Ireland 2026 - Amazing views, a visit to the beach for Kiwi, a visit to an island and a change of mind!

Friday 5th June
 
Well, my awe was well and truly struck today!!
 
We left Tralee and had planned on taking Rio to Castlegregory beach but we were going to be too late for the dog curfew, so changed our plans.

We couldn’t follow the WAW through the Connor Pass to Dingle as we saw a sign with a weight limit of 2 tons - we are twice that!  The N86 was a nice road though.
 
Once through Dingle we picked up the Slea Head Drive, a part of the WAW. Visitors are supposed to do it clockwise but that rule doesn’t seem to apply to hire cars 🤣
 

We saw a lovely beach at Ventry so drove down. I went down to look for signs and the usual curfew signs were there. I asked a lifeguard if, as there was no one on the beach, we could take the dog on.  She said “dog, what dog” and smiled.  Rio had a wonderful run and a paddle in a stream running into the sea.

 
The round drive of Slea Head Drive is 28.5 miles and the first part is the narrow, windy part with the most STUNNING views.  Each bend we went round was a wow moment.  We couldn’t really stop as most of the lay-bys were full, so my photos are mainly taken through the windscreen. 

We could see Great Blasket Island which was abandoned in 1953 by order of the Government. The population had been 175 people but by the early 1950s there were just 22 elderly residents. It just wasn’t safe to leave them there. The state built brand-new cottages for the islanders on the mainland in Dunquin, directly facing their old home. 

We passed Kruger's  Bar in Duquin which proudly holds the title of the most westerly pub in Europe.
 

Here is a legend for you which tells of a lone Dunquin fisherman who spotted a beautiful sea woman combing her hair on a rock near the reefs of Dunquin Pier.  Sneaking up behind her, he stole her magical sea cloak, preventing her from returning to the water.  She followed him back to his cottage, became his wife, and bore him children. However, the myth follows the classic coastal tragedy: decades later, while searching the rafters of the barn, she discovered her hidden cloak. The pull of the Atlantic was instantaneous. Without a word, she sprinted down the zigzag path of Dunquin Pier, dove into the waves, and disappeared forever, though local fishermen claimed she always swam near her children's boats to protect them from the Slea Head currents.  (What was she doing searching the rafters in the barn??)

These peninsulas just keep on coming. Jem says that there are 10, and we still have 4 left to do - I’m not sure how many we have done.
 
Back round to Dingle then a short distance to Minard Castle, yes, another one!  It was built in the mid 1500s. It stood fully intact for roughly a century before, in 1650, Cromwellian  brought in heavy military sappers. They packed large amounts of gunpowder tightly underneath the structural vaults at all four corners of the tower and detonated them simultaneously.  The massive explosion caused the upper stories to violently collapse inward. The sheer strength of the original masonry meant that while the interior collapsed, the outer shell remarkably remained standing. However, it was left completely uninhabitable, and it has remained a silent, hollow ruin ever since. 

Between us and the beach were hundreds of small smooth sandstone boulders which have been rounded by centuries of Atlantic wave action. The beach is a natural storm boulder beach.

We shared our park up with two German vans as we have done on other occasions. Where are all the other nationalities?

 
The What3words for Friday were
https://w3w.co/evolving.auditioned.bookcase
 
 
Saturday 6th June
 
There was a snippet of blue sky when Richard opened the skylight blind. We haven’t seen the sun much, if any, in the last few days.
 

We drove to Inch Strand where we took Kiwi onto the beach to park up.  The beach is about 3.5 miles long and is amazing. As you can probably imagine, Rio just loved it and spent quite a bit of time crunching mussel shells until we could catch him and remove them from his mouth!  The strand has a bit of Hollywood history attached to it. Its moody, vast landscape was used as a prominent filming location for the 1970 Oscar-winning film Ryan's Daughter.

 
We needed to get to the other side of Dingle Bay but, of course, had to drive 27 miles to get to the opposite side.
 
We had now joined the Ring of Kerry which, to my amazement is 133 years old.
A hotelier named T.J. Leslie established the "Grand Atlantic Coach Tour" from his base in Cahersiveen. Tourists arrived by the expanding Victorian railway networks and were taken by horse-drawn coach around the peninsula.  The WAW is 12 years old.
 
We stopped at a Discovery Point where the views were stunning.  We had lunch and watched the coaches stop, discharge their passengers for a few minutes, then drive on, leaving the lay-by empty ready for the next one.

We were heading for Valentia Island. There is a ferry at one end and a bridge at the other. To put it into perspective, Hayling Island (where we live) is 7400 acres whereas Valentia is 6300.  Hayling has one bridge, nothing else.   Anyway, I am writing about Valentia!  The Island has a permanent, year-round population of 658 people (Hayling has 17,387 🤣) who are mainly involved in fishing, farming, and heritage tourism.

 
In 1866, Valentia Island served as the eastern terminus for the first successful permanent transatlantic telegraph cable, which linked the Old and New Worlds.

We decided to visit the lighthouse. The road was very windy and just before the lighthouse was a sign saying that the road was unsuitable for motorhomes but Richard drove straight passed it!  There was one rather hairy hair pin but other than that it was fine.  The lighthouse is built on the exact site of a former "Oliver Cromwell" fleet fortification erected in the 1650s. The heavy stone outline of the original fort wall is still clearly visible surrounding the station today.  The light first shone in 1841 and played a crucial role in guiding ships through the treacherous waters of the Iveragh Peninsula.  It was minded by resident keepers and their families until it was fully automated in 1947.

In the lighthouse grounds is the Glanleam Standing Stone a massive 11 foot monolith which was erected during the Bronze Age. While the exact purpose of Irish galláns (standing stones) is still debated, they were typically used to mark tribal boundaries, commemorate important chieftains, guide coastal travellers, or serve as alignment markers for celestial rituals.  It has stood ground on this exposed, windy point for roughly 3,000 to 4,000 years, watching the landscape change around it.

We were on a site again tonight as stop overs were few and far between.  However instead of the €40ish we had been paying, this one was only €28 and was just as good, maybe even better in places than some of the others we had stopped at.

 
In Irish mythology, Valentia Island was the home of Mogh Ruith, a legendary, fiercely powerful blind druid. He wasn't just any mystic—he was a giant-like figure who could grow to immense size, fly through the air using a magical wheeled contraption or a feather cloak, and turn enemies to stone with his breath.  Legend says he lived on the island and used its unique, prominent positioning to watch the skies and elements. He was so powerful that the Kings of Munster called upon him to win major battles, paying him in vast tracts of land.
 
The What3words for Saturday were
https://w3w.co/ribbon.clothed.expects
 
 
Sunday 7th June
 
Not a very nice day at all. Heavy rain at times and misty.
 
Bray Head is at the opposite end of the Island to where we were but so was the bridge, so we drove up. I took the obligatory photo out of the van window and we drove off. We could have walked up to see a much better view but it was shrouded in mist!

We drove over Valentia Bridge looking at the pretty village of Portmagee. As it was a wet Sunday morning, I couldn’t see any point in stopping.

We had hoped to visit the Cliffs of Kerry, but again we decided that we probably wouldn’t see anything and, as they were out of our way, we gave them a miss too ☹️
 
The WAW goes south through the Coomanaspig Pass, but it isn’t recommended for a 7.5 metre motorhome, so we took the long way round (well it was all of half a mile longer!)

We dropped down to Waterville and stopped for a coffee watching the waves. Bearing in mind the strength of the wind we were surprised that the waves weren’t bigger though they were breaking well on a small rock out in the bay.
 

Richard took Rio for a piddle and discovered that Waterville had been very involved with the cable laying for the Transatlantic cable laying.  The 2,399 mile line connected Canso, Nova Scotia (and Newfoundland) to Waterville, which then relayed messages onward to Great Britain and Le Havre. The very first successful transatlantic transmission through Waterville flashed across the ocean on Christmas Eve, 1884.  As technology advanced, Waterville continued to grow. In 1923, the massive "Giant Cable" was landed here to handle the massive surge in global telegraph traffic.  The station operated continuously through both World Wars—where the lines were heavily guarded as vital strategic infrastructure—until it finally closed in 1962 as modern satellite and telephone technologies took over.

I spotted another beach, Brackaharagh, that had sand. Fortunately, it had stopped raining so we took Rio, and his ball, for an outing.  There is a caravan park just behind the beach - it must be one on the best situated sites we have ever seen.

Our goal for the night was Sneem, but we changed our plans to head to the other side of the Kenmare River. We passed through Sneem and it did look nice with lots going on. For a Sunday everything seemed to be open. I mentioned to a friend on WhatsApp that we had changed our minds and she said that it was a shame as they had enjoyed it.  So, we did a U turn and went back. We found the motorhome aire which was right beside the river and parked up. I bet it’s a beautiful spot when the sun shines! 

 
We are going to have a day off tomorrow. The driving has been hard on Richard, and Rio doesn’t rest on the awful Irish roads, so they both deserve some down time!  Me?  I shall explore Sneem 🤣

 
Just outside Waterville you can see Eightercua, a striking alignment of four massive standing stones dating back to the Bronze Age (around 1700 BC).  Local legend ties this exact monument back to the Milesian invasion.  Scéine, the beloved wife of the druid Amergin, died at sea just before the ships made landfall in the bay. Heartbroken, Amergin carried her ashore at Waterville and buried her on the high ground overlooking the water. He supposedly raised these giant stones as a permanent marker for her resting place, aligning them precisely with the setting sun to guide her spirit.
 
The What3words for Sunday were
https://w3w.co/prospects.legacy.elegantly