Days 29 - Bunratty to Castlemaine (Ring of Kerry), Ireland
Thursday 11th 2025 - Bunratty to Ring of Kerry, Ireland
The guest house at Bunratty Mews was unusual, full of clutter and unnecessary bric a brac, pictures, ornaments and collectible items - over the top ! Breakfast was also over the top, selections of cereals, fruits, yoghurts, house made breads, meats, cheeses, pancakes, jams, apple pies, crumbles as well as a cooked plate of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, potatoes and mushrooms. There was so much to choose from and so much to eat - we DID restrain ourselves !
We continued on our drive to Limerick, where we stopped at 9:45 and decided to have a look around in the rain. Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland and boasts St John's Castle sitting impressively on the Shannon River. We did the 3 bridge walk and of course had time for a coffee. Graeme's umbrella broke here (one we purchased in Savannah, Georgia in the USA 2019, so we had to get a new one !
After almost 3 hours here we left to check out Adare, supposedly one of the prettiest village in Ireland, which might have been but it was raining when we arrived and felt miserable so we left after only 30 mins. There were some cottages with thatched roofs, and a nice park where once was the laundry site in the town - interesting village but wet.
We drove to Castlemaine, the closest village to our next 2 night's stay, but nothing to see here, so we drove onto Tralee! Here we made a note never to trust Google maps again to set the route for us as this trip turned out to be along the narrowest, windy, hilliest road in County Kerry. It took us 25 mins of roller coaster driving with, thankfully, only 5 oncoming cars to pass us, plus one man and his dog. It was exhilarating ! Another mental note, try and avoid driving on a 'L' road if possible.
The road classifications here in Ireland are varied and well signed. The prefix M denotes a motorway, N -national roads, R -regional and L -being the lowest class of roads which more often tend to be a single car width, with few cut outs to allow for passing on coming traffic. You learn very quickly to hug the edge of the road so close that the rear vision mirrors will sometimes connect with the road's hedging.
We got to Tralee and of course it was raining. We sat in the car for 5 mins waiting for the rain to abate, then found a Costa Coffee shop and sat and enjoyed a coffee. There was no breakfast or meal supplied at our accommodation, so we visited a Lidl before we left Tralee and bought a sandwich and wrap for dinner.
The room here was lovely, but we had a share bathroom which fortunately didn't turn out to be a problem.