Another long weekend, another wonderful adventure...

This is a great read for those of you interested in knowing the real deal of Ireland’s gorgeous countryside. Lu has reported back on the best hostels, pubs and stunning scenery throughout her latest long weekend trip through Country Kerry and Country Cork. - IEP

The great thing about the IEP/USIT program is meeting people at the monthly social events. Meeting people means you can plan road trips which is a great saving on your budget. I’ve met 4 Canadians who took on a fantastic journey around Counties Cork & Kerry.

Speaking of Canadians, there seems to be only Canadians at the USIT monthly socials – where are the Aussies? Ireland is such a fantastic country, I would really encourage people to visit the Emerald Isle.

On a Friday lunch time, I got ready to drive all for an experience to remember...

From Dublin, we headed down the freeway, driving through the Wicklow mountains taking in the nice scenery.

We continued along the highway, driving through pretty towns and villages. Reaching and driving through Waterford city brought back memories of the road trip stopover I took with the 2 Irish guys I met from the Cliffs of Moher.

Arriving into Cork, we checked into Sheila’s hostel, then head to Will’s place for our home cooked dinner.

Not only was Will hospitable in catering for us, he also became tour guide showing us around the lovely and clean city of Cork.

Our 7am wake up call got the five of us all ready to discover County Cork for the day. Leaving Cork, we headed on a forest like road leading into Kinsale, a quaint cobblestoned little town with a beautiful port. We ended up at a pub called “The Whitehouse”. The breakfast menu was great to last us for a whole day – for me anyway.

The Whitehouse which bears the same name as the American White House has a lot of Americans flocking in for stopovers. On the walls of this pub, there were displays of newspaper clippings of 9/11. The story of 2 Irishmen, one called in to care for his sick child, the other went to work in his place....and many other pictures and stories of that unforgettable day. It’s amazing how a pub in such a small town which bears a well known name would kindly commemorate 9/11.

Moving on from Kinsale, we drove into Timoleauge and visited the abbey which from a distance resembled a castle. It was a fairly interesting abbey with many of the remains intact, roofing was literally gone, the ground carved with descriptions of what the rooms once were. Definitely an intriguing visit.

On one part of the coastal road, we were going up a small hill, where out of the blue a herd of cows were running down, the farmer trying to control the cows. There was a car in front of us, unfortunately, he panicked, reversed down really fast and without looking, hit into my car. Fortunately we were all ok and the car was still drivable. We did wait for the Gard (Police) to arrive to take down details so our rental companies had the report from the Gards. It was definitely a great idea to get insurance and a tip I learnt, if there are cows or whatever animal is coming down a hill, its best to always just stay put and not move.

Now that we look back at this, we can only laugh at it, how often would you have a herd of cows coming down a hill when you’re driving up it? The cows somehow were managed by the farmer and never made it down the hill.

The views along the way continued to be beautiful. Lakes and mountain tops came into view from Bantry, Ballylickey through to Glengariff – our accommodation for the night.

After dinner, we went to a local pub where an Irish band was playing. A craic of a day and night...

Another 7am wake up call got us leaving a foggy Glengariff to Castletownbere. Along our way on the freeway, we had an Irishman overtake us and stopped us. Unsure what was wrong, I winded down my window – the kind Irishman said the road will be very foggy and offered to drive in front of us so we travel through safely and he led us the whole way through. Another great impression of the Irish.

Arriving into Castletownbere, he stopped us again asking what our plans were. We were going to get breakfast, he knew just the right place.

After breakfast, we headed out to Allihies, the town very colourful and picturesque with a beach nearby.

From Allihies to Eyeries to Lauragh to Kenmare, it was all foggy but under all that mist, you could tell the coastal drive is beautiful. Kenmare was our next rest stop, a beautiful vibrant and colourful small town.

We continued down to Sneem, then Castlecove where we spent a bit of time at the beautiful white sand beach, still a little fogged up but it was great to stick the feet in the sand and relax.

Continuing past Caherdaniel, Derrynane, we arrive into what is said to be “Ireland’s most beautiful lookout”. We were rewarded with stunning views of the ocean where we could have spent days just sitting and indulging the view.

We continued driving past Waterville and the Skellig Ring – spectacular views of the mountain ranges that is a must see. The Skellig Ring led us to Finnan’s Bay, a beautiful little beach with the backdrop of the mountains within Skellig Ring.

The Skellig Ring led us to Portmagee, another colourful town (most of the towns in the Ring of Kerry are bright and colourful) with a beautiful view of the harbour and Valentia Island.

We continued our drive through beautiful mountain ranges passing through towns of Cahirciveen, Kells, ending up in Killorglin where we over-nighted.

The last day with the gang took us to Dingle. Leaving Killorglin, we arrived at Inch beach and spent a good while there indulging in the scenery.

From Inch beach we were rewarded with astounding views of mountain ranges heading into Dingle town. Dingle town is remarkable in itself, colourful pubs by the harbour and extremely lively with friendly people.

We had breakfast in Dingle. The beauty yet again astonishing as we drove along the cliffs heading into Slea Head Point, we were dazzled by spectacular views. At the end of the Slea Head Point, you can walk down to the beach. There were plenty of people sun-baking and swimming. The little islands and cliffs that surrounded the beach was all a sight for sore eyes.

We headed to Tralee via Connors Pass where the views were extremely breathtaking, if not, the most spectacular in Ireland. The high viewpoint gives you the complete view of Dingle and one to definitely remember. We were very lucky it was a bright blue clear day.

Descending from Connors Pass, I went down to Camp beach, a deserted long stretch beach with the mountains in the background, a great place to relax after driving around for crazy (but adventurous) hours over the last 4 days.

I then went back to Inch beach where the fog cleared and the sun was beginning to set. Sunset in Ireland can be as beautiful as anywhere else in the world.

My last day of driving by myself took me back to the roads of Counties Cork & Kerry that we didn’t drive on.

First stop was Killarney National Park where I visited Muckross House, the beautiful Torc Waterfall and Lady’s View (a view where you feel as though you have the world at your feet) and Peekan Mountain.

From Glengariff I headed on the same road that I had taken towards Castletownbere, without the fog, the views was really worth seeing – I’m glad I went back fog free – definitely better to leave around late morning, early afternoon.

Before getting into Castltownbere, I took a turn off to a road that led towards a town called Lauragh, there were jaw dropping views – words cannot describe this glorious road I took. It was very windy roads and you can really take your time driving from the bottom to the top and be overly rewarded when you get there. I highly recommend this road to anyone. I spent a good while up at the top taking everything in, it was too good to leave.

...Leaving the colourful town of Kenmare, I headed back to Killarney along another different coastal route. After this long weekend, I would have to say Kerry has been the best county by far, must come back to revisit.

Back in Killarney, I checked in one of the most funkiest and pretty hostels – the Sugan Hostel. Right in town, a quaint and fantastic place to overnight in. I met a couple of Aussies and an American where we hit a couple of different pubs with traditional Irish music, enjoying our pints of Bulmers.

Next day was back to Dublin, to rest up before work and plan the next trip.

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