Rounding the Ring of Kerry, May 5-6

Kerry Co, inland... We were astonished by the lack of rock walls! It almost looked like home.

Arriving in the usually pleasant Killarney, the streets were jammed with the inebriated if very enthusiastic followers of the Rally of the Lakes, the annual May Day car rally - and the single weekend not to be in Killarney.

But we escaped by bus to tour the rest of the Iveraugh Peninsula via the Ring of Kerry drive..

MacGillicuddy's Reeks, near Glenbeigh...

Gorse blooming golden on the reeks... if you are an A.A. Milne fan, you now know what gorse looks like!

Suddenly, opening onto Dingle Bay, viewed from the south side

Dingle Bay.... our photographer / tour bus driver was not only the most humorous we had but he knew what he was doing when taking photos!

When Charlie Chaplin offers his arm, you can't refuse! (Waterville, Ring of Kerry, Chaplin's favorite vacation spot)...

With a view like that over Ballinskellig's Bay, I could stay a while in Waterford too!

But we moved on... After lunch (I tried the rich regional seafood chowder!), we stopped by Sneem...

Once the prize-winning "classic" Irish town, it is still as pretty as they come, even in the fog.

Peaking over the bridge... proof that the water is much, much higher in the winter!

Of course, we had to stop here.... the old-fashioned consulting rooms ("surgery") in the back of the house is an arrangement still alive and viable in Ireland.

A classic, the Sneem parish church...

Tania in Sneem!

True, thick Irish fog over Skellig rocks...

The Blessed Virgin overlooking Ballinskellig's Bay... appropriately cloaked in stone wool!

On the way home, another familiar and classic view of Irish townlife... even the cars and especially the rain!