Having spent most of last weekend inside, out of the rain, I chose to drive the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry this weekend. Booked a hotel in Cahersiveen (about a third of the way through the Ring of Kerry) for Saturday night. In the downpour in Limerick on Saturday morning, I headed out of town along the southern side of the River Shannon, down to Listowel and Tralee. As I headed south and west, the rain started letting up and there was an occasional patch of blue sky. Once at the town of Dingle, I headed to the Slea Head Drive, which circles the end of the peninsula.
One lane (two way) roads, breathtaking views, a few wandering sheep, and a couple wrong turns, I made it out. Towards the end of the drive, I made a pit stop at the Louis Mulcahy Workshop where they make beautiful pottery by hand. Desperately wanted to replace my Target-brand place settings with some from this shop, but couldn’t imagine spending that kind of money on a salt shaker (it wasn’t even a salt and pepper pair), much less dinner plates.
After Dingle, headed back towards Tralee and down to the Iveragh peninsula (one of these times I’m going to spell that incorrectly), which is what the Ring of Kerry circles. About a third of the way through the Ring of Kerry is the… Ring of Kerry Hotel, where I stayed for the night. Ok food (yep, just ok) paired with a couple good Bulmers ciders and I was ready to hit the sack.
Rumor was that Sunday would be the better day of the weekend, and I was definitely not let down. Headed to Valentia Island and made my way around the island on another one lane road used for both lanes of traffic. Below is the view of Foilhommerum Bay (don’t ask me to pronounce any Irish words) from Valentia Island.
Armed with my cartoon-like map of the island that I scored from the tourist office, I attempted to view St. Brendan’s Well (some guy from 500 AD that baptized people at the well), but ended up on some off-road adventure (in my Ford Fiesta-like car) in a gun club with no place to turn around. Was a little worried I would drive through a puddle and pop a tire on some hidden sharp object (I’ve had two flat tires that way, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened again). Managed to make it to the end of the road and turn around int what else, but a car park (that’s a parking lot).
After that adventure, wound through the rest of the island with no major mishaps. Jumping back on the Ring of Kerry again, I headed to Waterville on Ballinskelligs Bay and then made my way up Coomakesta Pass to these awesome views of Derrynane (I think).
The last leg of my journey was through Killarney National Park. Finally, it had started to rain again. Rain mixed with sun = rainbows. Too bad I couldn’t get any good pictures of the rainbows. Beautiful. Almost as if I’d never seen one before or something.
One thing I noticed while driving through village after village is that I could use some help deciphering road signage.
Driving down a road, I see the 100kmph speed limit sign and check my speed. Soon after (100 meters or so) I see “SLOW” written on the road. Another 100 meters, and “SLOWER” is written on the road. Keep in mind this is right after the 100kmph speed limit sign. Keep driving and I see “VERY SLOW” and shortly after “VERY SLOW VERY”.
In the context of driving 100kmph, what is meant by the word “slow”?
LOVE all the pics jenna!! wish i could be there to help navigate