We left off with our evening at Kilfarrasy Beach near Waterford, Ireland. The next day we chose the road less traveled. Aaaaaand it took longer than expected and didn’t go as planned! (Short story, we drove about 200 miles across southern Ireland through towns with amazing names like Clonakilty, Ballyoughtera, Skibbereen, Letterlickey, and Ballylickey! The roads were tiny. The views, amazing!)

Here’s How It Played Out

We enjoyed another lovely Irish breakfast at our hotel in Waterford and then hit the road west. Remember when we had a five eight-hour layover in Newark before our flight to Dublin? Well, during those super fun hours we chatted with a kind Irish lady who looked over our itinerary with us and suggested a lunch break in Kinsale on the day we traveled from Waterford to Killarney. When that day arrived, we decided to enjoy the scenery and not just rush on the motorway. We followed her suggestion and vectored to Kinsale even though it was a bit out of the way.

When we opted for that route we thought the roads would be relatively wide. Nope. They were REALLY narrow, so the going was a bit tense, if I’m honest! Gene did a great job driving, but there just wasn’t much wiggle room between him and oncoming traffic and between me and the beautiful stone walls on the edge of a lot of those roads. EEEEESH!!!! But we pressed on knowing that the views from Kinsale, which sits on the water, would be beautiful!

Stop, Gene! Pull Over!

Speaking of beautiful! We drove through Dungarvan and HAD to stop and take some photos! This is Dungarvan Harbour, mouth of the Colligan River. Apparently they also have a castle built by Prince John around the year 1209!

Kinsale at Last

We finally pulled into Kinsale, and traffic was at a complete standstill! There was NOWHERE to park, and the cars on the little road into the very small town were pretty much gridlocked! I’m not sure what all was going on that day, but I did spot a parade on what might’ve been a main street. When we got to a traffic light, we vectored away from the gridlocked area and worked our way around the village trying to find an escape route. Some of the streets were just wide enough for one car to squeak through! We kept guessing and turning and finally ended up on a street on the far edge of the village, parallel to the road we had entered on. WHEW!

Here’s the ONE photo we got in Kinsale! Soooooo, THAT adventure didn’t go as planned, and we “wasted” a good bit of time getting here. That’s the way it goes sometimes!

When we finally worked our way out, we pulled over at a waterside park to catch our breath, eat a snack, and do a little old school navigating with our paper map.

Moving On

We headed back out, westward again, on the little roads, and worked on along the southern coast of Ireland and then north toward Killarney. The countryside was varied and beautiful!

We learned some Irish history at Molly Gallivan’s, a 200-year-old cottage and farm. The views AND the history were equally impressive. (The struggles this country faced during The Great Hunger are heartbreaking!)

Killarney

After driving nearly 200 miles (total for the day) we arrived at our hotel in Killarney. (And WHAT a hotel! I’ll tell you about it in the next post.) We dropped our bags and walked to Murphy’s Bar (a nice pub, not just a drinking hole!) for dinner. That cute little lunch in Kinsale never happened, and we were HUNGRY! Gene ate Guinness casserole, and I had roast beef with mashed swedes (rutagegas) and roasted potatoes. Our table was near the (fake but pretty) fireplace. We enjoyed the lovely dinner and a nice walk back to our hotel.

We didn’t have to be rocked to sleep on this night! We were BEAT! We slept well and got up the next day ready to tackle The Ring of Kerry! Stay tuned!

Thank You! Questions?

I hope you’re enjoying this trip as much as I’m enjoying reliving it! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’ll come again soon! Did you miss the begininng of our trip? Just click on “Ireland & Iceland” in the menu at the top of this page!

Questions about any of this? Drop a comment!

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