Ring of Kerry

To catch up on the rest of our honeymoon recaps, go here: 1, 2, 3.

On Good Friday, we woke up ready to explore the Ring of Kerry.  It is a tourist route that starts in Killarney and circles the southwest coast of Ireland, approximately 110 miles.  We decided not to travel the entire Ring of Kerry, instead we went to Valentia Island, the locals' best kept secret (tourist buses cannot take the ferry).

The views along the Ring of Kerry were unmistakenly beautiful.  However, the weather was a bit uncooperative, raining on-and-off throughout the day, but the sun burning off the fog resulted in some amazing images.

  

After crossing over to Valentia Island, we began driving on Skelligs Ring.  We passed an ancient graveyard.

The roads were as narrow as the miniature car we were driving, and we were surrounded on both sides by stone walls.  Zipping up and down hills, my stomach lurched, not knowing what lie beyond the next turn.  The wet roads and drizzling rain didn't help the matters.

We reached a Slate Quarry at the end of the main road, but we didn't explore much due to the rain.

Turning onto a tiny backroad leading to the coast, Austin took the turn a bit too soon (coming from the wrong direction) and we got stuck in the mud.  He had to strategically back us out of the corner we were in without coasting forward into the stone wall.  It was nerve-wracking, but we made it.

I took a video of us driving on Valentia Island to give you an idea of the experience.

It was cool seeing the coast of Ireland, although it wasn't quite the same type of beach most honeymooners experience!

We headed back towards Killarney, stopping back by the B&B to pick up Austin's leather coat he'd accidentally left in the wardrobe.

We drove to Dingle town, our resting place for the night.  We arrived at Harbour Nights B&B at around 2 pm and checked in with Kathleen, our very kind hostess.

For lunch, we ate at Out of the Blue, a romantic seafood restaurant within walking distance.  I ordered the delicious sea bass, Austin had calamari.  The lunch portions were rather small, but the food tasted great.

The sun had come back out for the afternoon, so we hopped back in the car to see Slea Head, about a 30 minute drive.

In the picture above, I had just set the camera's self-timer and plopped down, cracking my tailbone on the stone bench.  Austin was laughing because of the hilarity of the situation - I was forced to smile for the camera, even though I felt like crying from the pain.

We made it out to Slea Head right before the rain returned.  As we were getting out of the car, we spotted a Jack Russell Terrier - we happily greeted her, both of us had been missing Dozer tremendously.

We ventured up the hill, but the chilling wind and rain made it impossible to endure for very long. 

That evening, we took a walk around town.  Since it was Good Friday, most of the pubs were closed, and there wasn't any live music or alcohol being served.  It made for a quite evening.  For dinner, we shared fish and chips and a bowl of french onion soup.  More importantly, for dessert we devoured a slice of sticky toffee cake with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Another day of bliss, over in a flash.