Today was originally going to be a route up along the northwest Wild Atlantic Way, but I checked the weather forecasts for some of the cities on the route and it wasn’t looking too good. Meanwhile, the plan for tomorrow was down south to the Ring of Kerry, and that weather forecast looked better. So, swip swap and I’m headed south for the day.
The Ring of Kerry is a coastal route that, as the name implies, rings around one of the peninsulas of County Kerry. It’s also part of the Wild Atlantic Way, but gets its own call-outs on various tourism sites for it’s specific beauty. And they weren’t wrong.
Look, More Pretty Water
Like my series of cloud photos, I’ve got a lot of “oooh look how blue” photos from along the coast. But, I mean, that’s the whole point of the scenic coastal route, and I loved every gorgeous second of it.
Porgmagee
So it turns out that the adorable little town of Portmagee is home to the ferry that can take you to the island, Skellig Michael, where they filmed Luke’s porg-inhabited island in the last two Star Wars movies. I had no idea about this when I drove through the town on my way around the ring. The views from around the town were great, and I’m equal parts sad and happy that I missed their May The Fourth festival coming up in two days.
Who Needs A Ferry
I was already facing a long day for this driving route, so adding another 2+ hours to wait for the ferry out to Porg Island and then come back didn’t make a whole lot of sense. So I found as many spots as I could to snag a look at the island. The haze on the ocean didn’t make for the clearest views, but you can still see it, a bit. I’d definitely do the ferry if I’d planned it better. Also, in a bunch of these pics you can see just how the rest of this area of the peninsula is made of the same jagged black rocks that jut out of the ocean to form the island. They’re incredible. Also at one point I ended up driving down a boat launch accidentally, and while the pics from there were good, navigating back up that dock in reverse was… interesting.
Top Of The World
The Ring of Kerry roads are a bit annoying, if I’m honest. There aren’t nearly enough parking areas to pull over and grab pics of how cool some of it looked. At one point you’re heading up a stick-straight road towards the top of the mountains overlooking the coastline and it’s gorgeous and a bit imposing, and there’s nowhere to grab a photo. This Google Maps Street View doesn’t do it justice. Then you get to the top of the mountain and the whole bay on the far side spreads out before you. The wind was so strong it kept smacking my hand and shaking the camera. I would’ve stayed up there longer soaking in the view, but DAMN it was windy and cold.
Blackvalley
I turned off the Ring of Kerry road in order to head inland and drive through the Gap of Dunloe which I’d seen a friend post on their Instagram a few weeks ago and immediately added to my route. But to get there you have to go through Molls Gap and Blackvalley. And true to its name, the rocks that make up the valley are incredibly dark and very cool looking. Those jagged black rocks of Skellig Michael are probably related, if a bit more worn down and smoothed by erosion a bit over here.
Gap Of Dunloe
This was legitimately one of the weirdest and coolest spots I’ve been to. The Gap of Dunloe is this spot at the top of two mountains, between their peaks, overlooking a valley that the road descends down through. And these rocks are a crazy dark color, though the camera rarely captures the color very well. And so you have these two dark rocky mountains looming over either side of you as you look at the winding road you’re about to head down. And then as you drive down you come to a little pool with a wishing bridge over it and it’s just incredibly quiet and serene and a bit intimidating. And these rocks are just strewn all over the valley floor and they are MASSIVE. SO COOL.
Single-Lane Road Of The Day™
