Our fourth day in Ireland started early (well, all of them did really...). We left Blarney to head towards Ross Castle in Co. Kerry. As soon as we left our hotel, we got our first taste of a truly tiny Irish road. The road was so narrow that branches and leaves on the hedges were hitting my window! I was too busy being mildly terrified to get a good picture of this. I got used to it a bit later in the day, however.
We arrived at Ross Castle and spent some time on the muddy banks of the Lough Leane taking photos (big surprise, right?).
Once we actually made our way into the Castle, we were told that the next tour was full and we would have to wait an hour and a half for the one after that. This would have really eaten into our day, which was already planned to be a long one, so we decided to skip the tour. There is a room with a lot of information that you can tour for free, however. So we did that and learned all about the power struggles around that Castle (and how one of the owners tried to evade taxes by removing the roof at one point).
The Castle was in serious disrepair for a long time, but in 1970 the Office of Public Works began restoring it. They did the restoration using only materials that would have been available at the time the Castle was originally built, which I thought was super cool.
We spent some time walking around the grounds, which have a gorgeous view of Lough Leane and the small islands in it.
After we were done at Ross Castle (and after I had a minor "oh-my-god-I-lost-my-cell-phone-oh-wait-nevermind-it's-right here" scare), we began our day driving the Ring of Kerry.
The tour buses generally take the Ring of Kerry in a counter-clockwise fashion, so we decided to drive it clockwise hoping we wouldn't get stuck behind the buses. So, our first stop along the Ring was the Torc Waterfall.
We spent an enormous amount of time taking pictures of this waterfall. We were climbing around on the wet rocks, having the time of our lives and searching for the perfect shot (the one above is my favorite).
After about an hour and a half, we decided we had better get a move on if we were going to make it around the Ring in one day (which we kind of HAD to do since we had reservations at a hotel on the other side of it that night).
We headed off and ended up stopping for lunch at a lovely little cafe right by Ladies' View. I had the BEST salmon and brie sandwich....I actually miss that sandwich.
After lunch, we headed out take in the gorgeous view. It was crazy muddy up there and Chris's shoes were absolutely caked in mud as he bounded around trying to scout some shots. He found this one and let me have it, because it's exactly my style.
Once we finished up at Ladies' View, we headed back out. We spent the rest of that wonderful day driving through gorgeous little towns on a windy and very narrow road, stopping on the side of the road to take pictures whenever we just could not help ourselves. The whole day we blasted songs from what I call my "Ridiculous Songs" playlist -- Chris could sing a mean "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."
Oh, and we made sure to not break our streak and were stung by nettles while taking those photos -- you can actually see the nettles in the photo above.
We decided that instead of staying on the main Ring, we would take a little offshoot called the Skellig Ring. The main Ring of Kerry cuts across the peninsula at one point, instead of keeping you on the coast. If you take the Skellig Ring, however, you stay along the coastline the whole time. It was such a good decision -- the towns are even smaller along the Skelling Ring and the views are absolutely breathtaking.
As it got later and later in the day, the light started to take on that soft, golden hue that photographers love so much. It was one of the first times that we'd been able to get photos in that sort of light and boy, did we take advantage of it!
Finally, we made it to Glenbeigh, where we had dinner at a delicious little pub while chatting with a lovely retired couple at the next table. Once our stomachs were filled to their breaking point, we began to make our way to our final destination, Tralee. On the way there, I looked out my window and saw the most stunning site -- thick white clouds quite literally rolling into the valley over the hills with the sun setting above them. I practically screamed for Chris to stop the car. Of course, we were on a two lane road (which was really only wide enough for one car) that had no shoulder. So I vaulted out of the car and took pictures as fast as I could so we would not die like bugs on a windshield. Luckily, I managed to get this shot (one of my favorites from the whole trip). It was a perfect end to a day filled with beauty and laughter.
Like the pictures? Want to see more? There are loads posted to my Flickr photostream, but to see what I consider the best of them go straight to my Best of Ireland 2015 album. I'm adding more every week!
We arrived at Ross Castle and spent some time on the muddy banks of the Lough Leane taking photos (big surprise, right?).
Once we actually made our way into the Castle, we were told that the next tour was full and we would have to wait an hour and a half for the one after that. This would have really eaten into our day, which was already planned to be a long one, so we decided to skip the tour. There is a room with a lot of information that you can tour for free, however. So we did that and learned all about the power struggles around that Castle (and how one of the owners tried to evade taxes by removing the roof at one point).
The Castle was in serious disrepair for a long time, but in 1970 the Office of Public Works began restoring it. They did the restoration using only materials that would have been available at the time the Castle was originally built, which I thought was super cool.
We spent some time walking around the grounds, which have a gorgeous view of Lough Leane and the small islands in it.
After we were done at Ross Castle (and after I had a minor "oh-my-god-I-lost-my-cell-phone-oh-wait-nevermind-it's-right here" scare), we began our day driving the Ring of Kerry.
The tour buses generally take the Ring of Kerry in a counter-clockwise fashion, so we decided to drive it clockwise hoping we wouldn't get stuck behind the buses. So, our first stop along the Ring was the Torc Waterfall.
We spent an enormous amount of time taking pictures of this waterfall. We were climbing around on the wet rocks, having the time of our lives and searching for the perfect shot (the one above is my favorite).
After about an hour and a half, we decided we had better get a move on if we were going to make it around the Ring in one day (which we kind of HAD to do since we had reservations at a hotel on the other side of it that night).
We headed off and ended up stopping for lunch at a lovely little cafe right by Ladies' View. I had the BEST salmon and brie sandwich....I actually miss that sandwich.
After lunch, we headed out take in the gorgeous view. It was crazy muddy up there and Chris's shoes were absolutely caked in mud as he bounded around trying to scout some shots. He found this one and let me have it, because it's exactly my style.
Once we finished up at Ladies' View, we headed back out. We spent the rest of that wonderful day driving through gorgeous little towns on a windy and very narrow road, stopping on the side of the road to take pictures whenever we just could not help ourselves. The whole day we blasted songs from what I call my "Ridiculous Songs" playlist -- Chris could sing a mean "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."
Oh, and we made sure to not break our streak and were stung by nettles while taking those photos -- you can actually see the nettles in the photo above.
We decided that instead of staying on the main Ring, we would take a little offshoot called the Skellig Ring. The main Ring of Kerry cuts across the peninsula at one point, instead of keeping you on the coast. If you take the Skellig Ring, however, you stay along the coastline the whole time. It was such a good decision -- the towns are even smaller along the Skelling Ring and the views are absolutely breathtaking.
As it got later and later in the day, the light started to take on that soft, golden hue that photographers love so much. It was one of the first times that we'd been able to get photos in that sort of light and boy, did we take advantage of it!
Finally, we made it to Glenbeigh, where we had dinner at a delicious little pub while chatting with a lovely retired couple at the next table. Once our stomachs were filled to their breaking point, we began to make our way to our final destination, Tralee. On the way there, I looked out my window and saw the most stunning site -- thick white clouds quite literally rolling into the valley over the hills with the sun setting above them. I practically screamed for Chris to stop the car. Of course, we were on a two lane road (which was really only wide enough for one car) that had no shoulder. So I vaulted out of the car and took pictures as fast as I could so we would not die like bugs on a windshield. Luckily, I managed to get this shot (one of my favorites from the whole trip). It was a perfect end to a day filled with beauty and laughter.
Like the pictures? Want to see more? There are loads posted to my Flickr photostream, but to see what I consider the best of them go straight to my Best of Ireland 2015 album. I'm adding more every week!
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