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Day 3
OK, Kerry is desolate. Man this is not what I expected at all. Where are all the people? Today began late; Dave was up at 7:30 but I let the girls sleep until almost 10. Ham, eggs & toast and we weren't out the door until almost 11. Windy and a little dissipating rain. |
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Westward on the Iveragh Kerry Peninsula - following the Ring of Kerry backwards. Expecting towns, scenery, etc. Well we got the scenery but there was very little in the way of towns or civilization. Per Rick Steves' advice, we were trying to get through Waterville by 11 to avoid the swarm of tour busses coming the other direction. Got gas at a one pump Esso and were out of town by 11;30, avoiding most of the day trippers. Why is avoiding the tour busses necessary? Well, even the main road is less than 2 full lanes, Maybe twice the width of your car plus one foot. Not too reassuring when the oncoming traffic is a bus or truck.
There were even a couple of turn outs along the road that allowed us to take some nice photos. The rain had stopped and it was partly cloudy and still very windy. |
The Point
Should have stopped in Watertown for lunch but didn't, figuring we'd stop somewhere on the Skellig ring instead. Instead, we got a little lost because the navigator wasn't paying attention, missed a couple of turns and ended up at The Point restaurant, facing the Valencia Island ferry for lunch. "Seafood a specialty". How about "Seafood is the only thing we serve"?
Dave had a nice smoked wild salmon plate, Jill and Kristen had the pan fried Hake which neither really liked but at least Jill ate it... Kristen pissed us off by eating little... at $E16 for a plate that's kind of annoying. Prices are really high due to the nasty conversion rate (1$E=$1.40). The place was nice, though.
Dave had a nice smoked wild salmon plate, Jill and Kristen had the pan fried Hake which neither really liked but at least Jill ate it... Kristen pissed us off by eating little... at $E16 for a plate that's kind of annoying. Prices are really high due to the nasty conversion rate (1$E=$1.40). The place was nice, though.
Finally found the road onto the Skellig Peninsula. Desolate as desolate can be. One little town Portmagee, and not much there but fishing boats. We wasted an hour at the "Skellig Experience" museum, which had a nice movie about the Skellig Islands but was otherwise a waste of time. The movie introduced the islanders, about 20 or so monks that inhabited a steep and inhospitable tiny mountainous Skellig Island offshore for a thousand years until they "mysteriously" abandoned the island around 1000AD. Mysterious? Let's see, the lived on a rock with a bunch of seabirds, in rock dwellings they constructed by hand. They cut and built steps to rise the 600 feet to the top of the island. They were killed and kidnapped and sold into slavery multiple times by invading Vikings. Mysterious? It's amazing they lasted several hundred years! Lunatics! The mainland is now virtually deserted... what was it like 1200 years ago? Why the hell did they need to go to this horrible little island in the first place?
Why do they go today?
After leaving town we followed signs for the Skellig Ring. At one point I saw a road rising 2000? feet in front of us, up a cliff... that couldn't be for us??? Oh yes it was. 25 degrees? God forbid we had to stop and let someone by in the opposite direction on the one lane road, with no guardrails... 2nd gear all the way. Some lunatic, probably a relative of the monks, had walked about halfway up and was hitching,... I'm not going to pick up ANYONE that crazy.
Why do they go today?
After leaving town we followed signs for the Skellig Ring. At one point I saw a road rising 2000? feet in front of us, up a cliff... that couldn't be for us??? Oh yes it was. 25 degrees? God forbid we had to stop and let someone by in the opposite direction on the one lane road, with no guardrails... 2nd gear all the way. Some lunatic, probably a relative of the monks, had walked about halfway up and was hitching,... I'm not going to pick up ANYONE that crazy.
Terranearagh
Derrynane
Drove back off the almost deserted peninsula, in second gear with brakes, to the main Kerry Peninsula. More of the same great scenery, no busses, no nothing. Stepped at Derrynane, an estate established by Daniel O'Connel, the founder of the Irish independence movement. He seemed to do pretty well for a freedom fighter. Jill and Kristen checked out the house, I napped in the car. Derrynane had been recommended by the owner of our house (we spoke with her this morning), judged by the girls Not Worth A Detour.
[Ed Note: I have since read a little about Mr. O'Connel, and not only was he a Freedom Fighter, he was a brilliant lawyer, the best public speaker of his day, father of many illegitimate children, and general raconteur.]
[Ed Note: I have since read a little about Mr. O'Connel, and not only was he a Freedom Fighter, he was a brilliant lawyer, the best public speaker of his day, father of many illegitimate children, and general raconteur.]
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The driving is really tough and I wish I had someone to share it with. It's not the 8 hours of driving, it's not driving a stick shift on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road - it's the goddamn narrow roadways that require you to maintain 100% constant vigilance of every road, no matter how large or small, every second of the day. There is no sightline on any road more than 50 yards, and someone can some wailing in the opposite direction at any time... on the larger roads you just bear all the way left and scrape the underbrush... but on the smaller roads one of you must find somewhere to pull over and let the other guy through. Most but not all oncoming traffic is cooperative.
After Derrynane we stopped at Staig Fort, another mystery from about 2000 years ago. A circular walled stone fort, maybe it was used to protect locals, or the nobles against invaders, but no one knows. Looks cool though, and they built it with a great view. |
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Back home to Sneem with more cool views. Went into one restaurant but left because I couldn't get a Guinness. I wanted, no, I needed a Guinness and I wasn't going to settle for some rinky-dink airline bottle of cheap wine, Ended up at Sacre Coeur, which had good food and mediocre service. Dave - an excellent shrimp curry of local shrimp, Jill and Kristen split an ok steak, with 2 salads, tip and 3 Guinness 80€, which was again too much. Thank you George Bush.
Managed to finally find a bottle of Jameson at a hole in the wall "Take Away" place in town. At 26€ about twice what we could have paid at the Duty Free store at JFK. Tastes like Canadian Club.
Home where Kristen picked me blackberries as the sun set. Jameson, pictures and diary... next...bed.
Day 4 >>>
Managed to finally find a bottle of Jameson at a hole in the wall "Take Away" place in town. At 26€ about twice what we could have paid at the Duty Free store at JFK. Tastes like Canadian Club.
Home where Kristen picked me blackberries as the sun set. Jameson, pictures and diary... next...bed.
Day 4 >>>
