We had heard a few tales that made
us a little nervous about the road but it was fine really. After the Caha it was practically a piece of cake.
Gassed up in Kilorglin. They have a goat with a crown whose name is King Puck. They also have a big river and a festival once a year.
Maureen did very well on the traffic circles that she had to navigate as she sang 'we are going to Kildenny'.
We were on the N70 which was a narrow road but not as bad as some. Every town that we went through had a big church. Too big for the size of the town it seemed.
We went through a little town and there was a farmer on a tractor.He was using it like his car.
Maybe it was his car. Such a stereotypical picture of an Irish farmer. Rubber boots, jacket, tractor. I loved it.
The weather had changed back to what it was earlier, cold with grey skies and very windy. We came to this little bridge that was only wide enough for one way traffic. It was a very short bridge and we wondered why they didn't just widen it or build another bridge.
From that point on we were following the coast and the water was as grey as the skies.
We saw a strand of sand going out into the bay between the Kerry and Dingle peninsulas. It was very cool. Someone had told us that from the far tip of the sandbar you could see the Dingle peninsula.
I didn't think so that day as the weather was making any visibility over any distance difficult at best. Passed the Kells turnoff without seeing the town.
We did see sheep on the hills. This time they had blue dots or no dots at all. suddenly they seemed to be everywhere.
The road started to move inland away from the coast and it changed back into more of a goat trail type of road with lots of twists and turns.We came up on a tractor on the road and we passed it. Maureen was really starting to get the hang of it by then.
The views were very nice and we decided that now was a good time to listen to Van Morisson. Brown eyed girl in the Irish country side . Could life get any better.
Spoke to soon. There was this bridge that was very narrow. I sure hoped no buses had to navigate that one. The sun tried to come out but the clouds were winning. They were hanging on the top of the hills like a blanket. The road almost went under a train bridge but it fooled us, it was a hairpin turn.
Cahersiveen was our next town and it was lovely too. It is on the river Fertha which flows into the Valentia Harbour. With the Beentee mountain at its back it was very picturesque even in the rain.
There were a lot of bed and breakfasts
in all of the towns that we passed so we were thinking that in the summer this place must be nuts.
I loved this towns very typical main roads with the two story buildings attached to each other in a variety of colours . It was like driving through a rainbow in every town. And of course there were great doors.
So much character. I wondered if the people living there knew how lucky they were or if they had become so used to it that it was just normal for them. Probably. Of course the draw backs are that the roads are so freaking narrow.
After Cahersiveen we went out into the wilds of Ireland,
off of the Ring of Kerry Road.
We found the Kilpeacan crossroads and then the R566 to Ballinskellig and drove through some pretty interesting country. The roads were narrow and hilly with what looked like sea grasses growing in the fields on both sides. There was this great bay with a long beach. We asked a young mother who was pushing her
stroller down the road if she knew where the hostel was and she said it was only about 200 feet down the road and up the hill.
We drove the 200 feet to the corner and there were signs.
Oh well, we were doomed from the start to look like idiot tourists for this trip. We went up the hill and located the hostel. There was a field with sheep next door and no one home at the hostel.
There were two other groups of people waiting for the proprietors too. they showed up and we got our room, a private with twin beds. The Hostel is new, only six years old, but it had a strange set up with three seperate buildings. sleeping quarters in two buildings and the kitchen and activity rooms in another. the latter each had thier own entrances so if you wanted to go from the activity room with the tv and computer in to the dining hall you had to go outside. and then to go to your rooms you had to go outside very odd.
we booked our boat ride out to the Skellig islands the next day and decided to go explore the area a little, try to find a grocery store and just to see what we
could see.
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