Ireland Day 6 – Ring of Kerry

 Today we got up around 7:00Am and had breakfast around 7:30AM, beating most crowd from the bus tours, also staying at the hotel.  We then got ready to leave and travel around the Ring of Kerry clockwise, the opposite direction the tour buses go.

Our first stop was the Torc Waterfall in Killarney National Park. The waterfall was only a short 600m walk away from the car park.  It was a nice waterfall, and we found where Ireland was keeping all the gnats and mosquitoes. From there we were going to see Derrycunnihy Falls but missed the turn so skipped it.   The next stop was Kenmar Stone Circle.  It is a nice stone circle not as picturesque as the one yesterday, plus I had to pay 2-euro each to enter to see the circle.  Wouldn’t recommend.   The next stop was in Sneem, the pyramid huts.  They were just what the title says, stone huts in a pyramid shape.   Again, not very picturesque. The next stop was the Staigue Stone Fort.  This place was a bit off the main part of the Ring of Kerry and down some back roads.  The location did have a large parking lot and a public toilet.  It also had a 1-euro each entry fee.  Unlike the UK the State does not own the land so landowners will set up fences and such around things like this and charge a small entry fee or trespassing fee.  The fort was a big circular stone wall, nothing on the inside except a grass area.   So, from there it was on to the next stone fort Loher Stone Fort, which was aways off the main road. Unfortunately, it didn’t have much parking and it looked like you couldn’t get to it because it had a fence round it.  We just turned around in the tiny parking lot, a lot of effort for nothing.  By this time, it was getting close to noon, which was ok, since our next stop was going to be in an actual town.

Torc Waterfall

pyramid huts in Sneem

Jim walking the top of the Staigue Stone Fort

We stopped in Waterville for lunch and to see the Charlie Chaplin Statue.  Charlie Chaplin got a statue because he visited the town of Waterville for vacation a lot and was beloved by the town people.   For lunch we had convenience store pizza. The pizza was food, that is about all I can say about it.  From there it was off to our next stop.

Charlie Chaplin Statue

Our first stop after lunch was the Valentia Island Lighthouse.  This stop was well off the Ring of Kerry and brought us down to ocean level.  The last bit of the drive down to the light house was one car width wide and had a 15-precent grade.  The lighthouse did have an entry fee, but I was slightly expecting that since it is a registered UNESCO historical site.  We were able to go to the top of the lighthouse and into the lighthouse keeper’s cottage.  It was a nice site with good informational signs.  From there it was off to our last official stop on the Ring of Kerry, the old Abbey of the Holy Cross.  The abbey ruins were nice, and not full of graves this time. It was a nice little stop, not amazing, but free.  From there it was back to the hotel.  We got back to the hotel around 4:00PM.   Note to drive the complete Ring of Kerry without stopping takes about 3.5 hours, so this was a full day.  The one downside is it is hard to take pictures out the car windows because of the height of the bushes in spots and the turns.  I’m sure we could have stopped at more places, but you have to be selective if you want to do the whole thing in a day. 

View from one of the few view points

Tomorrow, we head over to Dingle.