We left Killarney in cloudy weather to explore the Ring of Kerry. It was not long before I wanted to stop to take a photo of the lovely orange flowers that lined the road side. [I later learned they are called 'montbretia'] As I was getting out of the car Steve reminded me to get my coat as it had begun to rain. THEN I realized our coats were safely hanging in the closet of the Countess House! Around we turned and drove back 20 minutes to pick them up. So, we lost about an hour of time which made us a little later to arrive in Dingle in the early evening.
But it was a good thing I got out to take a photo, which I ended up not taking, or we might have travelled a long way before realizing we had forgotten our coats. And we were headed the wrong direction around the Ring of Kerry. So, all in all things were OK.
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Just us as we were stopped at Ladies View along the Ring of Kerry.
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Ring of Kerry
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| This is the general map of where we drove on the Ring of Kerry. We actually went further down on the west/left side. It was supposed to be about 3-4 hours. I am sure we took longer than that. There are just so many beautiful places to stop and take photos. The weather went from cloudy, to sunny to rainy to foggy. But even though the weather was a not the greatest it was still an amazIngly beautiful place to see. It just seems like there is so much beauty in this lovely land. I just cannot get enough of the beautiful views!! |
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| Just a typical street. |
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| When the roads are not too narrow. |
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| Had to stop and take a photo of this amazing view. And the sun was actually shining which made it so much better!! The orange flowers are: 'montbretia' |
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| A farm along the way |
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| Our first glimpse of the sea on this drive. I love ocean views! |
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| More ocean. |
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| The scenery is just amazing! |
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| Look! actual blue skies! |
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| And then more cloudy, foggy skies over the ocean. |
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| Beautiful green meadows! |
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| Cool bridge. |
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| A foggy view. |
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| An interesting church along the way. |
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| More! |
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| These are fuchsia. I remember trying to grow them as a house plant at home. But here they are prolific and all along the sides of the roads! |
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| An example of Fuchsia along the side of the road. |
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| Just a house along the side of the road. |
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| Who would have thought there would be a statue of Charlie Chaplin in Waterville, Ireland? But he often vacationed there and a statue was built to honor him. |
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| Imagine how lovely this would have been had the sun been shining? |
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| Beautiful even in the rain. |
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| Yes, that is me driving and driving and driving! Steve was so good to take many photos out of the front and side windows since we just could not stop everywhere! |
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| No one passes a tour bus on these narrow roads. And there were a lot of buses! |
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| And frequently we came across farm equipment driving along those very narrow roads. |
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| Foggy view! |
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| And again! |
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| And again! |
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| Almost too foggy to see the beach. |
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| I really do love ocean views! |
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| And here is Steve! |
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| It always surprises me to see palm trees in Ireland. It is just unexpected. |
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| Rainbow sheep in the fushcia |
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| When we first saw the sheep with such colorful coats I was fascinated. And we saw many different colors. We learned that the sheep are marked this way by their owners so that when they are let into common grazing areas the owners can reclaim their own sheep. I still think it is kind of comical though. |
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| A lovely valley and more sheep. |
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| And again. |
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| Love this! |
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| The whole drive is beautiful. I am sure we missed some things along the way but what we saw was spectacular! |
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| With clouds right down to the hillside! |
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| I love the field and different colors. |
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| Rugged beauty! |
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| I love the rugged hillsides. |
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| The problem with tour buses is that they are full of tourists. I know I am a tourist but I find it annoying that there are so many of us that I do not feel like I can have an authentic experience with so many tourists around. But I found this so humorous that I had to take shot of all the tourists racing to the same spot to take the same picture. I had to wait until they moved on to be where I could take my photo, |
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| And it was worth the wait as you can see. |
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| Even with clouds it was beautiful. |
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| This is a stunning view! |
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| Adn these rugged hills are stunning too. |
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| Me, trying to get an unusual shot of what everyone else does not necessarily chose to shoot. |
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| One of my less usual shots. |
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| I love to see the green meadows nestled in the hills. |
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| This random ruin was right by the side of the road. I had to stop. I don't know why ruins fascinate me so much. But I know that at some point that was someone's dream and now it is gone. |
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| Another view. i wonder what it was? |
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| A random church along the way. |
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| Great arch! |
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| On the road again leaving Ring of Kerry on our way to Dingle. |
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| Just can't get enough of the green meadows! |
Color
Color is amazing and I found it very interesting that so many houses and businesses went so bright with their paint. Here are just a few that we saw in 3-4 hours.
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| We actually had lunch at this little cafe. Great soup and soda bread! |
I decided to stop this blog at the Ring of Kerry. There was just so much that we saw. Sometimes when we see so much I feel like my brain is tired. This whole trip has almost been overload with everything we have seen and learned.
In a few days I will post about Dingle which was so awesome!
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