OK so the title says the Ring of Kerry but really it is more about the Skellig Ring as that, apart from driving along with the caterpillars (this is Tara and Paul speak for tour buses), we pretty much stayed on the Ring of Skellig. This was mainly due to there being no tour buses allowed on this ring and the fact that it took in more of the coast that we wanted to see.
We had four days in total along this beautiful stretch of countryside that took us to 3 different overnight stays one that included a stay with an Irish celeb but more about that later.
So Kerry; let us start with the fact that their colours are green and yellow which could work for those of you out there who are Australian or South African although Kerry unlike those two nations have a chance of winning something in September ha!
Anyhow did I mention that we met the coach of the Kerry Gaelic Football team? Yep we did. In fact he invited us to stay at his house...well when we say he invited us what I really meant was that we paid to stay at his house but he did serve us breakfast one morning and very good service it was too.
So anyway our stay in the Ring of Kerry / Skellig Ring started at a little place near Kells called Caitins. Caitins was not a town as such, more a pub and tourist stop. Yep a bit of a halfway house between the real start of the ring in Killarney where the bloody Irish Open was on, yep the fuel consumption increased dramatically on the run into the city, stupid golfers. Killarney however was quite a nice town and they had a summer festival type thing on in the streets that night which was kind of cool and the B and B was good too but it was just the Irish Open that sticks in my throat and the fact that none of these golfing types can walk to watch the golf, they all have to drive there, argh! Back on it now about Caitins which was a great little stop that had a great little pub downstairs that served good food and had cool enough people there that let us check in early. See Caitins was a great stop even if it was only one night but it did give us chance to get Merv rested up for his next run at the ring and stunning views of Dingle Bay and the Heineken sign from our window. Also got to chat to a couple touring around on a GS 1200 and we got to wash our clothes in the next town Cahersiveen! Oh yeah, the smell of clean clothes...if only we could have that right now.
So next stop the B and B in St Finans Bay just outside of Ballinskelligs. This was the place that the coach of Kerry lived at and it had it’s own beautiful views out over the bay - in fact this place was just over the road from the bay and was simply unbelievable. Never to be built out we had uninterrupted views of the beach from our breakfast table so I am not quite sure how marmalade on toast could taste any better than this let alone black and white pudding. The little township was very nice although as it has been said it had no “dynamique” ie no pub or place to eat other than breakfast that is. On our first night there we decided to go for a walk to find somewhere to eat but all we found were a couple of dogs that wanted to eat us! They breed Border Collies tough down here let us tell you although maybe they were not familiar with people that do not wear wellington boots at 4 in the afternoon. Stupid bumpkin dogs.
The area around the bay, sounds like we are talking about Home and Away doesn’t it, if only. Anyhow the surrounding areas where pretty awesome and ranged from beautiful beaches to sea cliffs. What else would you want? (although there were no Puffins here either and because of the Puffin failure at the Cliffs of Moher and here on the Ring Tara has come up with a new word called “puffination”). Of course puffination is the act of something supposedly being real only for it to not be real at all but just one big con. Tara thinks that puffins fall squarely into this basket. I told her to grow up and said that of course they are real....just like bunyips.
Oh what else did we do, oh we went to a cool island called Valentia Island that was connected via a bridge to Portmagee. Yep this place was ace and had great views, a port where some scared looking kids donned wetsuits to hop into the water in summer to learn how to swim. We both saw the state of the water they were jumping into as well and we both understand why they were so scared, YUK! The Island also had Tetrapod footprints of maybe they are flipper prints who knows. Gees 350 million years ago this little bugger walked along leaving prints and I will tell you all exactly how it went.
Urgh that was tough oh look I am out of the water cool now what do I do? How about I just keep going straight? Oh no something has stopped my progress, no worries I will go right. Oh that’s better back in the water again.
No crap that was what the footprints told me. Tara said that something must have scared it and that was why it turned and I said “it was the first thing on land what could possibly have scared it other than a rock?” Tara agreed with this and that was the end of the conversation.
OK enough of the Ring of Kerry as it is nearly 12 and I have a lot of red still to drink so how about a summary.
1) It is a great place and you all should go
2) It is very diverse and you all should go
3) The people are great and you all should go
4) We have a lot of photos that will make you go
We loved it and we will go back and spend more time but hey other fish to fry first, next stop Kenmare and Kilkenny the home of the Kilkenny Cats.
