We headed out from our Kilbane Glamping pod and down the road to the quaint town of Adare, where we had a nice little breakfast (we’re starting to remember the “Irish breakfast” standard from our trip to Dublin a couple of years ago). The rain started just as we left breakfast for our walk to the Adare Friary, where we poked around a little bit before stumbling onto a river walk that looped us back into town. We considered a guided tour of Desmond Castle, but the timing was going to drag that out, so we decided to pass on that option. And, we considered trying to get onto the grounds of Adare Manor, which is really the sight to see in Adare…but details on how to go about doing that without taking lodging there were sufficiently thin that we got the impression that there was a real desire to not have tourists roaming about.
So we headed on down the road to the Gap of Dunloe, which was pretty close to Kenmare, where we would be staying for the next three nights.
At the start of the Gap of Dunloe, we hiked a couple of miles up Strickeen Mountain, which really showed off the surrounding terrain. That terrain is…stunning. Sheep roamed freely all around us. The top of the mountain was crazy windy and had two massive rock cairns (2 meters tall). Stepping behind one of them or just over the top of the peak killed the wind entirely!
There was a large-ish group of Americans nearby, and they had a discussion with another American, and someone said they were from Ohio. They were pretty boisterous (loud) and not in a good way…so we just quietly ate our snacks until they departed.
Back down the mountain, we drove the 7+ miles through the Gap of Dunloe, which is, essentially, a single lane road with countless blind turns that accommodates auto traffic in both directions, numerous hikers (“walking the Gap of Dunloe” is a thing…although it’s a hike that is entirely on paved road), and the occasional horse-drawn carriage. Benton was behind the wheel and got pretty good at the hasty-pull-over.
That took us to Kenmare, where we got situated in our AirBnB. It’s a mansion space-wise compared to the glamping pod: two bedrooms, 2.5 baths, kitchen, sitting room. All very modern and a 10-12 minute walk from the heart of Kenmare, which is full of pubs and restaurants (one of which we ate dinner at after making a run to the grocery store for in-residence breakfast purposes).
Most interesting/memorable experience of the day:
Benton: driving through the Gap of Dunloe
Tim: the views (and the sheep) on Strickeen Mountain; and the “Tidy Towns” initiative in Ireland, for which Kenmare had done quite well…and then we walked behind a couple of teenage boys on the way to dinner and watched one of them very casually toss his empty bottle off to the side of the sidewalk (he only later realized that he had a couple of people—us—walking behind him)
