Ross Castle is one of the landmarks of the National Park. There are a lot fewer tourists on the nearly 6 km of trails around the island that start from the castle and offer great views of Lough Leane, marshes, and a nearly century-old copper mine.
Dingle Peninsula isn’t the featured part of the Ring of Kerry, but it’s also slightly better preserved. It also is longer, and the outer point (with the Basket Islands beyond) is the westernmost point in Europe. Across the Dingle Bay is Skellig Michael, an uninhabited island that played host to Luke Skywalker in the recent Star Wars trilogy. Because Skelling is so rough, the actual scenes between Luke and Rey were filmed on Dingle. This is also part of the country most loyal to the native language. In the summer Dublin kids are bused in for camp to work on their language skills.
The Slea Head Road is a loop around the outer portion of the peninsula, with all the best views.
Clew Bay separates Connemara from Mallaranny, and Bartraw Beach is a strand that reaches out to the first of more than 50 islands in the eastern part of the bay. The loop around the strand is more than 4 km, and is full of grassy dunes with unique wildlife including crabs, birds, and beautiful large snails.
We tried to climb Diamond Hill, a 7km walk up a mountain in Connemara National Park, but the weather wasn’t working in our favor and we didn’t get all the way up. Still a nice view from as high as we got. And lots of beautiful scenery, including Killary Fjord and Aasleagh Falls, as we navigated some VERY local roads in the part of Ireland that probably looks the most like what Americans expect Ireland to look like.
Lou Whiteman 