Ok, back up the Ring of Kerry the way we came yesterday, the N70 to Tralee but not all the way to Tralee. After Milltown take the R561 to Farranfore then the N23 to Limerick.
We were on our way again. We passed a vehicle that was doing 70. Maureen was turning into an Irish driver.
Went back through pretty Cahersiveen. We were moving along nicely when suddenly a really big tractor pulled out in front of us. Maureen said ‘Just bury me now’ and I laughed at the situation.
The sun was trying to come out and it was gorgeous on the bay. We were back to the zig-zag road and the narrow bridge.
We stopped in Glenbeigh and walked on the beach. There was a spit of sand that went out into the bay and there were people riding horses and walking their dogs. It was great. Up near the entry to the beach the rocks were green.
When we got back out onto the road we came up to this fellow who was pulling a boat. Now we had already passed this fellow once but he must have gotten ahead of us while we were on the beach.
We got to Kilorglin at around 7 pm and followed the boat as he was still in front of us.
Went through Milltown and had to maneuver around a bus and a huge truck that were coming toward us. It was a nerve wracking moment again. Took the R561 to Farranfore. We saw crash repair signs and laughed. We were sure that those guys were busy.
At 745 we went through Castle Island but we never saw a castle. It did however have really wide roads with angle parking. The first time we had seen that in Ireland. The N21 to limerick seemed to be flat land with a good road.
But Maureen pointed out that we were actually going uphill. It was an optical illusion. It was such a gentle incline that I really thought that we were on flat land. There were even two lanes for us folks that were going uphill. Downright civilized. A beautiful view of the valley and castle Island opened up before us. There was the sign for Crag Cave. Know we knew where it was. Going down after that with a single lane for us on a very gentle incline with forests and views of big valleys and bigger hills.
We were hitting speeds of 110 and not keeping up with the locals. That was a nice road and it had shoulders too. After Abbyfeale we saw three windmills up on a hill. Very pretty.
We played Van Morrison – It’s a marvelous night for a Moondance.
This stretch of road is pretty, pretty, pretty.
We went through a tiny town, Templeglentan ,with a tiny church built in 1843 at around 8pm. It seemed to be more cattle country now. The road was fairly wide and it seemed to be green with read shoulders. I have never seen so many different coloured roads. V.M. Have I told you lately.
When we went through Newcastle West we were listening to Brown eyed Girl again . at the inevitable traffic circle we could not see the sign for Killarney as it was covered by a tree branch. Maureen says KillDenny. So which way do we go?
We guessed right and saw the sign for Adare in 24 Km.
We were accosted with an aroma what was it? Farming? Bucolic? The road got better. We found a B&B just 4 Km outside of Adare. Smithfield House was an 18th century manor house that was also a working farm with horses and cows and ducks and dogs.
Kathleen greeted us like she was expecting us and when we said we didn’t have reservations she told us that she had been waiting for another group but she did have a room for us. We brought our things on and I looked in the mirror.
My face was beet red. And so salty. Between the wind, the salt and sun it is no wonder fishermen have weathered faces, their faces don’t stand a chance. I washed the salt off and hoped it was dark enough that no one would notice I was burned to a crisp.
We went into Adare and after taking a picture of the house with the tree growing out of its chimney wandered around the park and the street with the thatched cottages. We decided to have dinner at the blue door restaurant.
We had a lovely dinner and then wandered back through the gardens and main street in the moonlight.
It was like a summer evening, warm with no wind and a clear sky. There is a Golf resort right in town .
Our room was ready for us and was very comfortable. I got the cot and it was asleep in less than 4 minutes.
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