Day 9
The middle finger of the five is the Beara Peninsula. We set off to explore in blazing sunshine and brilliant blue skies, starting with two ‘firsts’. Me driving for the first time and also showing some bare leg skin at last by getting out of the jeans and into the peddle pushers. It must be warming up….in fact the Irish are bracing themselves for a heat wave later this week, expecting temperatures to soar to 29C! Once again, the route to the end of the peninsula started off being reasonably wide, at least allowing you to pass cars coming in the opposite direction without slowing down. It rapidly narrowed, until it became a case of backing up and finding a layby if needed. Luckily, it wasn’t super busy, and confrontation was largely avoided. Our aim, of course, was to reach the end of the peninsula, this time for a special reason. Ireland’s only cable car was sited at the end, carrying passengers over to Dursey Island. This is where the cable car crosses the water.
But unfortunately, on the gate was this sign.
So we soaked in the vista, and retreated from whence we had come!
Traversing the western side of the peninsula, we were treated to some beautiful views.
And on advice from our host last night, we drove up to the Healy Pass, along the way passing this
and reaching the top to be rewarded with this gem.
With time on our side (because the cable car was a no go), we decided to start the Big ROK, and made our way down the east coast as far as Sneem before doubling back to reach Killarney via Molls Gap. Unfortunately, the Molls Gap road was closed due to a fallen rock wall, so we had to detour via Kilgarvan to reach our destination for the night at Killorglin, a long way round!
No matter, our home for the next three nights is pretty special, lovely host Margaret who HAS to be on the spectrum, recommended we eat locally at Jack’s Seafood restaurant. Lobster was good, but we do it much better in Aus.
This was the view from our bedroom window as we went to bed. No joke.
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 