The Ring Of Kerry

Day Three - On a rainy windy morning we headed off from Killarney to tour the fabled Ring Of Kerry. This mountainous peninsula faces the stormy North Atlantic on Ireland's western coast. Until recently peat had been Ireland’s major source of heating and cooking fuel. Peat is essentially, given a few million more years, future coal. We stopped that morning at Kerry Peat Bog Village to see a reconstruction of a long past lifestyle. The village centered around the hand digging of peat and the other attendant occupations associated with it. The dark piles, next to the cottages, are peat.

Later we stopped at one of the many local inns, where good food and the inevitable shopping venue were located.

The "mountains" here are low, perhaps two to three thousand feet, largely denuded of trees. They do, however, offer spectacular views of lake and seascapes.

Our first stop at sea level provided, for us Midwestern landlubbers, a rude awakening. The rollers coming in had to be around fifteen feet high. Except for a possible winter storm on Lake Superior, it was more ferocious than anything I’d ever seen.

The wind was..... well take a look.

The Ring Of Kerry - a scenic Irish highlight.