Germany and Beyond: Ireland: Road Trip

We hadn't really planned to go to Ireland, but Ryanair had flights for €19 so who are we to argue? So we booked flights from the optimistically named "Munich West" Airport (very loose description, actually about half way to Switzerland) to Shannon on the west coast of Ireland, and home from Dublin. Instead of trains and buses like we usually do, we hired a car to make the most of seeing the countryside. It was the first time I had driven in a while, and the first time in years I had driven a manual but after a lap of the carpark I was ready to go.

Our first stop was at Doolin on the Atlantic coast which is a tiny village consisting mainly of B&B's and pubs. Our B&B was next to a pub which was handy so we nipped in for a Guinness and some hearty pub food for dinner.

Next morning we went down the road to the Cliffs of Moher just as the fog was starting to lift.

Cliffs of Moher

"Dramatic" camera setting seemed fitting

"Dramatic" cows

As we were leaving about 6 tourist coaches showed up which we were glad to avoid.

From there we headed south along the coast and took the car ferry across the Shannon Estuary towards Tralee. By the time we got to the Dingle Peninsula the weather had started to turn a bit grim.

Beast of a rental car...

Our route took us over the Conor Pass which was totally clouded in at the top which made driving interesting seeing though it was a two-way road about 3m wide.

Visibility was an issue....and this is a two way road

At breakfast we opted for the full Irish (minus black pudding) which was so huge we didn't eat again until dinner.

Driving through the countryside I spotted a ruined castle in a distant field so we pulled over and ducked under the fence with a few other gawkers. After seeing many restored castles across Europe it was interesting to see one that had just been left to the elements.

It was totally overgrown and falling apart with ruined staircases down to lower internal rooms.

We continued along the Ring of Kerry towards the western tip. The roads are really narrow and pot-holed most of the time and you often have to pull over to let oncoming traffic pass. The speed limits are very optimistic, you'd never dream of going as fast as the posted speed in lots of places. You'll be on a narrow winding road with blind corners through a village with a herd of sheep standing on the shoulder and the limit is 100km/hr. We were lucky that it's not peak season yet, as I imagine it would be much less fun battling tour buses on the tiny roads.

Every 10 mins we were pulling over to have a look at something, or look at the view.

The road signs in Ireland are brilliant for finding your way around, we only had to pull a map out a couple of times on the whole trip. We followed a random sign to a castle and ended up at this stone circle which used to protect the centre of a village. The whole thing was made of rocks stacked without mortar.