in a field beside the road. We pulled into the parking lot of a closed jaunting car business (jaunting cars are small single-horse carriages popular in the area) to watch the deer for a while.
We filled up the car with diesel and then arrived at our hotel. The parking lot was busy, so I had to do a couple of 900-point turns to get the car into a spot. After checking in, we walked back toward town in search of food. We were too tired to search and too tired to wait, so we ended up getting takeout pizza and bringing it back to the room.
Before retiring, we checked the weather forecast, and things were looking grim for Saturday, with a lot of rain in the morning that was threatening our cruise to the Skelligs. With our options for rescheduling very limited, all we could do was fret about it for the evening and then call the boat captain in the morning and see what was up.
Saturday, August 27th: Skelligs Cruise
At last, my most anticipated day of the trip was upon us - our chartered boat ride to the island of Skellig Michael, also known as "that island where Luke Skywalker and the porgs were hanging out in the new Star Wars movies." The Star Wars connection is probably what brought the island to our attention, but even without that, it seems like a stunning, can't miss place to visit.
Getting the booking figured out was really hard. There are only a handful of charter boats licensed to travel to the island each year, and they're mostly really small operations - just a captain and his boat and a small crew. So there are no websites and online reservations. I had to find some phone numbers online, pick a likely candidate, figure out how to place international calls on my cell phone, and call up an Irish boat captain to make a reservation a few months in advance. The confirmation was basically "let me find a pencil...OK, I've got you down - call me a couple of days before the trip to confirm."
If that wasn't nerve-wracking enough, you're also very much at the mercy of the weather, and the forecast was looking grim for Saturday morning. We got up at 6:15 and got ready for the trip, then called the boat operator before leaving the hotel. He said the weather was looking fine, so off we went.
Google estimated the drive at an hour and a half, but early in the morning it only took about an hour and fifteen minutes. We got a preview of part of the Ring of Kerry (Sunday's adventure) along the way - a pretty drive with mountains and ocean views and lots of wildflowers beside the road. Our boat was leaving from the town of Portmagee. We parked and found the pier and our boat fairly easily after standing around awkwardly hoping somebody would ask us who we were looking for. We boarded the boat with 9 other travelers and were one of the first boats to leave for the day, departing at 9 am.
We chatted with the first mate on the way out of the harbor. He said he'd been to Atlanta once, but only to the airport and an airport hotel, and that it was way too hot for him. (That's fair.) The Portmagee harbor was the site of the first transatlantic cable connection with North America (connecting with Newfoundland on the other end), and we also saw a watchtower from the Napoleonic War overlooking the harbor.
The cruise to the island was about 45 minutes, and the sea was pretty rough. Julie was really worried about getting seasick, so she stared at a mountain in the distance to keep from getting sick. I figured I'd be OK, since we were sitting out in the open. Neither of us felt perfect, but we didn't have any problems, thankfully. It rained on us a little bit on the way, but by the time we got to the island, the weather had turned quite nice. As we approached Skellig Michael, we could see nearby Little Skellig, which was packed with thousands of seabirds sitting on the island and swarming all around it.
We docked at Skellig Michael and walked up a path for the first leg of the climb, passing by a former lighthouse and helipad, and through a path covered with a makeshift wood roof because birds were knocking rocks onto people's heads. We regrouped and a guide gave us the rundown of rules for the island (basically stay on the trail and don't damage anything) and then sent us on our way.
The island is a rocky crag covered with grass and not much other vegetation. During parts of the year, it's full of puffins, but we weren't there during puffin season. The main attraction is a monastery at the top of one of the island's peaks that dates possibly as far back as the 6th century. There are stone steps laid by the original monks that you have to climb to reach the site - they told us it was 600 steps to the top, but in the excitement, it didn't seem like that many. The steps were steep and ancient, but well-maintained, and you usually had a wall on one side of you for security. As we got toward the top, though, the wind picked up to gale force, which was unnerving, and the final segment before the entrance to the monastery was an exposed flat path staring down a sheer drop. It was scary, but we made it.
We had a total of 2.5 hours on the island from drop-off to pick-up, which seems like a long time, but it went by in a flash. It took us about 20 minutes to climb up, and then we wandered around the monastery and surrounding area for a while. It was awesome - there were several domes (called "beehives") made of stacked stones where monks lived, plus a high cross, a small cemetery, a church, and various walls and other structures. There were a few areas that were off-limits, as well. The views of the ocean and the nearby Little Skellig were beautiful.
It got pretty crowded at the top - we weren't the only boatload of tourists that were there, the monastery area is pretty compact, and the Star Wars connection has apparently really increased the demand. A guide gave us a brief history talk, then let us wander around and take more pictures. One of the guides was sort of from Georgia - he was born here, his mom lives here, and his son is getting a PhD from U[sic]GA. (We just can't escape them, it seems...)
We started down the path with plenty of time to spare, and it took us about 20 minutes to get down the stone stairs to the newer path. The weather held out just long enough for our visit, and then it started raining on the way down, which made things a little more interesting. We hung out under the wooden shelter watching seagulls for a while, and then continued down to the dock just in time to board the boat for the return trip.
The boat ride took us by Little Skellig for a closer look at the island and the birds. Apparently there's a cave under the island that boats can go through if the sea is calm, but it was so rough when we were there that we couldn't even circle the island. There were also whales in the area, which the captain saw while waiting on us, but the water was too rough to go look for it. Instead, a few tour boats formed a little caravan and headed straight back to the harbor. The ride back was a little calmer than the ride out, and I spent most of it watching large birds from Little Skellig dive into the ocean around the boat.
We ate lunch in Portmagee, and there was a regatta going on in the harbor that the whole town showed up for. We crossed over to nearby Valentia Island, which had flowers blooming everywhere. We drove out to a trail to a fossilized tetrapod trackway (basically a few lines of fossilized dinosaur footprints), which was awesome.
We retraced our route back toward Killarney, but veered off into an area called the Glenbeigh Horseshoe. There were supposedly some hiking trails there, but we weren't able to find them. But the drive was nice, and we saw a cool stone bridge over the River Caragh, and a paddleboarder.
Next, we drove to the Gap of Dunloe, a highly-recommended site. The description in the tour book was kind of confusing, and it wasn't what we expected. Basically, there's a road that's mostly closed to vehicles that runs through a mountain gap. You can park at a couple of stores at located where the road is closed, and walk or rent a horse-drawn "jaunting car" into the gap. We elected to walk, and went about 2 miles along a road lined with pastures full of horses, cows, and sheep, with lakes, streams, waterfalls, and old farms. We encountered a lot of slugs, some kind of cool centipede thing, a few free-range sheep that seemed kind of lost, and a lot of gnats. We went as far as the Wishing Bridge, then turned around, as it was getting late.
We drove into Killarney, and after a lot of wandering and searching, we had a reasonably fast, decent dinner. A street vendor recognized my GT shirt, and we had a longish conversation about American college football with him. We stopped to get ice cream, and the girl behind the counter said that a Tech person came in the day before and gave her a sticker.
Finally, we drove back to our hotel, had trouble finding parking, and got to our room exhausted after a long but successful day. However, trouble was brewing - laundry trouble. We did our research and were counting on a laundromat in Killarney that we could visit at the halfway point in our trip. We got back too late to do laundry today, and the place we had in mind was apparently closed on Sunday. At this point, I was good for another three days but Julie was starting to run out of stuff, so a laundry crisis was approaching.
Sunday, August 28th: Ring of Kerry
Laundry solution? We found a website for a nearby launderette that said that they were open from "4:30 - late" on Sundays. So that was good news - we could take care of the laundry when we got back from the day's activities.
The plan for the day was to drive the Ring of Kerry, a scenic loop drive stretching for about 111 miles around the Iveragh Peninsula. We got an early start to get out ahead of the tour buses and other tourists. After stopping at a convenience store to pick up breakfast and laundry detergent, then driving by the laundry place to verify its location, we headed back toward Portmagee (where our boat tour to Skellig Michael started). The weather was beautiful and sunny and we had the road almost completely to ourselves.
We stopped at a couple of scenic viewpoints and then pulled into a beach (Rossbeigh Strand), which had a lovely view of the calm ocean with some mountains in the background. As we drove on, we got into a "sheep jam" behind a few local sheep trotting up the road. We followed them for a bit until they turned onto a side road.
Our first ruin for the day was Ballycarberry Castle, which was great. It was big and a lot of it was intact, so you could wander all around a couple of levels of the castle (only slightly dangerously - there were some pretty serious drops if you weren't watching where you were going).
Continuing our tour of ruins, we drove to a parking lot for two different ring forts, Leacanabuile and Cahergal. They were quite different from one another. Leacanabuile was fairly small and was the fortified farmstead of a wealthy landowner. Cahergal was large and tall, with steps lining the inside of the walls and the foundation of a large house in the middle, indicating that it was the home of somebody important.
We stopped at another beach, this one in a cove with some serious waves and a view out to the Skelligs (which looked much closer than the boat ride would lead us to expect). We tried to find a "holy well" nearby (an old well revered for religious purposes), but after we failed in two passes, we gave up and moved on. Next was Skelligs Chocolates, a family-owned chocolate factory that looks out on the ocean and the Skelligs, where we ate a ton of free samples, read a bit about the company and about chocolate, and bought some candy for the road.
Continuing along the rugged coast, our next stop was Derrynane House, the home of Daniel O'Connell, a famous 19th century Irish politician. To get there, we descended down a narrow, twisting road through an area so overgrown that it looked almost tropical. The site was free because it was "heritage week," so we watched a movie about O'Connell's life, did a self-guided tour through the house (it was very homey), and then wandered the wooded grounds. The grounds contained another ring fort, a garden of South American Plants, and a small tower that housed a working room for O'Connell away from the main house. There was also an abbey ruin and a nature walk, but we skipped those because we were getting tired and had a lot of driving left to do.
The views along the south coast were very pretty, with rugged, rocky mountains and islands scattered in the bay. We stopped at another historic site, the Kenmare stone ring, which was basically just a circle of large rocks (but a very old one) but a pleasant diversion.
Next, we drove a self-guided "geology trail" from Kenmare back to Killarney, following an interpretive guide. It included Moll's Gap, a view of the Gap of Dunloe, another visit to the Ladies View, some stops along the lakes of Killarney, and a lot of information about the glacial activity that formed this area. One of the stops was at the parking lot for the "Meeting of the Waters," where two of the lakes of Killarney converge. We hustled along the 15 minute walk and had some trouble finding it, but eventually arrived at a very quiet area with a pretty old bridge. It would have been a nice place to linger, but laundry was calling us back in town.
We once again saw a large herd of deer in a field on the way back to the hotel. Traffic was terrible, so we stopped at the hotel, unloaded the car, and dragged the suitcase of dirty clothes to the laundry on foot, only to find that it was closed. Frustrated, we gave up, got a bunch of food from the same pizza place we ate at a couple of days before, and returned to the room to eat and rest.
The laundry place supposedly opened at 8:30 or 9:30 on Monday morning (although it was hard to know what to believe), so we planned on trying laundry again in the morning before a full day of activities along the road to Cork.