Monday May 28

We’re out the door at 8:15, in the van and on our way to the ferry to Knight’s Town. Today’s ride is basically the north half of of Ring Of Kerry. We’ve changed it from the Iron Donkey route description. I thought we were going to add on about 15-20 km. In fact, the add was about 30+ km and a less direct route back (by the coast rather than over the middle of the peninsula).  At the end of the day we rode about 40 km more than planned. Oh well - it was a beautiful day and a grand ride.

We boarded the small ferry for the short ride to Knight’s Town on Valentia Island.

We dawdled and took a scenic route around the island before crossing the bridge to Portmagee.  Once again today we could see the outline of the Skellig Islands in the distance.  One of the Skellig Islands is called Skellig Michael and is a UNESCO site. It has a well preserved monastery and a remote hermitage perched on it. A monastery may have been founded there as early as the 6th century.  Time and logistics did not allow us to visit. By the way - the word Sceillic means rock, particularly a steep rock.

Many of the small towns that we’ve been through this week have “Tidy Town” designations on signs as we enter the town. I guess it’s quite a prestigious designation for places that rely on tourism so much. When we stopped st the public toilets in Portmagee we found this sign. Who knew they had such a competition?

We found the “Skellig Ring” and started cycling counter-clockwise. No wonder the locals looked at us with mouths agape when we said we were going to cycle this.  As we turned a corner at one point and looked up, we saw that there was a massive hill to climb. But - the reason we wanted to cycle this  area was to see the famous Kerry Cliffs. They came just before the start of the hill, so we went in for a look. Totally worth it!

They also had a small display of Beehive Huts.

Then back on the bikes and up the hill. Gary was the only one to make it all the way up on his bike. The rest of us took the bike-and-hike option. Looks like Ron is going to have to donate his polka dot jersey to Gary.  Here are a few pics taken partway up the hill.

And at the top......

We didn’t think it was possible, but our average speed was just a bit slower than yesterday. 17 km to the top of the hill and we’re 3 hours in. Time to move on. If the way up was steep, the road down was even steeper. This made us all a bit nervous, as the brakes on the rental bikes left a lot to be desired.  Unfortunately Ron lost control on the descent, couldn’t stop and went head-first, at speed, into the vegetation and rock wall beside the road.  Yikes!  He was pretty shaken up, but walked away from it with cuts and scrapes as well as a very sore neck and back/ribs. After picking the vegetation out of his helmet he was back on the bike and finished the big day. As I write this on Friday, he’s still pretty sore but hasn’t missed a minute on the bike. I’m certainly travelling with a tough crowd of senior citizens!  Note:  after he got back to Canada he was diagnosed with three broken ribs; yikes!

After we were down off the hill we were on a bit of a mission to head home since it was after 2 and we still had over 3/4s of the ride to do.

Shortly after getting on the N70 (Ring of Kerry), we paused for a coffee shop/snack stop in Cahersiveen. This is also the home of the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church, apparently the only Catholic Church in Ireland not named after a saint.

It was a beautiful ride back to Killarney, with ocean views to our left much of the way. No time to linger, though.  We got home by about 8:20; 12 hours after we left in the van this morning.

Stats for the day:
109.6 km
3696 feet of climbing.

Sunday May 27

Today was originally a biking day, but the forecast looked better for Monday so we swapped. I was feeling pretty lazy in the morning as the rain poured down outside. But - the skies cleared up and by shortly after noon Gary, Ron & I were ready to take a ride to Tralee via the backroads.  The day was cool but muggy. We got a bit of rain at the high point on the way there, but nothing much to worry about. It was the only time on any of our biking days that I even had a rain jacket on. Who’d a thunk it?  All that rain gear stayed in my suitcase for the duration. Hopefully we’ll be nearly that fortunate on the hike.  Our ride today was a beautiful loop ride. Gary had general instructions from Dennis (the owner of the house where we are staying) but pretty much relied on memory, instinct and Google Maps. It was a pretty fast pace with those two, but a fun ride with lots of climbing. Here are a few pics.....

Trudy, Nada & Irene drove to Tralee with Mary (owner of the house we are staying at). Trudy wasn’t willing to wait 4 to 14 hours at emerg, so she still does not have treatment for her suspected broken wrist. She just wraps it up and continues on; tough cookie!  They did some shopping and “water zorbing”.  Photos courtesy of Nada...........

Sherry rode her bike to the local pool for a bit, although she only got there shortly before closing.

Everyone had another good day.

Bike stats for the day:
66.05 km
2413 feet of climbing

Saturday May 26

No bike ride scheduled today, so a more leisurely start as everyone figures out what the weather is doing and what their bodies and minds are up for.  We’re staying about 4 km from the nearest grocery (and beer/liquor) store, so feeding 7 hungry cyclists takes some effort. Most of us live on our own so we’re a bit shocked by how much food we go through. Three of the ladies decide to have a true, and well-deserved rest day at home. Four of us head out on our bikes. We had heard that one of the grocery chains delivers. After a couple of false starts we discover that only works if you order online. Oops....

So - we head off to do some sightseeing. We go south, into Killarney National Park, to Muckross House.

It’s a beautiful mansion built around 1840. Ironically, it was built just about the same time as the Famine Cottages that we had toured yesterday. We took an hour-long guided tour, after which the boys, unencumbered by slower riders, rode down to Moll’s Gap and back home. Nada and I walked around the Muckross Gardens,

Rode up to the Muckross Abbey,

And then to Ross Castle. We didn’t have time to go in but stopped long enough to take a picture.

We did a big grocery shop on the way home and sent it home by taxi while we rode our bikes. The butter chicken was almost ready by the time we got home. Yum....

The weather today started out cool and overcast, but turned sunny by the end of the day.

Bike stats for the day:
31.83 km
909 feet climbed